Spindle Forward/Reverse = High/Low change

[AdyAstley]

Hello All,

This is my first day to this site although a few years ago I did look at it when I bought this Bridgeport that was broke and pretty sad. Today it is running with Gecko 203V's and a registered Mach 3 software. Anyhow it works but due to a hitch (me knowing nothing about mills) I have come across a tiny problem.

If I change gear from high to low the forward is now reverse. How can Mach 3 handle this? I have ordered a Eurotherm 650V 240V single phase to 3 phase drive. These drives have plc programming and a simple gear switch can easily ensure that a forward command is actually going to rotate CW regardless of gearing. I am not sure if putting the belt in mid position and using the drive will give me the same torque as using the belt speed.

Anyhow the question is has anyone actually addressed this issue or is there a better way of doing this. I bought the drive so I could run this machine at my home but the idea was to sell it (without the drive, just contactors) and build myself a router table with the profits and knowledge I have gained during the refurb.

Any pointers would be gratefully received

[phomann]

Originally Posted by AdyAstley Hello All, This is my first day to this site although a few years ago I did look at it when I bought this Bridgeport that was broke and pretty sad. Today it is running with Gecko 203V's and a registered Mach 3 software. Anyhow it works but due to a hitch (me knowing nothing about mills) I have come across a tiny problem. If I change gear from high to low the forward is now reverse. How can Mach 3 handle this? I have ordered a Eurotherm 650V 240V single phase to 3 phase drive. These drives have plc programming and a simple gear switch can easily ensure that a forward command is actually going to rotate CW regardless of gearing. I am not sure if putting the belt in mid position and using the drive will give me the same torque as using the belt speed. Anyhow the question is has anyone actually addressed this issue or is there a better way of doing this. I bought the drive so I could run this machine at my home but the idea was to sell it (without the drive, just contactors) and build myself a router table with the profits and knowledge I have gained during the refurb. Any pointers would be gratefully received

Hi,

Check in the Mach3 pulley configuration Table. I think there is a flag to indicate that the pulley gives reverse direction. This should cause Mach to issue a change in the spindle direction output signal.

Note: I don't use this feature and have no experience with it.

Cheers,

Peter.

[AdyAstley]

Peter,
Thanks for the response but the pulley setup is strange as you can as you say give a speed range and say it is reverse by checking, but after that how do you select as there is no G-code or M codes that say use pulley 1 or pulley 2. It might be that I have to say pulley 1 = 0 a 500rpm and pulley 2 = 500 - 3000 lets say the automatically if the spindle speed is fixed in the code it selects the gearing.

I will try this on Saturday and post what I find. By the way I looked at your products and web and would like to say well done with your advances in the CNC for poor people. I read most of your info before tackling this project and I am still miles away from doing what I intended to do. This machinery is facinating but drawing in 3d is where the next step is sore.