Yamazen CNC knee mill

**N4NV** · 02-17-2007, 02:02 PM

For the Mach 3 nameplate I posted a request for the G-code on the Mach Yahoo groups and a nice gentleman named Shaun Wainford emailed it to me. I still don't have a cad/cam package to generate g-code. I don't have a much of a need cad/cam, I usually just use LazyCam or hand code. I looked at a couple of packages, but I only used it every 3 months or so, I had to keep re-learning it.

When I get the Yamazen finished I will have to sell my Bridgeport. I don't have room in my garage or marriage for two mills. Right now I am renting space at work for the Yamazen. After getting the Yamazen's backlash from 0.008" to 0.0008" I think I may have found the cause for the backlash in my Bridgeport. The original bearing pair was 31mm thick. The new pair is 30mm. I made my own spacer and I think that is the problem. I ordered a couple of custom made precision steel spacers from Mitsumi. They will get here in a couple of weeks and I will see if that helps. I will hate to see the Bridgeport go with all the time I spent on it.

Vince

**N4NV** · 02-22-2007, 11:16 PM

While I am waiting for my C11 board and my Pixie board, I have started to clean up and paint the mill. I realy, realy hate painting. To do it right it takes longer than it took to make the part. I am not doing the complete smooth and bodo, sand, sand, sand, primer, sand, filler, sand, sand, paint, paint, paint, color sand, polish process. I am doing just enough to clean up the machine and slow corrosion.

I have all of the Allen Bradley control system removed except for the original +5v, +-15v, +24v power supply. I turned it on and the 3 Servo Dynamics driver boards still worked! I did find that the 24V output was only delivering +8v. The power supply manufacturer was still in business and was failure with my power supply when I called them. It turns out that in order to properly regulate, the power supply needs at least 10% load on the +5V output. The only +5v was the Allen Bradley computer so now there is not load on it. I purchased 4-5watt, 20 ohm resistors to put across the +5v to give it some load. I will know this week end if that works.

I thought about scrapping the power supply and buying something more up to date (the manufacturer wants $450 just to IRAN it), but the servo drives take +-15V and it seems that most modern power supplies are +-12V. I would also like to have the +24V so I can reuse all the 24v relays that are already in place.

Vince

**N4NV** · 02-25-2007, 06:30 PM

I spent this weekend grinding and painting. I ground off all the paint that was pealing on the main body of the mill. I still have to do the knee. I then used 3 cans of Rustoleum navy blue spray paint to paint what I could. I took longer to mask than to paint, but this is just normal. I looks like I could spend several months with bondo and primer, but my main concern is to stop any corrosion for now. I stunk up the shop pretty good with the enamel paint so I did not stick around to take pictures. A couple more days and I should have the knee cleaned up and painted, and then I can concentrate on installing the new control system.

Vince

**Napoleon** · 02-26-2007, 03:39 PM

Vince,

Nice work on your mill. The manuals for the Servo-Dynamic servo amplifiers can be obtained from them. They are a bunch of very helpful people. I once talked to an application engineer there that told me how to properly set up the card and tune the servos. Regarding the PS, check the +15 V terminal for voltage fluctuation. I believe there was a revision on these where the manufacturer replaced a few capacitors and resistors to eliminate voltage drop. I remember having to monitor +15 with a gage on that terminal and once every few months the reading would be as low as +8V. I sent the PS to the manufacturer and they replaced the required components, cost was under $200 and the problem was fixed.

**N4NV** · 02-26-2007, 07:19 PM

I have the manual for the SD drives, it came with the mill. I made sure they were working properly before I removed the AB control. They worked smooth as glass all the way to 125 IPM. Now if I have problems interfacing my Pixie cards, I know that it is not the SD drives. I just purchased a new power supply off eBay. It has the same +-15V, +5V and +24V. I was told by the manufacturer of the existing power supply that the capacitors dry out and they need to be changed out every 15 to 20 years. They wanted $450 for that service. The power supply I purchased was $9.99 + $8 shipping. The only problem I see it my new power supply is limited to 1A at 15V. The SD drive manual says the drives take 350mA each. I will put a meter on them to see how much they really draw. I guess I could buy another power supply and run them in parallel. If I have to buy another power supply retail, it is still under $120.

Vince

**Napoleon** · 02-27-2007, 05:45 PM

Twice emailed the staff at this forum and still not allowed to edit old posts. Not happy. Ready to quit this forum.

Good luck with your machine Vince.

**N4NV** · 02-27-2007, 09:28 PM

Originally Posted by Napoleon

Twice emailed the staff at this forum and still not allowed to edit old posts. Not happy. Ready to quit this forum.

Good luck with your machine Vince.

It looks like after about two weeks you can't go back and edit a post. I don't think it is that big a deal, you can post a new message with a correction.

