Oh Blimey I bought a CNC Lathe !!!!

[awemawson]

Now where do all these wires go ?

[awemawson]

We're ok - all back in and wired up next to it's twin, and making sense in it's conversations with the TX-8F controller

 

Now perhaps I can get back to sorting out that relay logic problem


Pictures:
A/ In and still "A6" before the controller speaks to it
B/ Controller wakes it up

[lordedmond]

that is good news Andrew  at least they are talking to each other ( in the same language I hope ) 



can you not link out all the safety switches and relay in one go to prove the logic is ok then the sort out the rats nest 


when faced with rats nest I made myself think one wire at a time

spent plenty of time with rats nests at S&S ( VIR wire ) and no drawings , I do think my year in armature/stator winding dept did instil patience in problem solving


Keep up the good work we are waiting for the first part to come off this beast


Stuart

[awemawson]

Thanks Stuart.

I've linked out the spindle 'zero speed' interlinks, but this door system is cunning  The controller needs to see the sequence of 'Door Closed' then 'Door Open' Then 'Door Closed' it then shoots in a locking bolt and needs to see feedback that the bolt is locked. Then it needs to see 'Estop removed', then 'Drive Power On' before it will go 'Ready'. Anyone would think they were trying to design an interlock system that couldn't be easily defeated 

[Fred Bloggs]

Excellent work

keep at it

Fred

[awemawson]

Spent quite some time today clearing away the electronic debris in the way of bits of test equipment etc to clear the deck for attacking those relays.

It suddenly dawned on me that the pain in the neck of having to keep squeezing round those doors all the time, and the fact that there was no place to put documents to read near enough could be solved. Take the bl***dy doors OFF - silly - should have done it weeks ago. The number of times I've caught my belt in the handle of the optical comparator that sits close behind the machine doesn't bear thinking about. 

But now I'm told we have to go out, so no more playing today 

[John Stevenson]

You need to do a Michael Caine 

[awemawson]

Not many people know that ......

[SemiSkilled]

If you don't get that

[Henning]

As a few of the others have commented, i have NO idea what you're doing but it sounds as though it works, so just keep up the great work and i can't wait to see the post where it's finished and making parts!

Thanks for sharing!

[awemawson]

Henning: Thanks for the encouragement.

Originally this lathe had a bar feeder shoving working stock up the spout on demand from the controller. As I haven't got the bar feeder I need to work out how it interacts with the digital inputs and outputs of the TX-8F controller and also the relay logic. The Emergency Stop chain went through the bar-feeder, and I traced that today and linked it out of circuit. There are three digital inputs originating from contacts on the bar feed, and I think I'll make up a diddy test box so I can count through the 8 combinations and see what the software response is.

[Leblondmakino]

Thats a hell of a lathe Andrew..getting it working looks like the easy bit..programming it to make parts..that could get complicated!

Nearly as nice as the parts master in the background   

John

[awemawson]

Thats a hell of a lathe Andrew..getting it working looks like the easy bit..programming it to make parts..that could get complicated!

Nearly as nice as the parts master in the background   

John

John, You have eagle eyes !!!

The Partsmaster needed little doing to it other than repair the damage to the Y travel ballscrew & nut caused by the carrier not securing the carriage in transit. The carriage had thrashed back and forth each time the lorry stopped and started and ended up destroying the screw &  nut by hitting the end stop. Seller was miffed as I had made sure I'd paid him 'carriage inclusive of insurance'. The machine only has 3000 hours of 'power on time' from new ex Bristol University.

[AdeV]

Seller was miffed as I had made sure I'd paid him 'carriage inclusive of insurance'.

Let me guess, he thought he'd been clever by taking the 'insurance' money & not buying insurance from the courier, thus losing out?

Anyway.... I am mightily impressed at your perseverance with this Goliath of a machine - and at the progress you've made so far. Surely it can't be long now before the sleeping giant awakes...

I have to admit, it's stories like yours that make me worry about buying big 2nd hand industrial kit, the wiring in my comparatively titchy Bridgeport looks like 2 wires a battery & a bulb next to your behemoth.

Still, every morning & evening I dip into the threads, hoping that today is the "Eureka!" day & that you've made some chips.... but also hoping that it's not, but that some new hurdle has been overcome & the saga has at least one more episode in it yet.

Watching with fingers crossed!

[Pete.]

Still, every morning & evening I dip into the threads, hoping that today is the "Eureka!" day & that you've made some chips.... but also hoping that it's not, but that some new hurdle has been overcome & the saga has at least one more episode in it yet.

Watching with fingers crossed!

Same here - I check in like a soap addict looking for an update.

[Leblondmakino]

The cream and brown paint scheme gave it away

The Partsmaster I have is very similar only 4000 on hours but probably only a few hundred machining hours.
Only problem I've had so far is the polistyrene caps going up in smoke on the Mentor spindle drive. Nearly everyone went at the same time due to damp where it was stored before I bought it. I bought a new set from RS components and replaced them all now it works great.

John.   

[dsquire]

Awemawson

I continue to look forward to your progress every day knowing full well that very soon you will have all the dots connected and the t's crossed. This is one thread that I look for every time I sit down at the computer. Keep up the good work. 

Cheers 

Don 

(4636)

[John Stevenson]

You ought to nickname that machine Kellog because it's sure a great cereal 

[awemawson]

Chaps thanks for the encouraging words - it really gives me a boost to think someone is actually interested and not bored out of their minds by my ramblings 

Slow progress today: We are moving sheep, and today wasn't the best choice  as the London to Hastings bike run is on and goes past the farm gate - thousands of motorbikes charging down, and getting a stock trailer out without ending up with bikes impaled in the side involves yellow jackets and lots of flagging down.

Last run now for a couple of hours so back to the beast ......

[Fredbare]

Like a lot of others here I have been following this with great interest, and I do admire your tenacity.

John

[awemawson]

Still chasing my tail with the relay wiring on this machine - it just doesn't anything like conform to the wiring diagram that I have in the ESTOP chain and various complex safety circuits. I have discovered that there is a diagram dated '06/93' in existence (my machine delivered 07/93) whereas my drawing dates from 03/93 so perhaps they made some significant changes in that period. Next issue is persuading my contact to part with the drawing, which is proving a tough nut to crack at the moment

>> Later edit: OK it's a public holiday in Germany - maybe that's why no replies !!! << 

However, if you recall the controversy  regarding using the 10 slot controller rather than the six due to suspected addressing conflicts I think I have nailed it. The attached memory map for both controllers fell into my lap yesterday - sure enough there are differences, but A/ the I/o cards fall in the same range, and b/ where that pesky MC465 BRAM sits in the map is covered by a 1 Mbyte MC472 which came with the 10 slot controller. The net result is that the CPU 'sees' memory and input output devices at all the addresses it expects so I 'think' I can eliminate this from the list of suspects generating the various error messages I have.

[awemawson]

Still no circuit forthcoming from Germany, so I thought I'd try and track down some of the sensors that allegedly are reporting error conditions - this involved a bit of dismantling so I took a few pictures.

Main spindle drive is reporting an over temperature alarm - it has a sensor within it, so I dug down into the casing and got the wiring cover off the 18kW spindle servo motor:

....  needless to say the sensor says all's OK !
 

[awemawson]

To give you an idea of the size of this servo motor, here it is with a 24" ruler laying on top:

[awemawson]

It is belt driven, has a brake disk attached, and also a hydraulic clamping / un-clamping mechanism :

[awemawson]

This is the 2 HP servo motor for the Z drive ball screw: