BP CNC Upgrade

[contractdesign]

OK, I've been talking about it for a while but now is the time to start, I've been too busy tring to make a living but now have some down time. I have a Bridgeport rigid ram series 1 boss machine. Ser # CNC 4336. I thought the machine was a boss 5, but now bielieve it may be a boss 6, not sure. The pully reduction ratio on the y axis is 2:1, 12t on the motor, 24t on the ball screw. I want to do a Gecko 201 / Mach 3 retro using existing stepper motors. I am also planning on using a powersupply from TTI. My concerns and questions are:

I need to verify which Boss version this machine is
I need the correct electrical requirements for the stepper motors. I think the motors are Sigma pn 026744 on the "x"
Gecko told me that their drives will work with nema frames 17 thru 42

I have a wiring diagram from this forum on how to wire the system, but it does not explain the motor connections very well. There are six wires comming out of the motor and the diagram shows only 4 connections.

I'm ready to order parts and dive in, any advice?

[NC Cams]

How can you order parts if you don't know what you have???

If you're motor has 6 wires and your wiring diagram shows only 4, could it be possible that that the Gecko's won't work with it???

I'd suggest doing a bit more reasearch into what you have versus what you need before you dive into what could be an empty swimming pool....

[contractdesign]

I'm all set. I talked to Marris at Gecke and he explained how to find the center tap and how to wire the motors to the 202's. He also told me what model motors I have. I may have jumped the gun with this post. Everything is on order though and I hope to have the panel built early next week.

[peter.blais]

Sweet, I absolutely love my BPs1 ridged ram / retrofit, although mine is not mach1/gecko. My machine runs like brand new.

[wyobmf]

How can you order parts if you don't know what you have???

I believe he supplied every bit of info needed to answer his questions. It dosn't matter if it is boss 3,4 or 5 he is using gecko's and Mach to run it with.


They are sigma motors, here is how you wire a six wire motor to a four wire drive. I would sugest 202's they have short circuit protection.

[contractdesign]

Actually, Marris told me to use the center tap wire and one of the remaining two wires from that side, and do not connect the remaining wire to anything. If you do this for both sides you only use a total of 4 wires.

Steve

[Hood]

Originally Posted by contractdesign Actually, Marris told me to use the center tap wire and one of the remaining two wires from that side, and do not connect the remaining wire to anything. If you do this for both sides you only use a total of 4 wires. Steve

Certainly not an expert but I would think if you wired that way you would only be using half the coils in the motor. Are you sure thats the way Mariss said to do it?

Hood

[fdos]

Originally Posted by Hood Certainly not an expert but I would think if you wired that way you would only be using half the coils in the motor. Are you sure thats the way Mariss said to do it? Hood

Hood. if the motor is a six wire motor, half winding is often the best way to do it. If it's 8 wire, I'd always wire it parallel winding and full current.

[Hood]

Good to know, but why wire half coil? I have six wire steppers on X and Y on my BOSS retro and use full coil, would it be advantagous to swap to half?

Hood

[fdos]

Originally Posted by Hood Good to know, but why wire half coil? I have six wire steppers on X and Y on my BOSS retro and use full coil, would it be advantagous to swap to half? Hood

Half winding will give you half the inductance. It's really a speed issue.


I think you might see better explainations is Gecko's step motor white paper.

[Hood]

OK, I get 2500mm/min so speed is good enough for me, will look at the white papers. Thanks

Hood

[wyobmf]

Allthough the info at gecko dosn't show a six wire full winding motor parallel conected, My previous diagram is no different than a 8 wire motor parallel connected. If you look close you will see the poles are reversed on that diagram. The info at Gecko shows 6 wire motor that the poles are not reversed. I am going to try it all 3 ways, I would think that parallel full winding would be the fastest, but I don't know if the drives could take it.