Custom card and Fog buster question

[Manny]

I have just purchased a starmill pc. I wondered if someone could point me in the right direction the machine has been converted to run on mach3 and the chap I purchased it from has added a 4 axis . two questions what is the custom card for in the pics. I am also looking to add a fog buster to the machine and I do see that this had the capability, as per the original drawings on the forum shows its an option , fuse 5 would have have been available. so I take it I dont have the capablity on this machine

Being new to the world of conversions and cnc I presume all i would need ( apart from the fog buster) is a

A 24v relay to switch a solenoid via mach software?

24v relay should this be a 5v relay ?

Relay something like this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/General-Purpos ... B00PZXGHZY

solenoid (24v) something like this:
https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/pneumati ... s/1754615/


A air regulator : something like this
https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/pneumati ... src=aw.ds

Also how do I determine where to wire the wire on the controller board on the the attached pdf shows the option for the spray mist but as I don't have this option i can trace it back to the board

Lastly if anyone can recommend a fuse type and rating that would fit on the din rail


Sorry as a noob to this the more I read the more I confuse myself

[DavidB]

Can you post some better pictures of the custom card and its companion. From the little shown the custom card looks to be Vero board with transistors interfacing to the 25 way D but it's not very clear, the companion card looks off the shelf with some relays and may have a frequency to 0-10V isolated supply to connect to the Sprint? motor control board speed input, a good photo may help identify it. You need to figure out if you have any unused outputs that could be used to turn the fog on/off, or maybe it could be tied to the spindle motor running, I think the lube system on my Triac runs that way.

[Manny]

HI David

Added more pictures. from the parallel port pins I can see 2 free pins available took a close up of the pins and annotated, Also based on what you said could i just then connect to SGR terminal also annotated on a picture

Thanks

[DavidB]

Manny,

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_port#Pinouts and your image both those unused pins appear to be grounds. You should be able to check the pin assignments in Mach3 and see how they match the pin usage on your 25 way D to find out if there are any output pins left available, I think they're on the side with white/orange pairs being the step/dir signals. If SGR is the spindle control relay then whichever switches it on should be good if you use it the same way, many are supplied a permanent 12V/24V and the other terminal pulled to ground to activate it with an open collector drive, you would need to check which way it's used.

[Manny]

Thanks David as soon as I get the machine up on a table and connected ill check those ill probably have a lot more questions soon after

[DavidB]

From looking at starmill-pc-electrical-diagrams.pdf 61 is +24V and 79 is connected to OUT0 of the original control card likely connected to one of the ULN2803 drivers on the original board so if the wiring is the same you could do that, just check the new switching device is good for the extra current of the relay you choose.

[Manny]

Thanks yep I'll check those, just waiting for my multimeter to turn up to check power and as David mentioned about relay switching

[DavidB]

I forgot to mention before that the relay you linked to in the original post was an 24V AC relay coil, you would need a 24V DC coil relay.

[Manny]

cool thanks David just out of interest how did you identify it was ac , nothing I can see on the relay indicates it

[DavidB]

General Purpose Power Relay AC 24V Coil and Product Name : Electromagnetic Relay;Coil Voltage : AC 24V;Contact Capacity :10A 240VAC/28VDC

[Manny]

HI Dave are you talking about the this picture that shows the circuit board with the two relays that show the HPS4FH-S

The chap that converted added the 4 axis which this drives. I presume the relay I had the arrow on is ok to connect to .. Excuse the silly questions a lot to learn Thanks for being so patient

[DavidB]

Manny,

No it was the relay you linked to on Amazon in your first post. Is the tool changer side of things working or is it done with a manual tool change? I might be possible to get it working with Mach3 as others have written scripts but would need another parallel port to control it I expect.

[Manny]

HI Dave

Got you

Apparently the ATC does work, mind you i have not seen it working yet, I am going to get the machine up and working soon as the table turns up and will test it , I have seen the machine with the 4th axis motor working and the spindle working. Yeah I have seen those videos on you tube around using mach three but more so for the Auto probe but will look for this . I presume all the pins used will be shown in the mach 3 setup which will allow me to id the spare pins

[DavidB]

IIRC I ran across information about the toolchanger and Mach3 here on the Denforddata BB so it shouldn't be too hard to find with the search facility. It may have been related to a Triac toolchanger as I have a Triac but a manual tool change one but I saw it when reading previous threads to see if anything of interest was there.

[Manny]

Cool Ill go have a search, ps where are you based . Im in the UK Hampshire

[DavidB]

Near Bath in Wiltshire.

[Manny]

So decided rather than mess with the existing wiring I bought a break out board and an additional PCI parallel port card , excuse the wiring mess it just testing before I hook up to the main unit. So I now have the touch probe working, in mach 3 AND also able to control the mist via the coolant option in mach 3 (M8 and M7)

SO now I just need to hook it up to the 5v out put on the main board and a 24v supply on in the control panel
SO from what you said David thats 61 for the 24v dc and 69 for the 5v

[DavidB]

Manny,

I didn't mention 69, connection 79 is connected to ground when the SGR is powered and not when unpowered. 61 is connected to +24V. Good you've got the extra IO so I expect you can run everything. Which BOB is that?

OK I checked the wiring diagram PDF and it does show that 69 is connected to +5V, IIRC that's produced on the custom card.

[Manny]

Hi Dave yeah sorry I meant 69 is 5v by looking at the original star mill drawings.its a real inexpensive one from Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B07912 ... asin_title

[Manny]

So quick update and some more pics.
So all up and working , couple of things I should have changed , I should have got a 12,24v relay rather than 5v as the 5v in the cabinet is not wired up if it is I cant trace it as no voltage when tested . Not a big deal as the BOB has a USB input so I can run a usb cable either from the pc or from an extension lead that has a usb port.
Again the pics was whilst I was putting it all together and as you can see not much space to put the solenoid but managed to find a spare space and have the in/out for the compressor nicely located

When I have the coolant ill run it up and get a vid

The touch probe I have 3d printed a box with terminal connectors so I can swap it out easier, will print off a hold for the touch probe and a corner probe when I make it