I spent another 4 hours prepping to paint the knee. I should be ready by tomorrow and paint again on Thursday. It is supposed to be in the 60's (here in San Jose, CA) by Thursday so it will be a good chance to paint. As it is, it is taking about two days for the paint dry enough for me to put things back together.

The mill is 98" tall and my garage door is only 78". I have been worrying about how I am going to get it into my garage. I had fleeting thoughts of laying it on its back, but I came to my senses. Looking through the manual some more I found that only three bolts hold on the entire head. I will just have to disconnect the motor, power draw bar and remove the Z axis servo motor. Now I am not so stressed about the move. I am still looking at another two months or so if everything goes according to plan.

Vince

**Napoleon** · 02-28-2007, 02:29 PM

It is a big deal to be able to delete my email address from this thread. Unwisely I posted it here. Soon after that my mailbox is full of spam. I'd like to be able to delete my email address from 2 weeks old posts. I don't think that is too much to ask. Emailed these guys twice and no response. Is that responsible of them?

**N4NV** · 02-28-2007, 07:35 PM

Originally Posted by Napoleon

It is a big deal to be able to delete my email address from this thread. Unwisely I posted it here. Soon after that my mailbox is full of spam. I'd like to be able to delete my email address from 2 weeks old posts. I don't think that is too much to ask. Emailed these guys twice and no response. Is that responsible of them?

Yes, that sucks. I am used to it by now. I get about 400 spams a day, but my email filters takes care of all but about 7 or 8 that get through. If you want to leave your email address but don't want to get spam you can type it like this: vince at flyingcritters dot com. Most spambots can't pick that up.

Vince

**N4NV** · 03-03-2007, 05:43 PM

Well, it has been a couple of weeks of sanding, scraping and painting. This was just a quickie paint job, I did not fill any areas, just remove corrosion, cleanup and paint. The pictures shows my effort.

Vince

**N4NV** · 03-03-2007, 05:50 PM

I cleaned up my computer installation in the pendant. I hung it from the top of the pendant. I also added a piece of 6x6 electrical gutter next to the pendant to give me room for my MPG and switches. With the back of the pendant attached, I have room enough for all the circuit boards I will be adding; 3 Pixie 100, CNC4PC C11 breakout board, and a modbus board.

I have a 7.5HP VFD drive coming. I hope I can fit it in the electrical enclosure. The only thing on the mill that takes 3 phase is the motor. This VFD will enable me to run the entire mill on single phase at my house.

Vince

**N4NV** · 03-13-2007, 10:18 PM

Still making progress. I am excited about getting my MPG mounted and working. I also mounted a touch screen over my monitor. This is working great as well. I will have to update my Mach screen set to make better use of the touch screen. I have the EPO mounted and functioning, was well as the output for coolant on and off, and charge pump. I am still working on the spindle control. Something is not quite right. My VFD arrived over the weekend and I was about to mount it inside of the cabinet door. This will be really slick. I will have spindle control through software as well as hardwired switches. I never went this far with my previous mill.

I have heard that the Pixie boards are in an in the testing and software upload phase. I should get them in a week or so. Then the proof will be in the pudding, can I get the servos to move under Pixie control.

I have posted a picture of the monitor with touch screen, MPG and EPO.

Vince

**N4NV** · 03-16-2007, 10:47 PM

I got the VFD mounted and running (an LG iS5). I screwed up my bid on eBay and ended up getting a VFD without a keypad. I needed the keypad to program the VFD. Once programmed, I can disconnect the keypad I can remove it if I want. I had to find a distributor for an LG IS5 drive, and order a keypad separately, a $77 mistake. The keypad arrived Wednesday. The drive works perfect. It's nice to see it accelerate smoothly instead of the across the line start it normally did. This should help extend the life of the belts and pulleys in the head. I ran it on single phase just to make sure it would run when I get it home. The manual says nothing about single phase but the drive did not seem to mind. I am going to try and find some breaking resistors (40 ohm, 300 watt). When the spindle is at the max speed of 3800rpm, I have to decelerate and stop longer than 7 seconds or the drive faults.

I was playing with my CNC4PC C11 board and was able to get the Mach software to turn on and off my solenoid valve for the mist/flood coolant. This is another nice feature my previous conversion never got. This mill came with the solenoid and relay so it was pretty easy to set up.

The Pixie 100 boards shipped today and I should get them by the end of next week. If I can get them running, I can start cutting metal.

I posted a picture of the VFD mounted in the control cabinet

Vince

**N4NV** · 03-27-2007, 04:13 PM

I found a breaking resistor on eBay for $13.50. I can now decelerate to a stop from full speed in 1.5 seconds. Without the breaking resistor it took at least 7 seconds. I feel better about getting it stopped quickly in case I have to hit the EPO.

