FineLine Saturn2 4' x 4' with ClearPath, UC300-ETH / UB1

[rcmcdee]

The manual says, and visual inspection show that the, i103 bridge is already soldered. I guess that means I can leave my soldering iron in the drawer - yes?

[ger21]

I didn't get far enough in the manual to see that. So, yes, if you only need that one input fo r the safety circuit, you're all set.

[rcmcdee]

Thanks Gerry - now to understand the S11 duplication on the safety relay. It appears according to the schematic that I connect to just one - but which one? Digging back through the docs..

[ger21]

Do you have a model #?

[rcmcdee]

The safety relay is Allen-Bradley 440R-C23139 Monitoring Safety Relay Minotaur MSR131RTP. Robert said he used all the inputs on this one but the S11 is duplicated. according to his schematic S11 is connected to the E-Stop then 0V on the BOB. I fear that if I connect to the wrong S11 I will fry some other parts.

[DDgitfiddle]

Thanks again Robert. I just tracked down "FIRST robotics season" and it looks fascinating. What is your relationship to that show?

I'm just a team mentor...trying to pass a little bit of my enthusiasm for engineering on to the next generation. Its a great program. It guides kids towards interesting careers where they have a real chance to be successful in life, instead of a one in a million shot at being famous playing a sport. (I'll step off my soapbox now.)

-Robert

[DDgitfiddle]

The safety relay is Allen-Bradley 440R-C23139 Monitoring Safety Relay Minotaur MSR131RTP. Robert said he used all the inputs on this one but the S11 is duplicated. according to his schematic S11 is connected to the E-Stop then 0V on the BOB. I fear that if I connect to the wrong S11 I will fry some other parts.

I have the same relay, and I never noticed that there were two S11 contacts. I ended up using the one on the top row, and it works. I imagine that either one would work, but I know that the one on the top row beside the S12 contact works.

When I said that I used all of the inputs on the relay, I was referring to the control contacts S13, S23, S33. I am also using both of the E-stop inputs, but I think those are S11 and S12.

-Robert

[ger21]

With nothing else connected, check continuity between the two S11 terminals. My guess is that they are tied together internally?

[DDgitfiddle]

With nothing else connected, check continuity between the two S11 terminals. My guess is that they are tied together internally?

I would guess the same, but I haven’t checked this.

[rcmcdee]

Thanks guys,

It did not occur to me to try that. I'll check it out when back in the shop on Monday. I feel like I can power up and text the safety circuits now. Then on to getting motors running. That seems like it will be more straight forward than the safety circuits.

[rcmcdee]

Indeed... The S11 ports on the safety relay do appear to be hooked together internally. Neither exhibits continuity with any other port when tested. Like Robert, I connected to the one adjacent S12.

I did fire up the box and found all sorts of silly oversights in my build. Simple stuff like forgetting to put the bridges into the terminal blocks and wiring the small fuses at the lower terminals instead of the fused uppers. BUT... when corrected, the contactor gave a very satisfying clunk when the reset button was pushed and again when the big red button was whacked. All voltages check and the various LEDs appear properly lit. I am loading the board into the enclosure and will be installing all the drive connectors in the next day or two. I'll endeavor to get a picture or two up soon. Now on to the UCCNC manual...

@ Robert - If your mentoring the kids is as thorough as the mentoring in this forum - they are lucky indeed. I would not be doing this without your build log for guidance.

[rcmcdee]

Odd new glitch - The wires from the motor power connectors were too short to reach the terminal blocks on the DIN rail. so I used crimp splice connectors and went direct to the power supply. I also crimped eyelets on to the white and green ground wires and screwed them to the back plate.See the attached picture. It would seem this is OK but... if anyone thinks otherwise please advise.

I am also thinking to join the green and brown motor data panel connector wires into one ferrule for connection into the VCC distribution terminals. It seems that would simplify connections and routing. Is there any reason not to do this. Thanks for the input.

Robb

[mactec54]

Odd new glitch - The wires from the motor power connectors were too short to reach the terminal blocks on the DIN rail. so I used crimp splice connectors and went direct to the power supply. I also crimped eyelets on to the white and green ground wires and screwed them to the back plate.See the attached picture. It would seem this is OK but... if anyone thinks otherwise please advise.

I am also thinking to join the green and brown motor data panel connector wires into one ferrule for connection into the VCC distribution terminals. It seems that would simplify connections and routing. Is there any reason not to do this. Thanks for the input.

Robb

What are the white wire you have Grounded to the Ground Plane, just below the VFD

[rcmcdee]

Those are the far side safety ground I believe. Robert wrapped them in green shrink to indicate that status.

