[Talkiet]

Hi all - I just bought a home-made CNC router with what looks like a Chinese knockoff of the PlanetCNC controller. The router seems to be a bit of a monster.. Supported rails, 800*800*350(!) envelope, 1600oz/inch NEMA34s for X/Y and a big Nema23 for Z. The base is 25mm 5083 and the rest of the frame is 32mm thick 6061. It only has a 1.5kW ER16 spindle at the moment but I'll see how that handles and how rigid the machine REALLY is before thinking of upgrading that. However it's the controller that is causing me a headache at the moment.

(Pic of machine for context)


It's exactly this board that's being used. (Is this is a 'counterfeit'?)



And from what I have read it's not supported in their new software and is a bit of a dead-end.

My previous/current machine is a Chinese 6040 with a classic basic Parallel controlled in it and I have been getting along well with Mach3. This is the board in my current machine.



I believe I could just get one of these and make it work, but it has issues with inductive sensors and is a bit limited on inputs etc...

So my question is what better options do I have for a board that would work with Mach3 (or 4 I guess)? Are there any good, supported, non-Parallel options? (Are they all done through plugins?)

Main requirements are that it work, take inductive limit and home sensors without me needing to add optoisolator or relay boards, and not be the most expensive thing in the market :-)

I will be able to find a suitable computer and if I need to have a parallel port, that's fine - I can get a machine with that - but I would prefer USB or Ethernet. If there are any options with a Pi, Odroid etc, then happy to consider those as well.

I'm really only asking because the variety of options seems so great and I haven't had much luck in identifying which would be the most supported, straightforward and will still support Mach3.

Incidentally, I do a lot of PCB prototyping and use autoleveller to create the leveled Gcode - whatever I end up with will need to have support for that - although I believe that's more in the SW (Mach3 or LinuxCNC)?

Recommendations gratefully accepted. If there is anything relevant I have left out in terms of requirements - please let me know.

Cheers Neil G

[ger21]

UC300ETH
CNCdrive - motion controls

[jrslick22]

Hi all - I just bought a home-made CNC router with what looks like a Chinese knockoff of the PlanetCNC controller. The router seems to be a bit of a monster.. Supported rails, 800*800*350(!) envelope, 1600oz/inch NEMA34s for X/Y and a big Nema23 for Z. The base is 25mm 5083 and the rest of the frame is 32mm thick 6061. It only has a 1.5kW ER16 spindle at the moment but I'll see how that handles and how rigid the machine REALLY is before thinking of upgrading that. However it's the controller that is causing me a headache at the moment.

(Pic of machine for context)


It's exactly this board that's being used. (Is this is a 'counterfeit'?)



And from what I have read it's not supported in their new software and is a bit of a dead-end.

My previous/current machine is a Chinese 6040 with a classic basic Parallel controlled in it and I have been getting along well with Mach3. This is the board in my current machine.



I believe I could just get one of these and make it work, but it has issues with inductive sensors and is a bit limited on inputs etc...

So my question is what better options do I have for a board that would work with Mach3 (or 4 I guess)? Are there any good, supported, non-Parallel options? (Are they all done through plugins?)

Main requirements are that it work, take inductive limit and home sensors without me needing to add optoisolator or relay boards, and not be the most expensive thing in the market :-)

I will be able to find a suitable computer and if I need to have a parallel port, that's fine - I can get a machine with that - but I would prefer USB or Ethernet. If there are any options with a Pi, Odroid etc, then happy to consider those as well.

I'm really only asking because the variety of options seems so great and I haven't had much luck in identifying which would be the most supported, straightforward and will still support Mach3.

Incidentally, I do a lot of PCB prototyping and use autoleveller to create the leveled Gcode - whatever I end up with will need to have support for that - although I believe that's more in the SW (Mach3 or LinuxCNC)?

Recommendations gratefully accepted. If there is anything relevant I have left out in terms of requirements - please let me know.

