Enco RF-45 clone CNC convertion.

[LUCKY13]

I am going to start my build thread, although things are moving pretty slow for me. This is a RF-45 clone mill (Enco) that I will be doing a lot of modifications to as the build goes. The machine will be very close to Bob Warfields IH build. Infact I have been following his build and using it as a guide for my own build. Epoxy work,Z axis mods to the head, X & Y mods for more travel, and a bit different Y axis mounting will be used. I will document and supply pics when I get a little deeper into the build.


For now here is what I have to start with.

Mach3 plus add-on wizards
Gecko 320 drives (four)
HomeShopCNC 850 servos with 500 count encoders (X,Y & Z)
SmoothStepper USB CNC controler
Antek 1440w 72v 20amp power supply
Bob Campbell Combo board (BOB with spindle control and more)
Cables for encoders & motors
A/C power filter/smoother with circuit breaker & relay
Optical limit/homing switches I am building myself
The start of a cooling system I will be making out of a parts washer.
17" LCD panel that will be built in
Industrial E-stop and enable buttons
Pent duel core2duo comp that will be built into the enclosure


The motor mounts I will build myself, and the Y axis will be a little different than I have seen anywhere.

I am building a bench/enclosure that is based off the Tormach DIY bench. There will be some mods to it and it will house the electronics in a slide out tray that will be water tight, but be easy to get to with the opening of a door and the use of sliding tracks. The cooling system will be enclosed in the bottom. And there will be room built in for the Y axis mounting that I will be doing. Basically the Y axis mount will come down from the front of the mill, but the motor will come from the back and be back under the mill base. I have some drawings of this bench and its mods but I will have to scan them before I can post them. The reason for designing the Y axis this way is to help me reach the table from a chair (a little more explained on that at the end).



The Ball screws is really the only thing I have still not figured out what to use yet. The Rockford screws have gotten very expeincive. There doesnt seem to be much feedback on the HomeShopCNC screws and I am not sure where else I can get a good screw at a fair price. I plan to try and use 1" screws but this might only work on the Z axis because of room. If I can I will use 1" on all of them but the X & Y might end up being 3/4". What ever I get will be double nuts with mounting on both ends.


The bearing blocks I am also making myself.

The epoxy work will be done after everything else is fitted so I can put as much as possible in each location.


One shot oiling will be added, but I am working on a system that uses a power steering pump off a small import car for a pump so it can be automated (and cheaper).


Any suggestions or advice will be very welcome, this is my first build. I will start getting pics and docs as quick as I can, but I am dissabled so I do move a bit slower than most will expect. This has been a plan that I have been working on for atleast 6 months (more like a year) that I have been buying parts and gathering equipment. Everything is ready to start going together, encluding the bench. I hope to be doing some bench testing of the servos and electronics this weekend so things should start happening soon. But a lot does depend on when help comes around from my son, I just cant do most of it myself when it comes to the heavy stuff. We plan to build a over head crane to assist me when the machine is running and everything will be built in a way that I can operate it from a chair. The whole deal has been very hard for me to get this far but my family has pitched in many ways to help make it happen. Hopefully in a couple months we will see chips.



Thanks Jess

[Bubba]

Lucky13,
Sounds like you have done your homework and when you start the project for real; everything "should" fall into place. I am not saying there won't be some challenges along the way because there will be some. Over all it should be smooth.

I for one am looking forward to your build.

[LUCKY13]

Thanks Bubba,

I have tried to do my research and be prepared for whatever comes. But I agree with you though, there will probably be something that needs worked out along the way. I am hoping that falls into the area of normal configuring with the controler all the electronics. There is a lot to these systems really and if I dont have any noise problems I kinda do expect it to go faily smooth. LOL, I did go ahead a buy enough equipment to build my fourth axis, if I do something on the stupid side like burn a driver or such I will atleast have extra parts to keep going with. Lets hope thats not the case.


