Lab-Volt mill conversion - (attn Marty)
Moderator: Harold_V
Re: Lab-Volt mill conversion - (attn Marty)
Systemslave, that was me that was having trouble with the C11. Marty was helping me with it.
Your advice may be what I need to get me past the "hump". Much appreciated. I'll try to revisit that project next week when I'm back at the shop.
Your advice may be what I need to get me past the "hump". Much appreciated. I'll try to revisit that project next week when I'm back at the shop.
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Re: Lab-Volt mill conversion - (attn Marty)
Sorry for my confusion, but I hope it can be helpful. It sounds to me like your board is protecting you.
Re: Lab-Volt mill conversion - (attn Marty)
LOL Yeah, most likely.
Are you using Mach3 with yours? I have not attempted to configure Mach3. When the board failed to light up I checked my connections, then checked the RS232 output for signals, then walked away from it to work on other projects.
Are you using Mach3 with yours? I have not attempted to configure Mach3. When the board failed to light up I checked my connections, then checked the RS232 output for signals, then walked away from it to work on other projects.
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Re: Lab-Volt mill conversion - (attn Marty)
I use LinuxCNC. I love the 3D feedback on the screen, and it is super easy to configure. Aside from that it is free and arguably a little faster than Mach. I know that there are religious wars between followers of Mach and followers of LinuxCNC. Let me say that I believe them both to be great options and I don't want to join the wars.
Re: Lab-Volt mill conversion - (attn Marty)
I actually have both set up on the PC for this mill.
I don't know enough to have a preference. I figured I'd get it running on one (probably Mach3) and then see if I can get it running on the other.
I don't know enough to have a preference. I figured I'd get it running on one (probably Mach3) and then see if I can get it running on the other.
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Re: Lab-Volt mill conversion - (attn Marty)
Well if you decide to test it with LinuxCNC I will be glad to assist. The first run on my machine was a pencil mounted in the spindle (spindle speed 0). It sounds like you might be able to do that now. It makes a kind of glorified plotter.
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Re: Lab-Volt mill conversion - (attn Marty)
"Oh. I was wiring away while leaning on the cabinet and got a nice jolt of current. The machine had not seen power for a week. And I'm pretty sure I shorted the capacitor after the last power application. I just put a screwdriver across the screw terminals on the top of the capacitor. Do I need to do something different?"
Forgive the stale response but this can be kind of important. Capacitors hold residual charge and/or "gain" charge due to temperature changes. My advise is to always leave a spring clip connected jumper across the capacitor until you are ready to power up. A "third" lead clipped to the power switch will keep you from burning up the power supply.
Forgive the stale response but this can be kind of important. Capacitors hold residual charge and/or "gain" charge due to temperature changes. My advise is to always leave a spring clip connected jumper across the capacitor until you are ready to power up. A "third" lead clipped to the power switch will keep you from burning up the power supply.
Re: Lab-Volt mill conversion - (attn Marty)
Probably a good idea.
In this case the culprit turned out to be a shorted power switch on an adjacent drill press.
In this case the culprit turned out to be a shorted power switch on an adjacent drill press.
Re: Lab-Volt mill conversion - (attn Marty)
Bleeder resistors across electrolytics can be cheap lifesavers.
Re: Lab-Volt mill conversion - (attn Marty)
For us non-EEs, how do you do that?
Re: Lab-Volt mill conversion - (attn Marty)
Back to the Zombie Thread. After letting it sit for most of the last year, I drug this mill out and booted the PC to try to find a pulse. A local guy offered to provide phone support.
So I had it all hooked up, and nothing would move. Since then I have carefully configured Mach3. Hasn't helped, but I did run across something I could not resolve. In an effort to reduce thenumber of variables, I tried to disable the E-stop in the software. Can't seem to get it to stay unchecked.
Independent of that, my friend suggested I probe the driver input with 5 volts to the step pin on the drive boards. I did that, using a 1000-ohm resister to limit the current. Nothing moved. tried that on all 3 boards.
At that point I measured the voltage from the transformer. I am reading 10 volts AC at the big capacitor terminals, but only 7.5 volts DC at the output to the drives. The DC should be higher than the AC input, as i understand it.
That 7.5 volts hardly seems like enough, though I have no specs on these steppers. They are small NEMA-23 units, about as long as they are wide. I am sure they are under 100 oz-in torque.
Marty, did you ever try to find specs on the steppers on your Lab-Volt lathe?
So my project for this week is to try to find out what the power supply output should be. Failing that, I need to figure out, if possible, what the steppers need to motivate them. I do have a couple of Power supplies in 12V and 24V on hand for other CNC conversions. I would prefer to use the OE setup if possible.
If I can figure that out, I'm back to tickling the steppers.
Any thoughts on this, please share.
So I had it all hooked up, and nothing would move. Since then I have carefully configured Mach3. Hasn't helped, but I did run across something I could not resolve. In an effort to reduce thenumber of variables, I tried to disable the E-stop in the software. Can't seem to get it to stay unchecked.
Independent of that, my friend suggested I probe the driver input with 5 volts to the step pin on the drive boards. I did that, using a 1000-ohm resister to limit the current. Nothing moved. tried that on all 3 boards.
At that point I measured the voltage from the transformer. I am reading 10 volts AC at the big capacitor terminals, but only 7.5 volts DC at the output to the drives. The DC should be higher than the AC input, as i understand it.
That 7.5 volts hardly seems like enough, though I have no specs on these steppers. They are small NEMA-23 units, about as long as they are wide. I am sure they are under 100 oz-in torque.
Marty, did you ever try to find specs on the steppers on your Lab-Volt lathe?
So my project for this week is to try to find out what the power supply output should be. Failing that, I need to figure out, if possible, what the steppers need to motivate them. I do have a couple of Power supplies in 12V and 24V on hand for other CNC conversions. I would prefer to use the OE setup if possible.
If I can figure that out, I'm back to tickling the steppers.
Any thoughts on this, please share.