I received and mounted the Pixie 100 boards Saturday. I have a lot to learn about tuning servo systems. Not only does the Pixie have to be tuned, but the Servo Dynamics servo drives also have to be tuned to match the Pixies. On top of all that, I am having noise issues on my step outputs. I have tried ferrites and capacitors. The ferrites helped, but not enough. I am getting a replacement breakout board in a couple of days. From looking at my scope, the noise is not from the power supply. It is either coming from the computer or from the breakout board. It's very frustrating. I am very close to getting all three axis working under Mach control. The noise is causing all the axis to gain steps, and is probably affecting the tuning of the servos. I had a similar problem with my other mill and the Gecko 320 drives.

When I get stuff working properly I will post more pictures.

Vince

**KTP** · 03-27-2007, 06:36 PM

I didn't know you had a oscilloscope, that will make tracking down the noise a bit easier (although noise is always frustrating).

Check the step and direction lines right at the Pixie with the scope and make sure they are clean. The Pixie does have a noise filter in the cpld, but large noise spikes can sometimes get detected as steps. Also check the channel A and channel B encoder lines at the Pixie. Make sure the encoder signals are clean and noise free.

I would wager the noise is coming from the big servo motors and not from the power supply, computer or breakout board. You can try sending steps out with the servo motors off or disconnected and see if there is any noise on the lines. This might eliminate the computer or breakout board as a culprit. Also, triple check your ground connections on everything.

**N4NV** · 03-27-2007, 09:17 PM

I checked the noise with the Pixies powered up, but the step and direction wires disconnected. I measured at the breakout board, not the Pixies. No motors were turning, no step or direction signals were being sent. If you can see in the first picture, I am getting a signal from about .5V to 2.5V (2V per division), I have the time set on .1uS (I believe, it is the lowest setting on my scope). The second picture shows the power supply voltage at the same setting. At the time the pictures were taken, the Pixies were doing nothing other than getting power, they were not connected to the breakout board. Each of the step pins on the breakout board had different voltages on them, with simular signals, but sometimes it would look like two signals or the voltage would jump around. When I first turned on the power to the breakout board all the output pins had nice flat voltage signals, either +5V or 0V. Once I commanded a move on any axis, the noise would show up on all axis and stay. All the direction pins had nice flat voltage signals, just like the second picture.

Vince

**KTP** · 03-27-2007, 09:38 PM

Sorry, I really can't tell much in the first picture...the glare and the trace is just not showing up well in the photo. So are you trying to say you are getting 2V of noise on your step and direction lines when they are disconnected from the Pixie?

Do you have a part # or schematic of your breakout board? I am curious how they are isolating signals and how they route ground.

**N4NV** · 03-27-2007, 10:09 PM

Originally Posted by KTP

So are you trying to say you are getting 2V of noise on your step and direction lines when they are disconnected from the Pixie?

Do you have a part # or schematic of your breakout board? I am curious how they are isolating signals and how they route ground.

Close, I am getting 2V of noise on the step only line when they are disconnected from the Pixie. The direction lines look just like picture 2, nice and flat. That is why I don't think it has anything to do with the Pixie, encoder, motor etc. The only common right now between the Pixie and the breakout board is the ground and +5V.

I am using a CNC4PC C11 board. I don't have a schematic. Arturo is sending me another board to try. When I told him about the noise he said "I have been thinking a lot about the noise problem you are having. It makes absolutely no sense. The board only has buffers, optoisolators, and gates.
None of those components is capable of generating noise. "

When trying to tune the Pixies, I could not have more than one at a time connected to the step and direction outputs from the breakout boards or they caused the other axis to fault. I put ferrites on the step and direction lines and was able to get them all tuned, but I was loosing steps.

Vince

**KTP** · 03-27-2007, 10:45 PM

Well if you had the Pixie, motor and amplifier disconnected from the step/dir lines and still had the noise on the lines, I would say that eliminates them as the problem

If you had an old parallel cable (like a printer cable) you *could* snip one end off and just wire the pixie board step/dir lines directly to the computer parallel port without a breakout board. As long as you are carefull about static discharge it could be a good way to test out the system. Of course if you have error in your wiring you could end up damaging your computer, so maybe it would be better to wait for a new breakout board to try.

**N4NV** · 03-28-2007, 11:19 PM

I posted the following pictures of the noise I am getting below.

http://www.flyingcritters.com/images/Noise10.jpg
This is my 5V power input to the breakout board.

http://www.flyingcritters.com/images/Noise11.jpg
Time set to .5uS and 2v/division. X axis noise

http://www.flyingcritters.com/images/Noise12.jpg
Same settings, Y axis noise.

http://www.flyingcritters.com/images/Noise13z.jpg
Z axis, there is a little jaggedness on the left side of the trace.

http://www.flyingcritters.com/images/Noise15.jpg
Sometimes the Y axis looks like this. It depends on what keys on the keyboard have been pressed.

http://www.flyingcritters.com/images/Noise17.jpg
A zoomed in picture of the Y axis noise. When I press the X > key the noise changes to that of picture 15. When I press the X< key (even though I am monitoring the Y axis), the picture looks like #10, no noise.

Vince