Dyna Mechtronics 4400 (DM4400, dyna myte) reference + brochures & photos

[sagada]

CKM
ISSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHH about machmotion and their advice..
)(&*^%$##@!~~!@

[ckm]

Originally Posted by sagada CKM ISSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHH about machmotion and their advice.. )(&*^%$##@!~~!@

Well, their stuff is really expensive. I'm putting together a touchscreen control panel with a LOT more physical buttons for less than $1000.

Here's a picture of the layout (click for a larger image).



That's a 19" anodized black aluminum panel with color filed engraved markings.

I bought 2 and 3 way switches in bulk, as well as a bunch of push buttons. There are two potentiometers, which were the most expensive things, and the whole panel talks to Mach3 via USB. The monitor is a 3M touchscreen 15" diag. Controlling all the is an Intel Mini-ITX computer with a solid state harddrive and a 12V power supply. The spindle is being driven by a Minarik 5HP DC drive instead of the Servo Dynamics unit.

Total cost so far for the panel is around $600. I have another $700 or so in electronics for the motors and toolchanger, including the breakout board and Geckos. The total cost of the conversion, including the new servos, is around $2300, plus my time.

The only thing I haven't yet bought is a pendant with an MPG. I really like the Homann Designs pendant, but it's really, really expensive. CNC4PC has some really good designs that are 1/2 the price.

I did, however, spend a whole lot more stupid money on stuff I am not going to use, although I might use some of it for a lathe I'd like to CNC. Basically, almost everything that you need is available from two vendors, Keling and CNC4pc. You can spend a lot of time (and money) looking elsewhere, but it's not really worth it.

The control panel is somewhat of a pain, but it's just a bunch of switches and a screen. Most of the hardware is available from Automation Direct or eBay. I spent a HUGE amount of time researching control panel layout and the result is mostly a copy of Matsuura control panels. Fanuc are also good ones to copy.

Chris.

[sagada]

CKM
very very nice am learning a lot from you the next machine will be different....for the moment i will to use what i have since everything is paid
i will make this one work with steppper since everything has been set up for those...
your pendant wowwwwwwwwwwww , i did ask machmotion for a removable one but they told me it was not available for their system another @#$#@@......
i will probably do the dm4000 with the system i have and the dm4400 with another one.......
many thanks for your knownledge..

rejean

[123CNC]

CKM,

If you don't mind revealing your source, where did you pickup your "Intel MicroATX computer with a solid state harddrive?" I'm having a tough time finding a reasonably priced SSD. Does the MB have good old fashioned PCI slots?

[ckm]

123CNC,

The MB has one PCI slot, and all the typical ports, including parallel and serial. It's an Intel D201GLY2, a pretty common compact desktop board. You can find them online for $60-$70. The SSD is a Super Talent 4GB IDE unit. It was $150, I got it off eBay, but there are a fair number available at various online stores for roughly the same price. You can search for D201GLY2 and "4GB IDE Flash" and find a fair number of both of those.

The power supply is from mini-box.com and is powered by 12vdc. It's model picoPSU-90. MiniBox has a lot of stuff that could be of use for CNC builders, including specialized power control units with set startup sequences.

The touch screen is a 3M ChassisTouch 15". One of the things I have to deal with is that I have one serial port and two serial devices, the touchscreen being one of them. So I'm going to get a PCI serial card that will give me two more ports.

BTW, if you are looking for an extra parallel card, I suggest you strongly consider a SmoothStepper USB interface instead. It will give you two parallel ports through a single USB port, a good thing since most computers have at least 6 USB ports and no parallel ports.

There are two stores where I often look for cheap-ish computer stuff:

http://www.thenerds.net/
http://www.geeks.com/

http://www.pricewatch.com/ - Good search engine for computer junk

HTH,

Chris.

[ckm]

Originally Posted by sagada your pendant wowwwwwwwwwwww , i did ask machmotion for a removable one but they told me it was not available for their system another

I'm sure you can add a pendant from CNC4pc or Homann if you want. The CNC4pc ones are quite reasonable and all you need is free parallel or serial port.

Chris

[ckm]

I finally got my new control panel today, looks great. Here are two pictures. The first is unpopulated, the second is populated. I wired up 1/2 the switches tonight, will do the other 1/2 tomorrow. They are wired to an Ipac USB controller. The distortion is my camera, not the panel, it's flat.

[ckm]

Thought I'd post an update of my control panel. Here are some pictures of it wired up to an A-pac USB controller. You just plug it into USB, map your buttons and you're off. The only thing left to wire is the E-stop, which will breakout to a different plug.

The pictures show the A-pac on a carrier board, all wired in. The rest of the pictures show the wiring to switches, and the wiring to the board. One problem I am facing is that I am two connections short, so I might upgrade this to a 48 port unit.

Chris.

[sagada]

CKM
very nice

R

[ckm]

Originally Posted by ckm One problem I am facing is that I am two connections short, so I might upgrade this to a 48 port unit.

Just thought I'd update this as I've figured out how to deal with the connection shortage. It turns out that one of the A-pac inputs is a 'shift' key, which doubles the number of connections. So all I have to do is wire both shift and two wires to a single input, and I've got almost 60 inputs...

Chris.

[olfoundryman]

Help!
When I switch on my DM4400 (skip system) the controller says "READY?" but will not respond to the YES or NO answer that is required - it beeps so it is registering that a button has been pushed but thats all. After a variable period of time - half an hour eight hours whatever, different every day and some days it will not respond at all - it will suddenly decide to respond and behave as it should. I can switch off and on after a correct response and it will respond correctly until the next day when same problem again - driving me nuts anyone got any ideas?

Martin in Australia

[ckm]

Originally Posted by olfoundryman Help! When I switch on my DM4400 (skip system) the controller says "READY?" but will not respond to the YES or NO answer that is required - it beeps so it is registering that a button has been pushed but thats all. After a variable period of time - half an hour eight hours whatever, different every day and some days it will not respond at all - it will suddenly decide to respond and behave as it should. I can switch off and on after a correct response and it will respond correctly until the next day when same problem again - driving me nuts anyone got any ideas?

I would check a couple of things:

1. Check for loose connections, particularly in the control end. You can open up the control panel and make sure everything is seated properly
2. Check the startup delay timer. It's in the bottom of the electronics cabinet, on the left side panel when standing at the back of the mill looking towards the front (there is a picture of it upthread), looks like a grey box with a knob on the top.
3. There are diagnostics on the spindle board (just to the right of the spindle driver). See if there is anything displayed (it would be a number). Also check the spindle amp for an error light.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I look at the manuals when I get a chance.

Chris.