I opted for a dynamic phase converter due to the other equipment in my shop. Buying and setting it up took a bit of time, but I have abundant power now. My drives weren't working upon powering up and it turned out the meat hound I bought the machine from had used dikes to cut it from his ground instead of unbolting the wire lug. When he did this, he also dyked off the ground wire to the drives. I don't believe it was sabatage due to the low eBay winning bid, but just due to his being a dumb ass.

Al the Man, I found the acroloop version you inquired about. The machine has Dos V1.15.00B. I hope that is the correct nomenclature you were wondering about.

All I have to do now is learn my programming and load it properly so it works like it should. So far, I'm a happy camper.

I would certainly appreciate hearing any updates and to compare some of the performance results, does the mill have a hand wheel (Manual Pulse Generator)?
Al.

Yes it does, but the "hand wheel" is a little 1/2" knob on the control panel.

<time passes>

Just came in and sick to my stomach. Did a dry run and everything worked great. Mill was homing at end of cycle and overshot the lomit switches. X went crunch and is locked solid. Y was easily brought back, it didn't hit anything internal. So the question is, how do I unlock X? The cover is off the left side of the saddle exposing the X ballscrew. There is a collar on the ballscrew. Is it okay to apply force with a pipe wrench to this collar, or should I start dismanteling from the servo side. Sick to my stomach. Emptied the bank for this thing. Beans and rice again.

No1 it if it over-runs the home limit there should be overtravel limits that stop the drive immediatley, are the motors direct drive or belt driven to the ball screw?
If belt the pulley can usually be turned, otherwise if locked up tight, the motor may have to come off and allow access to the ball screw to turn it.
What kind of servo amplifiers are on it?
Al.

Thanks Al. It's back up and running. I can't use G28. It sends the table flying at 200 ipm and there is just one home/limit switch. I'll end all my programs an inch away from my home switches from now on. If you could tell me more about a secondary limit switch to shut things down in case of over runs, I'd appreciate it.

The drives are WestAmp A7113-30150-114 3 axes servo drive, and the servos are 2 (X/Y) MT235-0A05 (this is odd, the original purchase order says three of these, but the Z servo is smaller by one size.) All servos have thousand line encoders. Servos and drives alone were $4,554 in May, 1997. Makes my $2,500 mill cost seem like a bargain.

I have all the Acroloop manuals. I don't think they made a manual that I don't have. Acrocut, Acromill (2), and every installation manual (thin and thick) they must have put out. Including the BP manuals, the pile is about 10" or better thick. Been doing a lot of late night reading but C++ is a bit beyond me, and the electronics is too. Got a handle on the mechanical and the machine programming, but I'll be in for it if this thing electronically dies on me.

Just glad to be past this current "Oh SH__ ! "

Thanks Al

I would be interested to see/get a copy of your INITFILE.8k, this tells what PLC set up you have for e-stop etc.
I believe you have my email address if you would like to send it.
Do you know you did the original retro fit?
Al.

If you could tell me more about a secondary limit switch to shut things down in case of over runs, I'd appreciate it.



There is usually 2 over travel limits/axis wired in series with the E-stop circuit and also an output from the Acroloop card if there is a fault or the following error of the servo's is too great, the output goes low and sets an E-stop.
There should be an example in the PLC explanation section.
Al.