Spindle drive compatability

[nlh]

As per some of my previous post in this forum I have an SL-1A I have been trying to get going. It has a bad spindle drive. I was able to somehow bypass the not ready signal coming from the drive and jog the machine around without issue. Becuase of this I have decided to replace the spindle drive and put the machine into use.

My first question is this. Will a spindle drive of the same model that was from a milling machine, fit and work properly in a lathe application?

I have located a drive, it is a CIMR-MTII-7.5K.B. My old drive is just a CIMR-MTII-7.5K.

Is the B series drive compatible with a "non B series" drive? The B drive has a blue metal cover whereas the "old" one has a clear plastic cover.

I won't contact Yaskawa on this. I have tried a couple times but no one wants to be bothered with such an old machine. They would rather sell me a new one for $10,500.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[nlh]

No one out there has any info on this?

Thanks

[Waynno]

Its probably doable, But you would need specific documentation
from Yaskawa on the pin configuration on the newer drive

I did one of these a few years ago, took a chance and bought
a brand new drive off Ebay for about $400.00, But is came with
a manual.

I described to the seller what I was doing with the drive, he said
I needed a plug to convert from the temenal strip style connection
to the plug they were using at the time.

The manual has all the pin functions, I made up a cable and mounted
a new terminal strip in the box to make the connections.

I also had to but a specific encoder to replace the tach, that in itself
was $700.00

But I got it all to go, 1500.00 I paid for the machine with the blown drive
$400.00 for the new/surplus drive Ebay score, $700.00 for the encoder

and a lot of patience and self re-acquittance from my training in electronics
and digital electronics 20 years earlier, I still have the machine, it runs rather
good for small investment and a lot of time tinkering with the drive

I know this may not help your situation, but maybe a bit more persistence
with Yaskawa to get the manual for the newer drive may pay off, they used
to give manuals for free, have not delt with them for a few years, not sure
if they still do that

Wayne

[nlh]

Thanks Waynno,

Actually, now that you mention it, I downloaded a couple drive manuals from Yaskawa's website a while back. I'm pretty sure all the pin-out info is in the manuals (just took a look before replying).

I do like your idea of retrofitting a new drive. I'm comfortable enough with electronic's to not let some rewiring stop me, however it's also a time issue. An exact replacement drive would be a little more money but would be a 20 min replacement.

A question concerning your machine and retrofit. Is it absolutely mandatory to have a spindle encoder feeding back to the drive? There is another thread in the Mazak forum about retrofitting a Toshiba VFS11 drive. However, this drive doesn't use feedback but supposedly with careful tuning can be very accurate. It's refered to as a "Sensorless Vector" vfd.

Still need to do some more exploring before I jump in.

Thanks again,
Nate

[Waynno]

Is it absolutely mandatory to have a spindle encoder feeding back to the drive?

In my case, Yes, it was absolutely required

Your case, no way to tell until you find documentation for that
specific drive. You may get away with your current brush tach on
that vintage

Wayne

[Waynno]

BTW, Here is some video I took of that very machine the other night


YouTube - Sl 1 0001