upgrading series three drive system

[Tormachmaster]

Anyone done this and is there any difference Ive had my machine with zero problems and have an 8" fourth axis built from an indexer for more stability then the small 8" axis offered from tormach everything has worked 100% perfect no problems ever was reading the upgrade and figured I would ask to see if it is worth it or not?

[philbur]

There was a thread on this about a month or so back.

Phil

Anyone done this and is there any difference Ive had my machine with zero problems and have an 8" fourth axis built from an indexer for more stability then the small 8" axis offered from tormach everything has worked 100% perfect no problems ever was reading the upgrade and figured I would ask to see if it is worth it or not?

[shred]

The 4th motor does not get changed in the Series 3 upgrade. I've only done a little 4th work since installing the upgrade, but it's worked fine without any other changes.

[rowbare]

I installed the drive upgrade on an older Series 1 and I am very happy with it. The machine is a lot smoother especially where mid band resonance was an issue with the old motors in my case around 10 ipm. The upgrade went fairly smoothly, I did it over two evenings maybe 6-8 hrs total including moving the machine out and back in (no small feat with my setup) and re-leveling the machine afterwards.

The only odd thing I have noticed is that the Z screw howls a bit on minus Z rapids but that is no big deal.

bob

[Tormachmaster]

anyone have a video of it after upgraded so i could see the difference in sound and movement?

[tikka308]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqGSat488Vg]Tormach PCNC 1100 CNC Mill - Series III Upgrade! Ch. 25 - YouTube

[Tormachmaster]

seemed a little faster still sounded loud to me. The noise does not bother me but if it holds better numbers then I will do this to mine.

[dbrija]

seemed a little faster still sounded loud to me. The noise does not bother me but if it holds better numbers then I will do this to mine.

Number wise, it can't realistically be any better than the mechanical tolerances (ballscrew, etc....). I did the upgrade for the faster rapids (not a deal maker or breaker), and to get rid of the 10 IPM resonant drone (seems like everything I needed to cut wanted 10 IPM). That, and now I have steppers/drivers for a lathe conversion if I want to....

As far as the noise, my machine is quite a bit quieter. The mic in the video does not do it justice.

[zephyr9900]

Here's another video.



(how the heck do I embed the darn thing?!?)

Randy

[David Bord]

Randy, Tricky.... And impressive !

What steppers does your machine have?

David

[zephyr9900]

They're the ones the machine came with, David. 640 oz-in on X and Y and 1200 oz-in on Z. I realized I never took a picture of the Z motor so I had to lug over the stepladder...

EDIT: I just put this here since I think that, for anyone considering the Series 3 motor/driver upgrade, it's worth giving a try in the meantime and won't cost anything. Credit to btu44/Barry on this forum for researching the phase balancing and XML changes. If you have a Series 1, your warranty is long expired anyway. I obviously can't guarantee others' results will be as good as mine, if you try it remove the vise during your experimenting and put a sheet of plywood or something on the table to protect it just in case the Z motor lets go, yadda yadda. /EDIT

Randy

[zephyr9900]

The only odd thing I have noticed is that the Z screw howls a bit on minus Z rapids but that is no big deal.

Maybe you need to pull that lubricator handle a little more often, Bob.

Randy