Timer / oiler question

[chrispy]

All,
I am retrofitting a Bridgeport Boss CNC machine, using Gecko drivers and a Campbell controller.

One thing that I am trying to recreate is the oilier function. This is the oilier that oils the ways and bearings on the machine. According to the manual it shots oil once for every 30 minutes that the spindle is running.

Is there anyway to control this with MACH2 or MACH3? Or even better yet take some type of computation of how much X,Y,Z travel as well as spindle rotation has occurred and then come up with time frame as to when it should shoot the oil. I prefer the calculation method as even at 30 minutes it is too much oil. But just a simple timer would do if no other means were available.

Obviously I just need a TTL signal down the parallel port, and I can trip a relay with it.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance,
Chris

[Barker806]

Originally Posted by chrispy All, According to the manual it shots oil once for every 30 minutes that the spindle is running. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance, Chris

Chris there is a motor in the (Balgur sp)oiler that will make it give a shot every 30 min. So all you have to do is wire the Lube up the spindle. There are some auxiliary contacts on the motor starter coils that I have used in the past.
Hope that gets you going.
Thank you
Brian

[chrispy]

Brian,
Thanks a million. That makes all the sense in the world. So the lubber has the timer built internally. Great. That would probably explain why I could not find it in the schematics. I did have a feeling that the original PDP-11 computer had no timers on it.

When you mention starter coil, do you mean the Off/Hi/Low switch up by the head? If so I would assume that you are just pulling off two legs as the lubber is 110vac? At least this is the way I will have to go about it as I completely tossed everything in both cabinets, save for the 3 phase throw switch. I tossed the 110VAC transformer as it was only good for 8amps and I needed at least 13amps. So I decided to run a separate 115 cord with the machine as well, only thing on three phase is the spindle motor (I am generating the three phase, and this left the converter off so that I could program and test). I might just run it off of this. Plus I assume that it is using the 60hz signal for timing and the signal might be cleaner without the converter.

As well built as this thing was originally the lubber shooting oil only when the spindle is running seems like the only thing that was not done with over kill. The way it was designed you could jog all three axis all day long (say you were testing something) and the ballscrews, and table ways would never receive any oil.

[Barker806]

Chrispy,
If you are going to be putting in a good day of testing there is a plunger on the top of the oilier unit that you can pull on to manually oil the mill The Starter that I am talking about is in the top of the rear cabinet. I should have called it a mechanically interlocked reversing motor starter.... Yea whatever... It is the contacts that truly turn on the power to the spindle motor. there are auxiliary contact on the starter set that can be used to run thing like a spindle brake and the lube. I think it was the blue wires that did this but it has been some time since I have seen and OEM boss....

Hope that puts a little more light on the subject
Brian

[chrispy]

Brian,
Thanks again for the info. From your description I can assume that there was a change in between our machines. The power to the spindle motor is controlled buy the switch itself. Sounds like the same principle though. I do have to figure out the switch though as it is used in the e-stop as well (has a 120v coil attached, that will throw the switch if the e-stop is hit).

Seeing that the lubber has its own timer I guess I could just leave it to run when the spindle motor is running. No sense in trying to control it, as best I could do turn it on to start the timer. I imagine if it was good enough, as original, for Bridgeport than it should be good enough for me.

Thanks again,
Chris

[chrispy]

Brian,

Do you happen to remember if the luber was 110v or 240v. I cannot find any reference to it in the schematics. The four original wires lead me to believe it is 240v, but I have a hard time believing that.

As luck would have it no info on any plates on the luber.