How to get a 1997 control box to work with a 1992 Machine

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jmini
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri 24 Mar , 2006 1:12 am
Location: West Midlands

How to get a 1997 control box to work with a 1992 Machine

Post by jmini » Mon 11 Aug , 2025 0:02 am

Having recently purchased a 1997 Triac pc control box and conecting it to my 1992 Triac atc Machine only to find it does not work
the first thing we found was the new box needs the compressed air to run which the old control did not
Studying the circuit diagrams the later machines seem to have an E stop switch fitted to the Machine while on my machine it is on the
desktop tutor section of the machine which in turn goes direct in to the control box.
so when the new control is plugged in there is no E stop so we connected a temporary switch accros the 4 points where the E stop should be
this enabled the 24v supply to the control allowing axes to be moved the down side of this is that the limit switches and reference sensors
are not used so when I attempt to reference an axis it does not stop at the reference point or the limit switch and crashes at the end of travel
so after all that how do I get the 24v supply to the conrol but also retain the limit switches and reference points.?
hoping there is some one that has a solution
have also included pictures of the rating plates on the two control boxes
1997-triac-pc.jpg
1997-triac-pc.jpg (206.11 KiB) Viewed 426 times
1992-triac-vmc.jpg
1992-triac-vmc.jpg (341.46 KiB) Viewed 426 times

jmini
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri 24 Mar , 2006 1:12 am
Location: West Midlands

Re: How to get a 1997 control box to work with a 1992 Machine

Post by jmini » Mon 11 Aug , 2025 9:30 am

I forgot to add I would prefer not to modify the machine as I wish to be able to still use the old control as after 15 years use have got used to its quirks
thanks in advance
Andrew

jmini
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri 24 Mar , 2006 1:12 am
Location: West Midlands

Re: How to get a 1997 control box to work with a 1992 Machine

Post by jmini » Thu 14 Aug , 2025 12:16 pm

Would anybody be able to tell me which set of electrical drawings would apply to the newer control box which has an electrical serial number of:-
OC00120653
as the set of drawings that I have downloaded (1997 electrical drawings) seem to have 4 sets of drawings non of which seem to tie up with the above serial number
Thanks
Andrew Johnstone

Martin
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Re: How to get a 1997 control box to work with a 1992 Machine

Post by Martin » Fri 15 Aug , 2025 7:25 am

Can you post some pictures of the control box for the drawings you are looking for

jmini
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri 24 Mar , 2006 1:12 am
Location: West Midlands

Re: How to get a 1997 control box to work with a 1992 Machine

Post by jmini » Fri 15 Aug , 2025 10:08 am

Here is a picture of the inside of the control box the extra temporary switch sitting on the bottom rack was fitted to simulate the machine E stop
circuit that we thought was missing this did give us the 24v supply to the control that we needed but unfortunatley it also seems to have disabled
the limits / home functions so when an axis was sent to reference it would not stop and would crash at the end of travel
the control is to be used via usb from vr milling 5
Attachments
1997_triac-pc-inside-view.jpg
1997_triac-pc-inside-view.jpg (461.25 KiB) Viewed 343 times

DavidB
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Hardware/Software: Triac, Orac

Re: How to get a 1997 control box to work with a 1992 Machine

Post by DavidB » Fri 15 Aug , 2025 17:46 pm

I haven't seen the later drawings but have been through the ones for my 1995 Triac PC and the E stop circuit that powers the ESR has the various limit switches, E stop, pressure switch (if fitted), and other items like spindle motor thermal all daisy chained together so if one item goes open the ESR relay drop out. If you've added that new switch to provide 24V to the ESR then it won't see the limit switches open while your new switch is closed. Sounds like you need to find out what is open in that chain and take appropriate action. The datum sensors on mine are NAMUR sensors and are powered from +12V and IIRC sensed by the control card and not part of the ESR circuit. Whether that's the same on yours I don't know. I did find that when adding some new wires into the flexible conduit for a rotary axis, my control box seems to have all the wires installed for an ATC even though one was never fitted.

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