G540 and Sieg KX1

[sncf141r]

Hi all;

I'm new to CNC; have a controller-less Sieg KX1 and a g540 in the mail.

2 questions:

1) spindle - have 3 lines, "gnd", "avi" and "f/r". I presume I have to supply an isolated power supply to the g540, and tie the "f/r" line high or low, but, what should the supply voltage be?

2) I'm not sure what the mh ratings of the steppers are. If I limit to 2amps, is that ok? motors are 191 in-oz, 191 in-oz, 311 in-oz, x/y/z respectively.

Thanks for any help/pointers you can give.

JohnS.

[sncf141r]

Ok; the KX1 has a little board titled "XMT-SK".

Have not powered on my mill yet, so this is a guess from taking the circuit apart.

From looking at it, with the transformer on the top left, the left side connector, numbered 1 from the top to 8 on the bottom:

1 - 110v input, load (black) wire;
2 - 110v input, neutral (white) wire;
3 - +5v from 7805 voltage regulator;
4 - ground from 7805 voltage regulator;
5 - optocoupler LED, cathode in 6N137 (not connected on my unit)
6 - Forward/Reverse; tied to cathode of phototransistor (EL817)
7 - grounded on my unit to pin 4 - tied to cathode of phototransistor (EL817)
8 - to the ATMega8. Did not follow the pin; goes first through trim pot.

Anyway, my G540 is still in the mail; but in case anyone else wants to know about a "XMT-SK" board; the above is my current take on it.

Oh - and I found a label on one of the steppers; the X/Y direction are 3.0 amps, in case anyone is wondering. No label found on the Z axis yet.


JohnS.

[billfle]

I have a Sieg KX1 and cannot get used to the Sieg software which is installed in my Dell laptop. I would like to use mach3 but am not sure how to set up the modbus. I have been in touch with Sieg but am having difficulty communicating clearly. Instead of just changing the software to Mach3, they suggest returning the mill to China for a refit. Unfortunately my KX1 uses a cat5 cable where my other machines use the parallel port and Mach3. Anyone familiar with the Modbus etc?

regards

Bill

[sncf141r]

Bill - I believe that Homann designs in Australia does the mod bus stuff.

I also believe that he (and the devices) are quite active on the linuxcnc mailing list.

I know that linux-cnc (the old emc2 software) is not Mach, but many on the list believe that it is a lot better than Mach!

Anyway, whatever you do, from my limited experience, I'd keep the mod bus stuff. Homann Designs is the web page for them.

(the Linux-CNC stuff does take a bit of head scratching, but I have found the email list very responsive. Now, plugging and playing Pendants, Joypads, touch probes, etc is very easy. Like anything that is capable of doing lots, it does take a bit of a learning curve, but once on that curve... Anyway, my thoughts for what they are worth)