Cheers Neil G

Ive use with good success xhc's motion cards, here is a like for a pdf

https://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.cdxhctech.com/upload/201712/20171229133856963.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiW0Kni3rncAhWCTLw KHT4WBQkQFjAAegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw0EsvDaij_wgMnhaQ-Ds3HN

I can set one of these up in an hour or so, in my experience they have their quarks but all mine have been reliable.

My 2c

[Talkiet]

Ummed and ahhed for a while, then noticed that the UC300ETH / UB1 combo was on special at CNCroom so have ordered that.

Is there anything else (apart from a 24V PSU) that I'll need to change over?

Cheers - N

[Talkiet]

Ergh - I think I may have made a mistake with my order... I ordered the UC300ETH-UB1 combo, but I _DIDN'T_ get the AnaSpeed converter... I can't really tell yet whether or not I need it to use my Huanyang VFD with the UB1. What is the Anaspeed converter for if not for creating a 0-10v output?

I also have a USB ->RS485 converter coming, so I could do it that way but I like the idea of just a single comms channel between the PC and the router...

Do I need to order an AnaSpeed converter as well? (That would be frustrating especially given the shipping overhead and the fact it's an extra $36 USD)

Cheers - N

[Talkiet]

Ahhh - It would seem from more searching that the +10v comes from the VFD as an input to the UB1 and that's used to send back the 0-10v as an analog signal? Is that right?

Cheers - N

[ger21]

The UB-1 has a built in Analog Speed control, so you don't need a separate Anaspeed.

Yes, the VFD supplies +10V for the speed control, and the UB-1 sends the 0-10V control signal back to the VFD.

[Talkiet]

got it in place and working in about 45 minutes this evening... I am waiting for a lot of parts (contactor, better safety circuit components, prox switches instead of microswitches etc etc etc) so it's just very simply in place at the moment... However I have noticed an issue with the spindle speed.

It's configured as above (using the 10v from the VFD), and it functions essentially ok. I have configured UCCNC with the min/max 6000/24000 and the PWM as 0/100%. However min speed (measured by the VFD) is about 7500 and the max is about 22000. That is not the main concern though.

I did a S12000 command and it spun up to _about_ 11700, but then over the next 60 seconds very slowly increased to nearly 13000, then slowly back to about 11500. I'm unsure how easy a PWM signal is to measure (is it a PWM signal from the UB1?)

I do have a scope but it's a recent acquisition and I am not confident using it yet - but are there any known issues that could cause this slow speed oscillation?

I have a 24V 3.2A PSU (and I measured that at precisely 24V stable)...

Cheers - N

[ger21]

What is the min frequency parameter in the VFD? That's probably what's keeping the rpm at 7500.
As for the 22000. All analog speed controls have a voltage drop, so if you supply them 10V, they output somewhat less than 10V. So you can't get max speed with a 10V input. Better VFD's can compensate for this in various ways. What I did was change the VFD to accept 0-5V for control, and adjust the min and max pwm in UCCNC so that I got 0-5V at the breakout board. This worked very well.

As for the fluctuating speed.
I had the exact same issue, and after spending some time on Google, found that it appears to be fairly common with Huanyang VFD's. I measured the control voltage at both the breakout board and VFD, and it was stable, and exactly what it was supposed to be. commanding 12,000 rpm would output a 5V signal, but the rpm would vary similar to yours, ±1000-1500rpm. The 5V never changed while the RPM was fluctuating.

Someone suggested adding capacitors to the analog input. I tried it, and it got better, but still fluctuated more than I liked.

In the end, I switched to RS-485 control with Dan911's UCCNC plugin. I still use the UB-1 relay for on/off, and just use the plugin for speed control. For $10, it's 100% accurate, and stability is rock solid.

[Talkiet]

Heh - I already have a USB-RS485 and a 232-485 adaptor on order so I will probably switch when they get here rather than continue to bash my head against a cheap VFD. Thanks for confirming it's unlikely to be something stupid I have done... I probably won't even bother with changing it to accept 0-5v in the meantime and I'll wait for the adaptor.

I have plenty of other things to do - the electronics box was a total mess so I need to build a new one of those first.

Cheers - N