VFD and AC Motor replacement project - Page 4


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Thread: VFD and AC Motor replacement project

  1. #61
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    That is exactly what I am doing.


    Quote Originally Posted by Al_The_Man View Post
    If using a VFD why not go up to 120Hz with a 4 pole?
    Al.




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    The machining on the main plate for the motor mount is done. Just have to do the side pieces. I had one screw up were it ramped in too early on one of the counterbored holes because I mis-measured a tool offset. you can see it in the second photo below. At first I considered starting over but then after thinking about it I realized it did not affect the function in any way so I decided to move forward as is.

    More to come







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    Looks good, Allen. I'm following closely as I may head down the same path (or something similar). Heck, I've considered using a 3hp router motor with speed control just to get chips flying.



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    Watching this thread w/great interest. I recently engaged Mikini to start planning a purchase, but I somehow didn't notice this issue until today. May buy a machine sans electronics for CNC control only. Keep up the good work!



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    Not much progress on the motor swap this weekend. I spent most of the weekend building a new Mach3 controller for the mill and dealing with Gremlins that came out of the swap.

    The computer I had running the mill was the original one I bought from Mikini with the Mill. I was having a problem between it and the smoothstepper. It seemed to me like it could not keep up with the smoothstepper. In terms of the USB bus.

    What would happen is, well in to a long program, it would sometimes give me an error saying the the smoothstepper had run out of data during a move operation. I noticed when this would happen that the touchscreen and keyboard would become unresponsive. All of those things are on the USB bus so I suspect the 1.2Ghz Atom processor that came in the controller was not keeping up somehow.

    So I decided to build a new control computer. I used the Tormach controller as the basis for my design. Mine uses the same case, power supply and motherboard as the Tormach controller. It has a 2.33 Ghz Core 2 Duo and 3 GBs of RAM. Here's the breakdown from Newegg.

    CASE APEX|MI-008 BK 250W RT
    $55.99

    Motherboard INTEL|BOXDG41AN G41 LGA775 RTL
    $71.99

    CPU INTEL|C2D E6550 2.33G 4M REC
    $71.99

    MEM 2Gx2|PATRIOT PSD34G1333K R
    $21.99

    45nm Low Profile CPU fan
    $23.99


    I created a special version of Windows XP using nlite. Nlite is a utility that let's you modify and create custom ISOs of Windows. I slipstreamed in service pack 3 and nlite let's you remove parts of Windows XP so I also removed a bunch of Windows components. Basically if I did not need it for Mach3 I removed it. So things like security center and windows update and a bunch of unneeded services are gone final ISO was 284MB. I also disabled the internal LAN card and Audio card in the BIOS if it does not have to do with Mach 3 it's out. And finally I installed the Standard PC HAL instead of the normal ACPI HAL. to remove any power management shenanigans and simplify things as much as possible. The standard PC HAL is a very primitive hardware abstraction layer it removes the ACPI layer and the advanced programmable interrupt controller that can cause issues with interrupts. It simplifies interrupt control to a very primitive setup that is better suited for something like Mach3 which is interrupt latency sensitive and is trying to do realtime work on a non-realtime OS.

    Here's the Mach3 guide to Windows XP optimization

    After getting everything setup and all the drivers installed I was getting a whole new error from the smoothstepper this one was very consistent anytime you would turn on the spindle you would get an FT_IO_ERROR. The smoothstepper uses the FTDI USB chip for USB coms and this error is caused by a noise issue. What I had to do to fix it was run a ground wire from one of the PC power supply screws to the ground plane of the Mikini. That seemed to equalize the ground between the two and all was good after that. I won't know for sure if I am past the original smoothstepper running out of data error until I try a long program.

    Next up is to code up and machine the side plates for the motor mount.



  6. #66
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    May be TOTALLY unrelated, but I have heard that running MACH3 on long programs can be an issue if you have the tooling simulation active. Did the same program work when you were NOT on the SmoothStepper?

    I bought a SmoothStepper with the Mikini but never installed it. I have since seen Bob Warfields comments that state the SS can be a great benefit - is it as easy as plugging it in and creating a new profile to make use of it? That seems to be too easy to be true, but I believe if I don't hit any of the issues you did, that might be all it takes...

    CAD, CAM, Scanning, Modelling, Machining...


  7. #67
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    Quote Originally Posted by mcphill View Post
    May be TOTALLY unrelated, but I have heard that running MACH3 on long programs can be an issue if you have the tooling simulation active. Did the same program work when you were NOT on the SmoothStepper?

    I bought a SmoothStepper with the Mikini but never installed it. I have since seen Bob Warfields comments that state the SS can be a great benefit - is it as easy as plugging it in and creating a new profile to make use of it? That seems to be too easy to be true, but I believe if I don't hit any of the issues you did, that might be all it takes...
    So on the smoothstepper. You will need the smoothstepper driver and the mach3 smoothstepper plugin both pretty straightforwad and available form here

    It pretty much does what the tin says makes smooth steps.



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    Allen, did you have to do anything special to get the Mikini to recognize the smooth stepper. I tried mine and I just get a "computer not ready " message.

    pete


  9. #69
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    How did you plug it in Pete? You need to have a DB25 to LPH26 connector. Something like

    http://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/prod...roducts_id=204

    That goes from the end of the Mikini parallel cable to port 1 of the smoothstepper board.

    Here is a great guide on getting it all setup in Windows

    http://www.hacksbot.com/storage/Inst...othStepper.pdf



    Quote Originally Posted by slowtwitch View Post
    Allen, did you have to do anything special to get the Mikini to recognize the smooth stepper. I tried mine and I just get a "computer not ready " message.




