[radioactive]

Bad weather delayed the pickup of the milling machine until this weekend, however I'm exicted to start the conversion.

It's an 88 Supermax YCM-40 with anilam controls on it now. Has servo drives model SEM 30M4-59, 2400 rpm, 142 volts, 30 pulse amps? Mist system, auto lube system, tool changer, etc.

Plan is to retrofit it with what ever is necessary to run Mach 3.

Already built a new PC and have Mach 3 loaded on it (trial version). Will be making a new display box to house the 17" flat screen, keyboard, mouse USB port, and all the buttons needed.

Already purchased a Hitachi X200-022NFU 220 volt input (single phase), 220 volt output (3 phase), rated for 3 hp which is what the spindle motor is. VFD is currently running a large grinder in the garage to verify operation. Very slick...

This past weekend I ran 220V out to a subpanel in the garage to power the milling machine, and a few other pieces of equipment. So that is out of the way.

Need opinions on what route to go as far as drives, breakout boards, etc. For the longest time I thought the machine had steppers on it, so my plans changed alittle when I found out it used servo drives.

I've done a ton of reading on this site and others to try and grasp what will need to be done... I'm thinking a smooth stepper board from the PC (USB vs. no printer port), then possibly Gecko drives? I think then can accept step/dir signals?

Also, the tach will be disconnected from the servo's and I'll probably have to mount encoders on each one. Where to buy?

The mill has glass scales on it as well (not really sure if that would be useful or not), maybe for manual machining DRO purposes?

Thanks for any help and I'll be sure to post pics!

[radioactive]

Well, the machine is now in the garage. Had to remove the spindle motor to fit under the door opening.

The machine has a smaller panel on the back where the old 3-phase power entered. It contains the ON/OFF switch, three fuses, some sort of over voltage or under voltage relays???, etc. Can I gut this entire box? My new setup will be 220V single phase to a Hitachi VFD. Power coming in is controlled with a sub panel breaker, and the VFD has an on/off button.

Should get some pics tomorrow once I get the garage warmed up...

[radioactive]

After reading thru the manual on the Hitachi VFD it appears as though the VFD replaces all of the motor protection devices located on the back of my milling machine. It's amazing how much you can do with this VFD! Remote on/off, spindle direction, spindle speed, alarm contacts to show fault state, reset fault state remotely, E-stop input, etc.

Gecko 320's and Renco encoders are in the mail, smooth stepper should be as well. Kurt D688 is on order, and looking for a new power supply right now. Slowly making progress...

[radioactive]

Finally some pics...

Coming home on the trailer, inside the back box with the 3 phase and motor protection devices. A shot of the transformer, cap, rectifier, drives, line filters, and one pic of the front of the machine.

[radioactive]

Made more progress last night. I gutted both boxes on the machine. The only things left entering the box are the Servo drive cables, glass scale cables, mist system power wiring, lube system power wiring, spindle motor wiring, etc.

I went ahead and connected my Hitachi VFD up to the spindle motor just to verify it operates correctly. Sure enough it works like it is supposed to...

I also did some testing last night with the existing power supply for the drives. It seems as though it is alittle to high to use for the Gecko drives. It outputs 108 VDC (after the rectifier and across the Capacitor).

Also removed the covers off the weighs (sp?) and cleaned everything up. I still need to soak the covers and wash them as they are down right nasty...

pics of removed stuff and one of the transformer...

[Ed VanEss]

Thats a real good lookin mill you have there. Keep us updated on the progress.

Ed V

[radioactive]

Made some more progress this weekend, I started mounting components on the backplane of the large cabinet. Should get my last breakout board tomorrow in the mail. The smooth stepper has been installed and is configured and working with the PC. Next up is to install the VFD in the cabinet and interface it with Mach 3.

I had some fittings made up to mount the encoders to the servo shafts and next have to make some blocks to secure the outside portion of the encoder to the motor housing.

