Denford Mirac Electronics Refurbishment

[CHudson]

Okay the above code sort of works, I'M just ironing out the bugs at the moment. 1 Weird thing is that I make the stepping 40 steps per mm which doesnt seem quite right considering my drives are 10 microstep. Any ideas?

[CHudson]

No wait Mach3 needed resetting I actually make it 1000 steps per mm by measurement. Still doesnt add up to the figures though

[Denford Admin]

It could be 1000 steps per mm. Our cast-iron machines are usually 200 steps per mm in half stepping mode, so that's 100 full steps, x10 (microstepping) will give 1000 steps/mm

[CHudson]

Ye, I'm pretty sure it is 1000 steps per mm in my case. I've also worked out that the grey code isn't correct for my machine, I'll post what mine is in a few days but its not the same as what was posted. Also I have made a few changes to the code. I'm having a little bit of a problem with it. Currently I select for example tool number 2 and get tool number 6 every time, yet I have checked the pin outs puts against the code and its all correct, so I still need to work out whats going on there.

[CHudson]

Ihave worked out the problem with the tool changer is Mach3s problem. It seems the visual basic in Mach3 can't be processed fast enough to interpret the tool position. Is there any way of slowing down the motor on the tool changer?

[Denford Admin]

At first I thought the KEB was for the toolpost motor and downloaded the manual here so you could adjust the frequency down:
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2959

Unfortunately, I realise that's probably the spindle drive, and the toolpost is controlled by contactors for CW and CCW so speed will be fixed.
I imagine there are embedded/micro-controller based solutions out there which can control toolchangers quicker than the standard Mach I/O ?

[CHudson]

I'm still trying to suss out the tool changer. I'm just waiting for a reply from KEB to find out whether the speed is somthing programmed into the inverter. I've had 6 collets made up to fit the tool changer. I would attach the drawing for it (solidworks) but the extension isnt allowed, if anyone would like it please drop me a pm. Does anyone know from the home postions what the distance is to the front centre of the chuck. Somone did write it on my lathe but I stupidly got rid of it thinking I didnt need it.

[Denford Admin]

the extension isnt allowed

If you zip the drawings up, then you'll be able to post them

Does anyone know from the home postions what the distance is to the front centre of the chuck

They will be slightly different on every machine - I'll let you know when/if I find that we ever kept records of it (post the serial number up anyway)

[Denford Admin]

It appears older machines had a centreline distance of -153mm from home in the X.

[CHudson]

I've attached the solid works drawing of the collet.

With regards to the home switches, I have them working but the x axis is around about 76-78mm to the centre of the chuck, does this sound about right? Does anyone have an exact figure?

I am also building a toolpost control board as I have gievn up with KEB.

[Denford Admin]

does this sound about right?

153 divided by two is 76.5