[DDgitfiddle]

Odd new glitch - The wires from the motor power connectors were too short to reach the terminal blocks on the DIN rail. so I used crimp splice connectors and went direct to the power supply. I also crimped eyelets on to the white and green ground wires and screwed them to the back plate.See the attached picture. It would seem this is OK but... if anyone thinks otherwise please advise.

I am also thinking to join the green and brown motor data panel connector wires into one ferrule for connection into the VCC distribution terminals. It seems that would simplify connections and routing. Is there any reason not to do this. Thanks for the input.

Robb

Robb,

The wires for the motors were definitely a little on the short side for me, but I managed to get them to reach. I don't see a problem with using the butt splices or grounding to the back plate, but the way you have the 75V wires routed is not ideal. You have them running right by the VFD, which is the one thing in the system that will generate a ton of electrical noise. You can solve the problem in one of two ways:

1) Simply move the wires so that they route around the UC300 in the other direction, so that they pass by the motor outputs, then over to the power supply outputs. It looks like you should have enough wire for that without having to re-crimp the Molex connectors for the power supply.

2) Take the wires that you have and cut them beyond the butt splices so that they will comfortably reach the red and black terminal blocks. Then use the other end of the cable (with the Molex connectors) to attach to the terminal blocks.

I'm not sure there is much of an advantage to either solution. I did things the way I did to avoid splices and to avoid the effort of having to solder wires into the round bulkhead connectors. The terminal blocks also gave me the flexibility to move wires around if I needed to while laying out the panel.

-Robert

[DDgitfiddle]

Those are the far side safety ground I believe. Robert wrapped them in green shrink to indicate that status.

That is correct. As I mentioned above, I used the round bulkhead connectors with wires pre-attached to avoid the hassle of having to solder wires to them and to avoid accidental solder bridges. I like soldering, but I don't like it THAT much, and these connectors weren't that expensive. The disadvantage to my approach was that I couldn't select the wire colors. The safety grounds from the motors really should be independent, not daisy-chained, so I was forced to use a non-standard wire color. I wrapped these in green heat shrink to avoid confusion and to be consistent. I won't be UL listing or CE marking this machine, so it's not strictly necessary, but safety is important, and ground wires should be easy to identify. I also didn't want to splice the safety grounds and use the correct color wire because that is technically a no-no also.

The signal wires to the motors have the same problem. The bulkhead connectors have one wire color but the cables from the control box to the motors have different colors. They are made by the same company, so I can't figure out why they would be different, but they are. So I was forced to just document the wire colors for future reference.

-Robert

[DDgitfiddle]

Robb,

When you get to the point that you are building your motor power cables, let me know. I just realized that I didn't post pictures of how I built those cables, and there is a small trick to it. I'll try to take some pictures for you.

-Robert

[rcmcdee]

Robb,

When you get to the point that you are building your motor power cables, let me know. I just realized that I didn't post pictures of how I built those cables, and there is a small trick to it. I'll try to take some pictures for you.

-Robert

Thanks Robert. I hope to start the mechanical installation next week. I am almost done with the wiring and getting excited for the next phase. I look forward to those tips on the motor cables.

[rcmcdee]

Today was more data wiring. I had previously determined that my "good" wire strippers were not good enough for the smaller gauges of the data connectors. I bought a Klein tools 20 to 32 GA stripper that totally transformed that task. I could not use my older stripper inside the cabinet for the smaller wires so I just pre-cut and stripped everything to the same accommodating length outside the cabinet. But when installed, the wires became a tangled rats nest. The picture shows the result of re-cutting and terminating when you can work in the cabinet. I have enjoyed using the crimper for the ferrules then seating those terminated wires. I do recommend depressing the release tabs on the UB1 to insert any connections. I somewhat enjoyed the sensation of capture when simply pushing the ferrule home but that was an irregular process that sometimes led to damaged ferrules and uncertain connections. I am still amazed that wiring goes from 30A 10 GA down to microA 26 GA inside the one cabinet. the pictures show the current progress.

[rcmcdee]

Robb,

When you get to the point that you are building your motor power cables, let me know. I just realized that I didn't post pictures of how I built those cables, and there is a small trick to it. I'll try to take some pictures for you.

-Robert

Robert,

I was just reviewing my wiring and cross checking against your diagrams and I noticed the following:
1) that both of your "Schematics" list motors Z - X - Y - A
2) that the "MB2 Signal List" shows motors on the INPUTS as Z - X - Y - B and the OUTPUTS show motors Z - X - Y - A
3) that the "Motor Signal and Limit Switch Cables" shows motors Z - X - Y - B

It would seem that addressing a motor as A or B could be meaningful. It also seems that I should wire (or configure UCCNC) slightly differently to align that addressing. Am I being dense here or is this not an issue? thoughts?

Robb