Joining the CNC world

[tlowe]

Brian,
Ordered up the supplies today to make one. Looking forward to using it.

[Brian L]

If you have any questions feel free to holler.

[sportybob]

That is a better home made spray mister then most i have seen.
You could connect a solenoid valve to the air in and wire it to the "spray mist" relay in the Milltronics, that way you could "program it" (M7 on M9 off) run it from the conversational programming or turn it on / off from the front panel "spray mist" button.

sportybob

[Brian L]

That is exactly what I did, added a solenoid and wired it to work with M7. Extremely simple and effective. And thank you for the compliment, it was pretty easy to rig up and has been very effective for me. I am noticing after a year or so of use, that the large o-ring that seals up the canister to the mount is starting to swell up from exposure to the oil in the mixture. O-rings are cheap though and I'll get one made for oil exposure when I replace it.

[tlowe]

I am lucky, my machine already has a air valve control from the console. It is a double acting unit and powers the power drawbar in the other mode. Liking this machine more and more. Now to get it in it's final resting place in my shop, then permanent hookup.

[Brian L]

You will need more than one solenoid though.... mine has one for the cylinder that compressed the drawbar for tool change, then it has one for the brake when you hit e-stop, and I added a third to use with the M07 command in the control, that way you coolant mister works through the program. You should have a block inside the rear control panel with at least one or two solenoids already on it, and usually the block is long enough to handle 5 solenoids, so you can get another and add it in. I have pictures of mine if you need to see it.... was pretty simple.

[sportybob]

Hi Tlowe, The power draw bar is usually operated by an in /out button mounted to the left side of the head. ( red / green button) and is directly supplied air pressure from the incoming air to the machine. the in / out "buttons" are used in place of a solenoid valve. so , I am not sure of the "double scting" valve you are talking about. the spray mister would need a separate solenoid valve to work with the front panel spray mist button or to be "programmable". thru the front panel button, or M&G Code or conversational programming. It is possible that some one has done something different to your machine.
pics of the power draw bar operation switch / buttons / ?? would be helpful. pics of the "double solenoid"?


Sportybob

[Brian L]

If you look back at post #7, you can see the tool in/out buttons. It appears this machine uses an air impact an probably NMTB40 or NMTB30 tooling, I can't tell from the pictures. Regardless, his switch is a "mechanical" pushbutton switch. You could run the mister with a manual on/off, but it's a whole lot nicer to wire in a solenoid using the M7 command as then the coolant "mist" button on the panel works too, and the coolant can be turned on/off in the program.

As a note.... this drove me crazy.... the coolant pump didn't work, the mister after I wired it all in didn't work.... I'm tracing circuits, beating my head against the wall.... only to find out neither the flood or mist coolant will work without the spindle turned on. I guess they figure you don't need coolant if the spindle isn't turning.... but after dozens of CNC machines I've run and owned, this was a first for me.

[tlowe]

Guy's,
From what I can tell. Mine has a solenoid valve, it is double acting. It is controlled from the control panel. When I push the tool change soft button, I hear it supply air to the tool changer hard buttons. After the tool change it turns off the draw bar air supply.
When I push the mist button (with spindle on) the air valve energizes again. But there is no line hooked up, it is plugged. I will hook up to this location.

The supplies are starting to show up. I am going to make my manifold with 1 air input , 1 liquid input, 2 flow regulators and 2 outputs.

This machine uses CAT40 tooling.

In this pic, it is located on the left rear electrical cabinet. Down low.

[Brian L]

I can vaguely make out the solenoid block.... mine is inside the cabinet. One of my solenoids was acting up, the original was a size that I could only find at a pretty high price. I found this stuff at Automation Direct, I think it was, got a new manifold and three solenoids with all the associated air line fittings for just over $100. This picture is before I added the third one just above the two shown, I still have room for one more, in case I need an air brake on a 4th axis or vise operated by air.

[sportybob]

Hi Tlowe, That is a little different way to do it. as long as it works.