My BOB and encoder cables where in route when I started the thread, they showed up tonight so it looks like some bench testing this weekend might be a go. I do still need to build my motor cables but I have it all here. I will have to put my thinking cap on to get this all wired and configured. I have my enclosure layed out and configured for the placement of everything but no wiring started. I might add some amp & volt meters to the setup but they will most likely go on the outside of the enclosure. I do have a nice digital button panel with 5" LCD touch screen I hope to get working for some of the controls but I expect a project like that will take some time and should be done after the machine is operational.


I will get some pics up at the end of the weekend of the bench test (I hope it goes good enough to worry with pics/vids), also I will put up the enclosure/bench as soon as I get it in a program so I can post it, or maybe put it in Rhino so I can post the files for it (not sure if I can do that with the Demo of Rhino). I would like for others to see my Y axis setup incase I am over looking anything that might cause a problem with the way I am doing it. That would be better than finding out after I built everything.



Thanks Jess

[LUCKY13]

Well its taken me much longer than I expected to get a good bench test going. Although I went ahead and started mounting and wiring before I even tried to add power ( mounting in the enclosure, not on the machine) . Sorry for no pics or vids, they will be coming. Right now I have the complete system wired and mounted as far as power supply,E-Stops, Limits, BOB, SmoothStepper,charge pump and all the little things needed to have a system that works under Mach3 control with safety features. I only have one Gecko & 850 servo running and tuned at the moment though. Tomorrow I will add the next two motors one at a time and tune them . By the middle of next week I should be able to post some pics at least, but I will try to barrow a vid recorder and post the system running G-code on the bench with all three axis and spindle control.



I will have to admit it has taken me a very long time to get this system this far. I really took my time and went over every circuit so that I knew I had it right before I even put power on the system. On the one servo I have running and tuned I am getting 286 ipm rapids with excellent start & stop response. The servo sets there died quite with extreme holding torque. It took me quit some time to get it setting there tuned this good but after I figured out all the settings and how they effected the servo and driver it went pretty smooth.

I am quit impressed with these 850 servos from HomeShopCNC, I can really make it jump when I want to (almost off the table). When I am jogging the servo its very smooth and even at the 286ipm its very quit and smooth. I think these motors are going to work out great with super response and excellent speed .

The Bob Campbell Combo board has been very easy to get setup and working right. Its been flawless and it having its own built in power supplies have made this much easier. It has three built in supplies, one 12v, two 5v with isolation on the one 5v rail for the computer side of the opto's. The limit switch's and charge pump where a breeze to get setup. I hope the coolant & spindle circuits work out as easy as the others did. Bob has been very helpful with E-mails and replied to them faster than I could go back and look for replies most times (and I sent a lot of Emails) . His support has been extremely good and his product has worked exactly as stated and it is very stable. The only problem I have had is a lack of pins which I will explain more about with feedback on the Smoothstepper down farther in the post. For the most part this is one sweet board and it doesn't take very much room to use it either, not to mention the three power supplies, Charge Pump, Spindle circuit with relays, And coolant circuit with relays that it eliminates the need for.


I will get the spindle control ( D/C motor with a encoder for threading and tapping) worked out before I post pics and vids. Even though I don't have the system mounted on a machine yet I wanting to see it go through some G-code with spindle control working.

I feel like I have been very lucky up to this point. When I put power to the system I didn't have to do any thing but tune. Even all the Mach3 and SmoothStepper setting where right from the get go. I spent a lot of time going over what it took for my config and I am pleased it worked out this easy (easy after I spent a lot of time figuring, and I mean a whole lot of time going over everything). If the rest of the build goes this good I will feel great about this build (somethings got to go wrong somewhere though, well see).


