Arrow 500 Questions

[sarms]

First off, Hello everyone. This is my first post here.

I'm sarms I've been camped out in the custom rifle industry in one form or another for the last 20 years. 10 of those for a major maker the last 10 on my own.

I was making my product on a prototrak until a year ago. I decided I had enough volume to look at a used vmc. I bought a Cincinnati Arrow 500. The arrow has thrown me a few curves so far but I've managed to work my way thru it. The first thing was a shorted out E-stop and the second thing was a dead hard drive. Getting past the harddrive fix wasn't fun but I got there and it all works good now. I've got a decent handle on the programing. I really like the the 2100 control.

Lately I've been wanting to put a 4th axis on this Cincinnati. I've got the 4th prewire so I figure I need to buy a Kollmorgan bds4 drive.
So my real question is this.
Are the rotary tables set up to accept whatever is required for servo motor.
Can a guy put Kollmorgan servos in a Haas rotary, for example. or can a guy put the same servo motor on a kitagawa rotary. Is there list that tells what motors fit what tables, just how does all this go together.
Sarms

[berserk]

{So my real question is this.
Are the rotary tables set up to accept whatever is required for servo motor.
Can a guy put Kollmorgan servos in a Haas rotary, for example. or can a guy put the same servo motor on a kitagawa rotary. Is there list that tells what motors fit what tables, just how does all this go together.
Sarms}
HI Sarms
This is my first post here too But I've been in cnc stuff for about three years and I have a fagor 4 Axis cnc and two home built cnc also the fagor is about 14 ft. tall and 9ft. wide by 9ft. the cutting area is 4 ft on the Z axis and 4ft on the X axis and 6ft on the Y axis . Me and My Business associate built assembled the rotary axis on our machine . and used an old Haas turntable for milling we made a stand to hold it horizontal and mounted it to our cutting table .It will turn 360 deg. and stop or contuses on if programmed to do so . Making it wasn't as hard as getting software to be compatible with the fagor controller . If you contact your machine manufacturer your should get expert advice on the motor to use for the axis . And if you need to add a motor controller for that Axis they should be able to advice you about that also . My machine was bought second hand and in excellent shape so it had no warranty for it but I was able to get some tech support about components and wiring diagrams to help me . You should be able to also . If not you might have to find a tech to help you who does indepent work on machines . I could lead you in that direction if needed . My tech I use when things go south in a bad way is great and fairly reasonable
Hope I helped
Berserk ..

[John_B]

Sarms,

You sure pick a challenge when you go for one. I have worked with many Cincinnati machines in my years machining, and have had a Arrow 500 & 750 in the last shop I managed, and at this time I have an Arrow 1000 in the shop I run. I personally feel they are the most convoluted machines out there - but also feature packed which can be an advantage if you can swing the learning curve to exercise all the options at your disposal.

As to adding the 4th axis to you machine, you will first need to evaluate if the software version your machine has is loaded up for the 4th axis drive and all the assorted details electrically. The pre-wire they did at the factory was often one of convenience for the build crew to streamline things, not necessarily one of having prepped the machine completely except for the drive and turntable itself. If you don't have the software modules needed to control the 4th axis in full rotary form, or even indexing, please accept my recommendation to work directly with MAG Maintenance Technologies (the former service arm of Cincinnati which has split off for corporate reasons). These people are the only dependable source of support I have found, the rest are spotty in their knowledge of this very unique control that is not easily figured out...They are not cheap, but time and again I have had to learn the hard way that I should have called MAG in the first place.

As to the BDS4 drive, I actually have one that I will give you free of charge if you pay postage (it's setting around gettin dusty right now, and I don't forsee my getting any application for this). Contact me off list to discuss this. One of the major hurdles you will face with this path is getting the Kollmorgen drive programmed to interface to the particular motor you are going to be working with, and then getting the A2100 to understand what to do with it. This drive has long been discontinued, but I have ran accross the manual and connection details on the web recently so you should be able to get all to match up with some effort.

Quite a mountain you aim to climb if you ask me, all while I know you are trying to concentrate on making chips, but I will help you as much as I can.

Regards,
John

Originally Posted by sarms First off, Hello everyone. This is my first post here. I'm sarms I've been camped out in the custom rifle industry in one form or another for the last 20 years. 10 of those for a major maker the last 10 on my own. I was making my product on a prototrak until a year ago. I decided I had enough volume to look at a used vmc. I bought a Cincinnati Arrow 500. The arrow has thrown me a few curves so far but I've managed to work my way thru it. The first thing was a shorted out E-stop and the second thing was a dead hard drive. Getting past the harddrive fix wasn't fun but I got there and it all works good now. I've got a decent handle on the programing. I really like the the 2100 control. Lately I've been wanting to put a 4th axis on this Cincinnati. I've got the 4th prewire so I figure I need to buy a Kollmorgan bds4 drive. So my real question is this. Are the rotary tables set up to accept whatever is required for servo motor. Can a guy put Kollmorgan servos in a Haas rotary, for example. or can a guy put the same servo motor on a kitagawa rotary. Is there list that tells what motors fit what tables, just how does all this go together. Sarms