I did notice in your pic that the Z axis motor cable strain relief was dangling from the motor. You should correct this before the wiring gets damaged as causes other damage to the motor, encoder
If the inner plastic nut inside the motor cap has come loose and pulled out, you can sometimes reinstall the nut Remove the motor cap, insert the strain relief back into the cap and screw the nut back on from inside the cap.
Sportybob

[tlowe]

Good eye Bob!
I have fixed that since getting ownership. That and the light base and remounting the incoming air regulator. The quill handle did not like to retract by itself, so tightened up the spring. Also the quill stop was loose. Had to take it apart and torque it down.

Over all so far it was just some small tinkering type repairs. Hope that is all. Will know more once I move it in place and really get it to working. Hope to move it on sunday.

[tlowe]

Well, got the VK4 sitting in it's new home. Surprising how heavy it is and how unbalanced it is. It really taxed the limits of my forklift.
Hooking the air to it today and will be running power next week.

BrianL
Made 2 of your MQL setups and mounting one on each side of the machine. They will both be getting lube from one canister.

Setting up the air line to feed and found out that once again you guy's are right. My solenoid air valve is not a double but only feeds the power drawbar. So ordered a 24V air valve to hook in. Studying the wiring of the original valve and the drawing I have. It seems that the X connector on the PC is where the Blue wire from the MISTER valve needs to hook on pin 2 and the brown goes to the din bar on pin 20.

Does the X connector have a relay in the computer chassis? One for each output?

[Brian L]

All knee mills are a bit difficult to move with a fork lift and the Milltronics iron weighs almost twice what a Bridgeport weighs. I used a pallet jack and skates when we moved mine into the shop.

I did the same with my mister, two mixing valves fed by one tank, works very well. I made a bracket out of aluminum angle that mounts the two mixing heads on the front of the machine... think I have a picture that shows it pretty well.... I hooked up my wiring on a rail along the top inside of the control panel, my manuals details which connector numbers were for the mist cooling, ran the wires from there to the solenoid (mine was 120V) and all was good.

[sportybob]

Hi Tlow, the Spray mist is connected to X out 2. you can use most any solenoid valve, but the current draw must be less then .5 A this is the "max" the control will handle. If more the run thru a separate relay that draws less the .5A.
see attached DWG.

PM me for more info.

Sportybob

[tlowe]

Ok Guy's,
Finally have the machine in place and wired in.

Also made the MQL system Brian had posted. It was not bad to do. It is installed too.

Looking to hook the 24V solenoid upto the mist control. Xout pin 2. The empty pin is there. What size is the tool to take out the pin, so I can attach a wire? It is a Amphenol connector.

[rl49]

Release tool: https://www.alliedelec.com/search/pr...x?SKU=70089873
Pin18-16 AWG: https://www.alliedelec.com/search/pr...x?SKU=70082921
Pin 24-20 AWG: https://www.alliedelec.com/search/pr...x?SKU=70082963
Connecter plug:https://www.alliedelec.com/search/pr...x?SKU=70083006

[Brian L]

Just a tip, those amphenol connectors require a special crimping tool, which is very expensive... think it was over $200 when I was looking. They make the connector pins in a solder on variety, rather than crimp on, so I ordered those instead. I accumulated all of that to hook up a 4th axis, but for the coolant, you can easily find the proper connection on the terminal strip to connect to and avoid all of this messing about with the amphenol connectors.

[RTP_Burnsville]

Thanks for the PDF on the MQL system...... FWIW, I built something similar a couple years back but with an air brush for the spray tip. I think your idea will work better.

BTW, That is a very nice looking mill.

Thanks,
Robert

[tlowe]

Well, I have been making parts. This mill is impressive to me. Here is a video of me doing a bolt pattern into a valve cover I make. This took 20 minutes per part on a Bridgeport. Now about 3 minutes, including installing it in the jig.

I use a peck drill operation in my G code program. How do I setup the parameters of the cycle and to stop the cycle near end of program? I use a G83 and it is used for 7 bolt holes. It starts too high and continues even after I have the table pull out of way to give me access of part.