DynaMite 4500 Surfacing

[jetblackaircraf]

Just wanted to post a link to my youtube video of my Dynamechtronics DM 4500 doing some surfacing on a phenolic test part for what will eventually be an aluminum blade for an axial compressor wheel in a turbofan jet engine.

YouTube - Mini turbofan blade machining
And here are some pics of the finished part.

http://www.jetblackaircraft.com/Turbofan/photo1.jpg
http://www.jetblackaircraft.com/Turbofan/photo2.jpg
http://www.jetblackaircraft.com/Turbofan/photo3.jpg


Can't wait to make one out of aluminum. Actually, I should say make 18 out of aluminum. That'll be one wheel. Then I've got 5 more compressor wheels of different sizes.... lots of machining.


What do you guys think?

[Caprirs]

There are a couple options that a lot of Dynas had when they left the factory for surfacing.

The first is G61.1 which is High Precision mode. Gets called on a line by itself before the actual feed cuts begin. It will do a better job of slowing the feed rate near corners. There are a couple parameters that adjust how much the machine will slow down for a corner which I'll have to go look up.

The other option is G5 for High Speed mode. Again, gets called on a line by itself just before the feed cuts begin. G5 P1 turns it on, G5 P0 turns it off. It is supposed to make smoother motion for surfacing applications like you're doing.

I'm guessing you're DNCing that file? On my machines, the highest baud rate that would DNC is 9600. I tried at 19200 baud but the M3 control isn't sophisticated enough to handle that much data and move the machine at the same time. In other words, it can walk and chew gum at the same time, but it can't walk very fast.

[jetblackaircraf]

I am running DNC at 19200. Seems to work okay, but if I set the feed rate too high the com port can't keep up and it will feed, then stop and wait for code. Usually I'm able to run near 100 IPM without overloading the com port. I do some surfacing of low density foam for core material in composites.

The machine seems to do alright when surfacing at slower feed rates without using either of those features (although I will try both of them to see if mine is equipped). I was running that phenolic part at 20 IPM and got a great surface finish.

By the way, I still am not able to sort out the tool changer on this thing. It will change tools, but if I try to change tools during a program I get an error about Z axis overtravel. I've tried changing the type or mode of macro that the tool change macro is. Talked with Kevin at Mits for hours on the phone. I think I may try to retrofit eventually with an updated controller. My friend and I are working on figuring out the Mitsubishi CAN bus communication so that I can use the mits servodrivers with a Mach3 or similar control.

I'll post what I find out.

Mike

[Caprirs]

Can you post the tool change macro here?

[jetblackaircraf]

The macro that I am running currently is

%
O9001( )
#131=#4003
#130=#4006
G91G28Z
N3M19
N4M21
M26
#1103=1
N5G30ZP2
G91G28Z
M25
N6M22
G#130
G#131
N7M99
%


It changes tools just fine, except it will not complete the tool change when in "Memory" mode while running a program. I have tried running the macro as all three "types" in the macro settings. I have had Dyna email me the tool change macro, they have sent two different ones, neither of which worked. I think this one is a combination of those two, or maybe one with some changes. Kevin at Mits talked me through figuring out how to get it to run at all. He and I are both stumped about why it will not operate while running a program.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

(EDITED) Just thought of another symptom. When running the tool change through MDI, I type in M06T1 for example, (or T1M06, it doesn't behave differently), and press enter, then cycle start. The machine says "MDI No Setting", then I press enter again, cycle start again, and the tool change executes. Every time I have to press enter, cycle start twice. Weird.

Mike

[Caprirs]

When you say it will not complete the tool change, where does it hang up? Where is the machine physically and what line of the macro?

When entering the MDI data, pressing the Input key once should show MDI SETTING COMPLET (the "E" gets chopped off ) in the lower right corner of the screen. If you move the cursor, start typing again, or press RESET, the lower right corner will show MDI NO SETTING.

When you switch to the Monitor screen and move the mode select switch to MDI, the data should be displayed. Do you get the MDI SETTING COMPLET but nothing displayed when you switch to the monitor screen?

[jetblackaircraf]

Machine goes to home position in the Z, spindle orients, tool changer moves over, draw bar releases tool, Z axis does not move up, I get an alarm about Z axis overtravel. I have to switch to MDI at that point and manually clamp draw bar, and move the tool changer. (Kevin helped me find those M commands to do specifically those two things to get the tool turret back away from the spindle).

When I press enter it says MDI SETTING COMPLET, then when I press cycle start is says MDI NO SETTING. Then press enter again, MDI SETTING COMPLET again, cycle start and it runs the tool change.

When I go to MDI, type in M06 T2, it says MDI SETTING COMPLET, go to Monitor, if selector is in MDI mode it already says (M06 T2 <carriage return> % ). If selector is not in MDI, when switched to MDI it says the same.

When enter is pressed, the M06 T2 disappears and the % is all that remains. Tool changer does not function. If I go back to MDI and press enter again, then back to Monitor, press cycle start, the tool change works. M06 T2 remains on the screen the entire time until it is finished.

Any ideas?

[Caprirs]

The Z axis overtravel sounds like either a soft limit or a limit switch.

There are a couple soft limits for each axis. One is in the machine parameters and is set by the builder (Dyna) based on the travels of the machine. The other is a user set soft limit. I assume Kevin would have sorted through those with you? You can easily check the user ones by going to TOOL/PARAM and using the soft keys.

First, check the CONTROL parameters. Pages 1/3 and 2/3 should look like the two images attached.

Next, check the Axis parameters. For X, Y, & Z, #24 should be 0. Also, make sure that #14 & #15 for the Z axis are not set such that they will prevent the spindle from going up.

It's possible something in the PLC may be corrupted and preventing normal operation although I've never seen or heard of such a problem. However, if that is the case, only a new PLC from Dyna would fix it.

So when you're running the tool change, you don't see the individual blocks of the tool change macro?