The SmoothStepper is sweet, I have the ability to push signals much faster than my system even needs (instead of being limited by Mach3 signal levels). Not much to say here because this thing is just right. I cant believe how smooth everything is running, even very slow or very fast jogs is silky smoooth. The three printer ports it has gives me plenty of pins to work with. In fact it kinda saved me because the Bob Campbell combo board is a bit limited on pins with only one port. If I was going to use a controlled spindle ( encoder for feed back on the spindle motor) the board would only support two axis in that config. Its a very nice board but I would have to say it is more setup for a lathe than a mill if you want spindle control with a encoder for threading or tapping. Loosing two axis because of being short on pins to have feedback on a spindle kinda hurts this board. Its not a deal killer though and I will try to figure a work around even though I have it covered already with the SS. With the SmoothStepper I can work around this problem. It may be possible to work around this anyway if only one set of limit pins was used so it could free up some pins ( all limit switches in a series config on one set of pins). This is not bad though because the Combo board really worded great and when you see my system it will show how much this board help make a very clean and compact setup. Compared to many other setups I have see it almost looks like I am missing something when you look at it. I have only had to use one power supply (the main feed for the servos) and the integrated Charge Pump, Spindle Control with relays and the coolant control with relay is already there with power so I want have to add anything else to get these working (Charge pump is already working).
The Campbell Combo board has two PP ports, but I don't think you can use but one or the other (I may be wrong though). When I bought it I thought I would have two ports but if you read the docs close on the BC Combo board it tells about these limitations when using a encoder on the spindle. Plus there may be a way to work around it anyway, or if using s SmoothStepper its no biggie anyway.

We have already took some pics, before, during and after the electronics setup build and I will wait till I get it completed to get the last pics before posting them (middle of next week, maybe Tuesday).


I will post back the results of the spindle control and coolant system tomarrow night ( I hope).


Jess

[LUCKY13]

Well sorry for no pics yet, but there coming. I have got the complete system working now, all three axis, spindle control and the coolant pump control. I am very surprized at how good the spindle control works even without a feedback encoder. The speed is very ajustable with as good a res as you could ask for. I don't have a encoder for it just yet but when I get one it should keep things dead nuts for thread milling and tapping.
This is just a D/C motor with CSR controler but its going from 200 to 6000rpm with no problem. I will be glad when I get the belt drive built for the spindle to be able to use it . Atleast the circuit is worked out and ready. Spindle control seems to be one of those area I read of lots of troubles but the Bob Campbell Combo board has been a breeze to work with. So far I have been very pleased with it and if it fits your needs as far as pins available I would have to recommend it. I will have to admite if it wasnt for the SmoothStepper I would be out of pins though. Although I havnt tried working around this as I meantioned before, I will in time because it looks to me like its possible with the right settings. It should atleast give 4 axis with spindle feedback control and unless I can work around a few things it can not handle that many pins right now. I will see after I get some of this other stuff out of the way.


It does look like I have one Gecko 320 bad out of the four I ordered. It works, but it works funny. It was the third driver I hooked up and it was kinda odd because I have one oddball motor out of the three I ordered. Nothing wrong with it you can just tell its not from the same batch. That was the first thing I suspected so I swapped the driver over to one of the other motors and it done the same thing . Then I swapped the drive (I bought four so I would have a extra and then a four axis) and it worked like a charm so I guess the drive is faulty. It just acts like it has no control until you turn the gain & damp upto about 3/4 of the way, then its just out of control. Although it holds servo lock its very rough at idle and when moving.


I got my heatsink in today and I need to get it mounted to the backplate. I have the drives mounted to it already with compound but I need to make four standoffs to mount the sink down. As soon as I get that done it will be the last pics we need to take of the electronics setup so we will get the pics up then.


Anyway up to this point its been pretty much smooth as I could ask. I keep expecting that something to jump up and get me but it hasnt happened yet (fingers crossed). I do seem to be having some possible encoder problems though, its not getting noise, it just looses signal after a point in the higher RPM. Each one will lose it at about the same point and I feel like it may be something related to a subject that Mariss has meantioned here lately. Well see, I am not going to count them out until I run them will a load on the motors. Anyway back soon with pics of the system ready to mount on.



Jess

[SSfab]

Hit up www.roton.com they have decent ball screws for a really good price. They are rolled not ground.

[LUCKY13]

Hit up www.roton.com they have decent ball screws for a really good price. They are rolled not ground.

Thanks SSfab, screws will be my next purchase. Yea, rolled not ground. I cant afford the rolled, I may even have to buy them one axis at a time unless I can get them cheaper than I am thinking.