  10. #70
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    Thanks Allen, Arturo's site (CNC4PC) had a pinout of the connector. So, I decided to double check the old one I had laying around. I ohmed it out and sure enough, one of the connections (pin 3) was bad ...just my luck..lol ....I have ordered a couple new ones. We'll give it a go when they arrive.

    pete


  11. #71
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    Here's an update for you guys,

    So I have been talking to Phil about swapping out my pulley for the correct one which he said he would do. I still plan on going ahead with my replacement project I just wanted the correct pulley for side by side testing. I looked around on the web and could not find any HTD 5MM pulleys for 20MM belts. There are plenty out there for 15MM and 25MM but 20MM belts I could not find.

    So I asked Phil if he would swap it as he had originally offered when I discovered I had the wrong one. He said sure no problem I figure great I will have 40% more torque while I am working on the conversion and I can do side by side comparison of the spindle drives.

    He wanted me to pull the motor and ship it back to him so they could swap the pulley. I said no way to that. Even if I have the wrong size pulley on my motor it currently spins and I have seen what they did to Pete's motor with the ball peen hammer installation job. So there was no way in hell I was going to take my mill completely out of commission and ship my motor back to Phil. So I asked if he would cross ship me a refurb motor with the correct pulley installed. He said sure no problem.

    So he sends me an invoice for the refurb. The plan being once I get the refurb with the correct pulley install it and verify it's working condition I would then ship my current motor back to him and he would refund my credit card for the refurb. Phil said he would ship it out Monday. Well OK I admit I am an idiot for having anything to do with Mikini I am not sure what I was thinking.

    I got a ship notification on Monday and so I was like cool motor with new pulley should be here by Friday. So today is Friday no motor I check the tracking and while UPS shows a label being created they have not actually received a package for shipping from Phil. This is not the first time I have had this happen when buying parts from Phil.

    The last time I bought a spindle load board from Phil he did the same thing created the label and didn't actually ship anything. That was last year I ordered the part 4/1/2011 and recieved it sometime in late June after he said he shipped it on 4/4/2011.


    I just sent Phil this email.

    Hi Phil,

    I got a notice that the motor shipped. I check today and find out
    while a shipping label has been created nothing has actually been
    received by UPS. You said you were going to ship this past Monday.
    What's the deal? I am a little surprised you are still doing business
    this way after all the negative feedback you have received for it
    recently. You know the laws of reciprocity are as real as the law of
    gravity. What comes around goes around and there is no way you can
    continue to do business like this and stay in business. I guarantee
    you bad things will befall your business if this is how you conduct
    it. People will simply not want to have anything to do with your
    company. It really boggles the mind.

    Anyway back to working on the conversion. What a waste of time.



  12. #72
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    Default Conversion update

    The oiler stopped working on my Mikini. It just stopped pumping oil. So I tried replacing the o-rings inside to get it working. After that failed I opted for a replacement oiler. My Machine had a manual type oiler so I found this $50 Taiwan made version on ebay. I have the same one on my manual mill and it works great plus it's relatively inexpensive. I just have it temporarily mounted with one screw. I need a longer oil line to mount it properly. Speaking of which does anyone know where I can get the line and fittings to replace the line with a longer one?



    Also I finished the plate today. Here are some pics. I ended up re-doing the top plate due to some mistakes I made on the first one. This one is exactly as I wanted it. I will be ordering a custom timing pulley from B&B with a QD bushing tomorrow. And then I also need to make some mounting brackets for the gas springs as well.














  13. #73
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    Nice work!!!!! Gives me a warm feeling all over...

    As for the hose, try these guys....

    Hydraulic Hose > Discount Hydraulic Hose.com

    I use them for my engine rebuilds.

    pete


  14. #74
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    You can try these guys, but be prepared to be shocked, their prices are usually high:

    SHOWA, BIJUR, LUBE USA, VOGEL, Lubricating systems, lubrication - Devco Corporation

    Or, Trico is another good source:

    Products - Central Lubrication

    I had to replace all my metering units on my Milltronics mill, this is the place that had the best deal at the time, whether they can help with lines or not, I don't know, but exceptionally good people to deal with:

    RAS Machine Tool

    Oh, you can check Graingers too, they do carry some of the metering units, just didn't have the specific threads I needed, so if they carry the units, they most likely have hoses and tubing.



  15. #75
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    Allen,

    Any updates or progress to report?

    CAD, CAM, Scanning, Modelling, Machining...


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  17. #77
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    Quote Originally Posted by SWATH View Post
    Too bad they don't list and model ir part info...

    CAD, CAM, Scanning, Modelling, Machining...


  18. #78
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    Shouldn't be too hard to find. I think it's an Emerson, that's what I remember anyway.



  19. #79
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    I think too hard at work, I need some spoon feeding ; )

    Our problem will be either integrating it with the Mikini safety wiring, or gut ripping all the manual mode stuff out. Not a simple plug-and-play, I don't think... Could be, but we need more info that Mikini clearly is not willing to supply... Again, I don't have the energy to reverse engineer it right now. I haven't even turned my mill on in a few weeks...

    CAD, CAM, Scanning, Modelling, Machining...


  20. #80
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    So I have made some progress on mounting the gas springs . I have made a couple of aluminium brackets for mounting the springs. I should have them all mounted by this weekend I will post an update with pics hopefully. I also ordered some custom timing pulleys from B&B manufacturing and they are backordered 8-10 weeks. So I am going to have to figure out an alternative. I know Pete pulled his pulley from the motor himself successfully I would be curious how he did that since it is a thermal fit. If I could do that I could pull the old pulley and machine in to fit a QD bushing or thermal fit for the new motor.



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VFD and AC Motor replacement project

VFD and AC Motor replacement project