Anyone know how much of a heatsink is required to be mounted to the Gecko drives? Will a 1/4" thick plate of aluminum be enough or will it require a heatsink with fins on it to better dissipate the heat?

[Ed VanEss]

I Made an alum plate with fins to mount geckos and the BOB , with 3 -. 12v fans behind. Remember , heat kills electronics.

Ed V

[radioactive]

More progress... All components have been installed on the backplane (except the transformer which will get mounted on the lower right corner of the plate). I mounted the Gecko's on 4" by 6" heatsinks with 1" fins and have three 12 VDC fans directly under the heatsinks.

The backplane has been installed in the cabinet and two 6" holes have been cut in the cabinet for two new 120 VAC fans (inlet at the bottom, outlet at the top).

Next is to wire up the limit switches, land the glass scale encoder wiring, install the new rotary encoder wiring, and then reconnect the 3 phase spindle motor and 240 VAC wiring to the VFD.

[gavztheouch]

Nice setup radioactive, Im currently doing something similer with a cnc wood router, with servos rated at 140v max and a actual output voltage of 115V

Let me know how your motors run at the lower voltage im still debating if I should go with a lower voltage or wait and use a higher voltage driver. Granite devices have a 160v card coming out soon, which would be perfect.

Also how did you get on with mounting your encoders on the motors, I take it they where elsewhere on the machine?

Did you find out what pulse amps meant? I also have a pulse amps rating on my motors but no information as to what the continuous or max current is?

Gav

[radioactive]

I will let you know in the next few days. I'm almost ready to start making chips...

The motors had holes in the center of the motor shaft. I threaded the hole and installed a stud in the hole. Mounted the encoders in the end of the motor, with the hub of the encoder positioned over the shaft.

Not sure on the pulse amps? The previous setup used 120V to power the transformer that fed the servo driver cards and only used 20A fuses on the line coming in. That must have been adequate before...

I should get some more pics up in the next few days.

[Teyber12]

great log, can't wait to see some more updates

[radioactive]

Well, everything is connected up and powered. The DRO's that work off the glass slides work great. Will come in handy for those times when machining manually.

I am still having trouble with my RogersMachine encoder interface board, I can't get any of the output relays to actuate. Mach 3 sends the signal, but no change on the board. (still investigating)

However, if I manually jump the output contacts I have control over starting and stopping the spindle in both directions (CW & CCW).

I have the rotary encoders mounted on the servo shafts but no bracket holding the encoders still yet. Even so, when I reset the Gecko's after powered up, the Gecko's still hold the servo's in position. For some reason though, they won't respond to movement signals. Not having an oscilloscope I haven't tuned the motors at all yet, not sure what would be the best way to set them up?

[radioactive]

Last night I got the servo's working. I forgot about enabling the charge pump from Mach 3 to the boards and both boards were expecting a signal. I have movement now in X, Y, & Z, however I need to tune the motors next. As it ramps up to full speed the drives fault.

Speed doesn't seem to be an issue

More to come...

[CNC-Joe]

Nice setup radioactive, Im currently doing something similer with a cnc wood router, with servos rated at 140v max and a actual output voltage of 115V

Let me know how your motors run at the lower voltage im still debating if I should go with a lower voltage or wait and use a higher voltage driver. Granite devices have a 160v card coming out soon, which would be perfect.

Also how did you get on with mounting your encoders on the motors, I take it they where elsewhere on the machine?

Did you find out what pulse amps meant? I also have a pulse amps rating on my motors but no information as to what the continuous or max current is?

Gav

Hi Gav,

Not to divert Radioactive's build blog - as he's doing a great job of it.
Mike Aber also retrofitted a milling machine that was equipped with an Anilam Controller - and you can see his encoder mounts here:

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6661

Radioactive - please continue posting the details and a lot of pictures. I'm interested in the details of your build and the hardware that you've chosen.

Thanks!

[MattTheNoob]

I'm reading this thread with great interest, as I am a on the same path, but much further behind.