Now for the updates

Well I changed directions on how I was going to mount my electronics. I went and bought a Cabinet from Sears, its the Gladiator series wall cabinet 24x24". I had the other setup done though and I had to take it all apart for the different mounting that will be required for the cab.


We lost all the pics up to this point. They where in a phone that my son has but it turns out his phone is locked and we cant even use the camera that is in it unless we pay extra for the service. No biggy because the whole setup is changing, although it did look very nice setting there finished the way I had it. I barrowed a digital camera tonight though so I will be able to post pics of whats going on from now on as soon as its battery charges up.


I thought I was having some encoder problems when I was bench testing. It turns out it was a setting in Mach3 that was causing the rapids run faster than what I had set. After fixing that it ran without faults. I then changed some setting on my counts per unit. This put me at 40,000 counts per inch at 180 imp max. After a few changes in SmoothStepper to go along with this the system run much better. Infact it ran so good I was able to run the Road Runner code at 175imp without fault. I picked up a scope tonight also so I should be able to tune the system even better after I get it back together. I wish I had a video recorder because when I put the accell up on the motors these things where jumping around like crazy. I need to mount them to board or something until I put them on the mill before I break a encoder. I will keep the accell down until then.



BTW I have some Allen Bradey switches I will be using. These switches are kinda moduler and you can replace contacts, main unit, button style and color, and indicator light module if needed. I need a double contact for one of them and it appears that you could stack contact sets if you had the right one to on top (if you know these switchs I am sure you know what I am talking about). Anyone have any of these double contact, or the right one I need to make them stack. I have two circuits I need to switch at the same time and one is a D/C & one a A/C circuit so I need seperate contacts for each on one switch. I woulsn't mind having a green mushroom button top for one, if not two of the switches. This way it wouold be easy to see that they where not the E-Stop which will be right there with them but with a red button top.



I will start posting pics tomarrow night but it will be a few days before I finish the new enclosure. I need to get some connectors to add to the front of the inclosure and it will take me a bit to cutout all the panel holes for them and switchs. I will post the pics as it progressess. but th eonly way I have to cut the holes is with drill bits then finshing them with a dremal. This will take a while I am sure. When i had it built for the sliding draw that I was going to build into my mill enclosure it looked very neat and well laid out. I hate a big rats nest of wires and I will run them just as good in the cabinet, but this is a lot of work and like cutting out the panel front panel for connectors and switchs it will take a while. I wanted to leave it built on the sliding draw but I got afriad of problems with the enclosure when I was using coolant. Thats the last thing I need is a leak that drains down into my electronics. Like the old saying goes, anything that can happen will so I thought it best to change it for safety reasons. It just kinda suxs though having to undo everything I have already done, I guess its best though.


Well my battery is up on the barrowed camera, I will start getting pics up. Atleast I hope I am, I have never uploaded any pics, or really used a camera either so dont expect much out of pic taking.


Jess

[LUCKY13]

Well looks like that didnt work . Let me try again. Ok, its saying invalid files so I didnt pay enough attention, LOL. I will go see what it is I need to get these pics to post.


Jess

[LUCKY13]

Lets try again, I might figure this out after a day or two.



OK it worked. These 850 servos from HomeShop really are brutes. I can't believe the power they have, the RPM is very good also. The shaft is 1/2 inch (maybe even 5/8ths I will have to measure)so it want be backing up from any pressure. What surprizes me is how much torque they have even when rotating very slow. I dont thing I will really need the 4 to1 belt drive for them, in fact I started out thinking I would run 2.5 to 1 but the system ran so smooth with resilution set to work with 4 to 1 I belive that is where I will set the system up to run with.


The Antec power supplies are a nice piece also, that transformer looks like it could hurt something. There will be a grill gaurd that goes over it after its all finished. The filter board beside the tranformer is one I salvaged out of a big copier. I have others that are a little small that would make someone doing a X2 or small lathe build a good setup. I will post a pic of them if anyone would like one.



