Need Help!- programmable servo coolant?

[mniadna]

I have a machine that I would like to have programmable coolant on, and don't want to spend the $2k+ on Spider Cool. Did anyone ever try to make a system using an RC servo and a servo driver? I think I might give it a try...

[RICHARD ZASTROW]

Would a solenoid operated valve, coolant pump and an "M" function work?

Dick Z

[Starleper1]

I think he is referring to a programmable coolant position nozzle. All of the HAAS VMC have them. It could work.

[mniadna]

Originally Posted by Starleper1 I think he is referring to a programmable coolant position nozzle. All of the HAAS VMC have them. It could work.

Starleper1,
Exactly...

[HelicopterJohn]

What machine are you going to put this on?

I have a HAAS TM-1P with a Modified PCOOL nozzle system

I had the same idea some time back. I spoke to one of my buddies that does PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) work. It has been a while and I don't remember all the details but it would be possible. Depending on what functions you want to implement.

If you visit my website http://www.helicopterjohn.com and go to the gallery section I have several videos on programmable coolant as it pertains to the HAAS Controller system.

The HAAS also has an option that they offer as it pertains to MOM (Minimum Oil Maching). It was designed to squirt oil during tapping cycles. It could also be programmed to squirt a designated amount of oil at designated intervals.

My idea was to plug into those terminals on the HAAS control board and instead of dispensing a squirt of oil to program it to give a squirt of air. This would all be doable but HAAS wouldn't give me the pin outs on the control board so I could hook it up. The MOM unit also has another 3 pin connector on the mother board that are used to monitor the level of the fluild of the container, i.e. will alarm out if the fluid is low. That should be easy to trace out.

I gave up on that idea after a friend of mine gave me the control circuit that I hooked up in the video.

Back to your Radio Controlled Servo. I think that one of the Servo Manufacturers makes a servo controller for testiing servos ( I think it is Hitec). It allows you to remotely without the use of your Radio Control Transmitter to move the servo over it's entire travel range via a rehostat. You could easily mount that on the outside of your cabinet somewhere and hook up the necessary wiring and linkages to a servo in your machine cabinet. This servo would move the programmable nozzle on an arc similar to the HAAS PCOOL nozzle. This unit would be manually adjustable from the outside of the control cabinet during machining operations. The only thing is that with this system you would have to manually adjust the nozzle at each new tool change. As mentioned above and as also detailed in my videos, if you have a HAAS you could hook it a solenoid valve up to one of your M Function relays to turn the coolant off and on. Then you just modify your post processor file to actuate the proper M Code Relay during machine operations to turn the coolant nozzle on and off.

It really depends on how automated and how much money you want to spend on the project. If you wanted to get real creative you could put mulitple programmable coolant nozzles that could be adjusted from outside the cabinet during machining operations so that you don't have to stop the machine or get a coolant bath to change one of your coolant nozzles. The possibilities are endless.

Here is a link to the Hitec Programmable Controller/Tester http://www.rcplanet.com/ProductDetai...C44460&click=3

I only want 50% of the first million you get for developing the idea.

Send me a PM if you would like to discuss this further.

John

[mniadna]

John,
I ran into your video while searching the board for "servo coolant". Pretty neat. I to have a Haas, and it has programmable coolant. This set up will be for my Fadal. I bought it used last year, and did a lot of refurbing. It's been together for a couple of weeks now, and I hate the fact that it doesn't have programmable coolant. I can't take getting sprayed every time I open the doors to position the coolant. Fadal sells what they call "Servo Coolant" it is an actual servo that mounts to the head and positions the spigot. It is controlled by a separate servo amp in the cabinet. You set it up as A or B axis and move it with an A or B position in your program.
The manual RC servo driver was my first idea. Even adjusting with a knob would be better than the Loc-Line set-up. I think I am going to use a micro controller. I've been doing some web reading. There are a lot of them out there for building robots. It will just take some time to learn how to program it. I know spidercool says there system will change positions with the tool. I don't know how they are doing that. I assume they are monitoring a signal from the control somewhere. I can't find any documentation on a pin out anywhere. I have a couple of different ideas on how to position the spigot to the corresponding tool, which should work. All that will come after I make the actual spigot unit. I finished designing it today. I am going to start out with a 1/4 scale servo in an aluminum housing. The spigot will pivot on ball bearings and will be gear driven by way of the servo. With the gear ratio I am using, it will literally quadruple the 150 oz/in of torque from the servo. It will also slow the movement and reduce the sweep, but it will still move fast enough, and far enough. My Haas programmable is pretty slow...

John, Tell you what... I'll take you on as an investor.

[HelicopterJohn]

Hi,

Yes, as they say I have money that I haven't spent yet.

Worse ideas than this have made plenty of money. If you can make this in a kit form and supply universal mounting brackets for it at a reasonable price I think you could sell some. I have had several inquires as to whether I would sell a kit of the programmable air nozzle that I demonstrated in my video.

I realize this is mostly for your own benefit, but keep the idea of retail sales in the back of your head.

The ultimate system would be a programmable coolant ring. Several people including one of my friends have built custom coolant rings that spray from multiple nozzles. This gives you close to 360 degree coolant. The only slight draw back to them that I see is that they are not programmable and getting coolant coverage from the extremely long drills to short center drills could be an issue. Having never used one myself, that may in fact not be an issue. The short coming of the HAAS PCOOL Nozzle is that is is only 1 nozzle that applies coolant from he right hand side of the tool.

Wish you the best of luck as you move forward with this project.