I got as far as getting the BEAST of a machine in my garage, and just recently started exploring the electronics. I've been torn between using some/most of the existing controls, but using a "behind the reader" card, or gutting more and using more new stuff.

One question I have for you... What drove you away from using the existing servo drives and installing the gecko's? (other than being 1/10 the size and much cooler looking) My machine has the '80s vintage 5 axis drives, but I have been wondering if getting them up and going would be regrettable.

I actually have a million other questions, but don't want to derail your thread (or be a pest).

[CNC-Joe]

Matt - One reason for going away from the original Anilam drives and going with Gecko-320's - a repair to those boards costs over $1000 each - usually around $2000. Additionally - you are limited with the 386 microprocessor controllers as to the size of the program you can run on the machine. Using a PC, Mach3, and Gecko-320's - the sky is the limit with program size, that is. I was never successful in drip feeding my mill either...

Now the drawback of using a Gecko-320: the Gecko's are rated at 80 Volts DC. The Anilam drivers were over 100 V DC, so there might not be as much Power to drive the axes... but then again -when you're cutting metal - speed is not so critical....when you're moving - its nice to have faster rapids....

Let's hope Radioactive puts a very detailed log together for us - I know I need all the help I can get!

[radioactive]

Even though the old system worked, it was old and probably would be prone to having obsolete equipment fail due to age. Besides, the new technology stuff is just fun to work with

I was originally worried about using Gecko drivers with this system and the drop in voltage (140 to 80VDC), however after getting it running, I have no regrets...

With no motor tuning, just some initial setups, I can rapid at 100 IPM with no issues. For what I need, this is plenty fast. I'm sure I could speed it up more if I properly tuned the motors.

I'm far from having the conversion done, but it seems to function great. I haven't made the encoder mounts yet, they are currently just held in place with some wires LOL

I still have my PC just sitting on top of the cabinet, I need to locate a smaller PC case so I can mount it in the cabinet...

Here's some more pics...

[radioactive]

Over the past week or so I've tried a few of the CAM programs (the free versions) to try and find one I liked. So far I've settled on CamBam Plus. Did some drawings in AutoCad, converted to .dxf, opened in CamBam and setup appropriately. Output to G code and ran in Mach 3. Definately a learning curve, but seemed easier than others out there.

First lesson I learned was that a 4 flute 3/8" ball nose cutter doesn't like to plunge very well in aluminum So I tried a 0.25" carbide 2 flute endmill with a depth of cut of 0.0625, feed 18, plunge 9. Milling a pocket on the first pass (full width cut) the machine was very noisy (mostly a rattling from the head) so I slowed the feed down to 9 IPM and it worked fine. Once it was ony cutting 40% stepover I ran it at 18 and it worked fine. A couple of times at a corner it would groan alittle. No coolant, just an air nozzle right now.

A few times during the milling, either during a corner at 18 IPM or during a full width pass when I forgot to slow it down to 9 IPM, it would stall out (trip the E-stop), however I don't know why? I had thought that if a Gecko 320 faulted, it would remain in fault and that isn't occurring. It's just like the Reset was pressed in Mach 3? Maybe it's working too hard and it isn't keeping up with Mach3's commands so it stops?

Then when I reset it and hit Cycle start, it then runs in reverse? Don't under stand that, I just want it to continue on...

Probably need to tune the motors better to ensure I'm getting the full potential out of them.

Also need to look into the noise coming from the head. It is a rattling noise that can be simulated by setting the spindle brake and rotating the tool bar on top back and forth. Like slack in the splines. It's louder at higher speeds, under a load, and when decellerating.

[CNC-Joe]

When you say "trip the E-stop"..do you mean that the Mach3 E-stop button is flashing?

Not sure with a servo system..but that is like a limit switch is triggered...or it has faulted out as it couldn't keep up....

Look on the Mach3 diagnostic screen tab - and see if it gives you any clues.

You're making great progress...Please take a zillion pictures and post