The Allen Bradey switchs, anyone have these contacts or button covers I am wanting?



I will get more pics when I make more progress on the enclosure but this will be a start for now.


The motor pic with the LED board beside it. This board came with my Bob Campbell combo board. It lights the red lights when a direction signal is given, and the green lights are for steps signal. A set per axis, it should help when diagosing time comes and I want to know if my comp is sending signals.


A/C power will hook up to the breaker thats mounted on the power board. I still have to drill the mounting hole for the cord to come through the enclosure.


If you look at the Campbell combo board close you will see two small heatsinks. I added these to two of the power transistors. They where not getting too hot, but hot enough that I felt like they needed them for when it was hot in the shop and the enclosure closed up. It will have a fan but I glued these on with Artic silver cement anyway to help them out. They where getting 50c just with bench test and I would suggest anyone using this card to add them to help cool them off. With the transformer mounted on the combo board (the small one you can see next to the heatsinks) this is a bit of heat in that area and when runnning the system hard I think its going to get pretty hot there.


I do wish I had this camera before I took the system apart. The rest of the system was mounted on a back plate like the one the power stuff is mounted on. It looked so good and neat I hated to tear apart but I feel better about it all being mounted in this cabinet than they way I was going to mount it. It will take some time to get as neat in this box as I had it but I believe I can get a clean and safe install if I take my time. I really hate rats nest wiring.



Jess

[LUCKY13]

Not much progress on the build today, the way I have felt I was lucky to get this much done. The DIN connectors will be for the motors,encoders and limit/homing switches to plug into. The LEDS at the top are for showing Step & Direction signals, but I am real tempted to use them for showing a fault signal for the Geckos. This would let me know which one was faulting without opening the cabinet. I am thinking about putting a voltmeter right between the DIN plugs. This could be a standard meter, or I could put a LCD in there and build a board so it can show voltage and temp of the drivers, plus in case temp. I will have to think on that, I believe I have everything I need to do it though if I decide to.



I expect the face of the cabinet ( although its really the side, it will be the front now) might end up going through changes as I come across things I want to add, or change later. This had me wanting to hold off on cutting the cabinet until I was %100 sure how I wanted it. But this stuff needs mounting and if change happens later I will build a new face plate with the machine after its CNCed.


You can end up with a lot of money just in connectors and switches. I was very surprised what it cost to pick up these DIN connectors here local. It doesn't look like that many but when you buy them you have to buy both male & female parts separate and it adds up quick.


Anyway here's pics of what I mounted today.



Jess

[LUCKY13]

I thought I had put more pics up than this, I must of left them in the camera when my friend came to get it back for a while (the camera). I had finished the enclosure, in fact I changed a bunch of stuff around to make it all easier to work & tune on.



Anyway I will get the camera back soon, plus I have machanical parts on the way so I will get to start on the mill itself. I have Rockford .750-.200 screws with double preloaded ballnuts, all new, on the way. Its taken me a long time to get the budget together to get the ballscrew setup. With the help of a ebay deal, and my son helping on the budget I finially have a nice setup on the way. Now I can put all this electronics & motors to use. Motor mounts, ball nut mounts, timing gears and belts, plus a few other odds and ends will be the hold up now but its still one step closer to seeing this mill make chips.



I will get the camera back and start taking the mill apart and prepair it for fitting the ball screws. I hope to do this so I get the max out of my axis travel. I know there is still a long way to go on this mill but getting the ballscrews bought & payed for has got me gearing up, I cant wait too have the axis moving under there own power. Ofcourse form what I have seen even when the mill is finished that is when the real work begains (tuning, ajusting, correcting).


Jess

[BobWarfield]

Jess, I just now saw your pix. Very cool!

My system would be a lot easier to work on if I'd used the cabinet shelves instead of hanging that NEMA box. I like it!

I'm getting ready to build a little tooling rack that will sit on top of my cabinet from some poly plastic I picked up. It'll have a bunch of holes for R8 shanks. My plan is to number them so I can set up a tool table in mach3 and just pop them in with known tool offsets.

Best,

BW