Last One - 4'x6' Steel, Epoxy and ClearPath servo's

[ger21]

hi gerry it is true that cncroom will build breakout board for uc300eth?

He's looking into it, but I can't say for sure until it's ready. I would expect it to take at few months.

and why you don't the 1st and the 2nd port of mb2 to the 2nd and the 3rd of uc300eth?

Not sure what you mean? I plugged it in the easiest way, where all the plugs line up.

MB2 Port 1 to UC300eth Port 2
MB2 Port 2 to UC300eth Port 1 (Pins 2-9 are input pins.)
MB2 Port 3 to UC300eth Port 3

Port 1 and 3 on the MB2 must go to ports 2 and 3 on the UC300eth, in either order.
Port 2 on the MB2 can go to ports 1,4, or 5 on the UC300eth.


Both the UC300eth and the MB2 have +5V on pin 26. To prevent damage to either one, I'm not using pin 26. I used 25 wire ribbon cables for my custom cables, and I cut wire 26 on the test cables I used at first.

[1Jumper10]

Working on the electronics cabinet today. Decided to make my own. It's 1" angle iron and 16ga sheet for a back panel. I'll enclose the sides with sintra board and probably put plexiglass doors on the front. And I think I'm going to make a small remote panel to mount an E stop, a meter to monitor spindle current, and a few switches to control spindle lights, and air blast and maybe dust collection.

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[1Jumper10]

Cabinet layout. Still finalizing the MB2 and UC300 position. Decided on an 8 relay strip instead of the 4 relay Winford board. I'm going to want to switch more than 4 things.

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[ger21]

Wow, with those Clearpaths, you can get away with a LOT smaller control box. I need to fit 4 servo drives and 2 stepper drives in mine, which easily doubles or triples the size of the box.

What's the devise with the digital displays?

[1Jumper10]

That is a voltage and current meter/display. It's going on the main 220v line immediately down circuit of the primary switch. I'll be able to monitor total current draw and ensure I've got proper line voltage. It's helpful for troubleshooting and I like to know how hard I'm pushing the machine. It popped up for sale on Amazon awhile ago and I knew I'd be building another machine so I bought it and put it on the shelf. Seems to work pretty good.

Ref box size; it's 18x30 just because I'll have room for it and I wanted to spread out the components little bit to minimize the chance of electrical interference. 220AC components on the bottom, low voltage DC components on top.

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[ger21]

Like one of these, I guess?
Digital Din-Rail LED Voltage Ammeter Current Meter Voltmeter Dual Display V4F9

[1Jumper10]

Yep. That looks exactly like mine. About the same price too.

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[1Jumper10]

Going to mount my UC300ETH vertical on a bracket. And I'm also going to use the analog inputs on it with potentiometers to control feeds and speeds. I was thinking about that on Thursday when I was using my friends machine. Several times I had to adjust both for good operation and realized Gerry had a very good idea when he decided to go that route. Plus, I was already going to fabricate a remote panel for the spindle amp meter. I'll just make it accommodate a couple potentiometers. And I'll need that BOB from Winford for the analog port on the UC300ETH.

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[1Jumper10]

Painted, and all components mounted. Next comes some basic wiring so I can start bench testing and configuring UCCNC.

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[GigaWatt]

Very nice layout! I have the same Hitachi vfd and waiting till I make a decision on all of the electrical equipment I need before building an enclosure.

[1Jumper10]

Thanks. DIN rail helps keep it organized, but it's probably a little more expensive than if I didn't use it.

I've used the Hitachi VFD some. Just to get parameters configured for my spindle. Really like it.

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[1Jumper10]

Power up!

I added a chassis ground terminal and a 12v distribution board in the left corner by the relay board. Got the UC300ETH on and talking to UCCNC. Just had to copy the license file into the directory. The MB2 looks nice. I think I'm going to like it.

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[Biggs427]

Really nice enclosure! It inspired my design of a new controller box.

Is DIN that expensive? I'm gathering parts to build my new controller box and I found the price difference marginal so far.

[1Jumper10]

Thanks.
The DIN rail itself is cheap. It's mostly the power supplies that are more expensive. The DIN rail circuit blocks and power distribution bits can add up. But there's​ no doubt that they make a clean and functional electronics cabinet.

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[gunmaker]

Nice clean layout.
What are the three blue boxes on the bottom right for?

[1Jumper10]

Those are DIN rail mounted power supplies. From left: 12v, 5v, and 24v.

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[1Jumper10]

Started configuring the MB2 the last couple days. Its definitely a professional level/ industrial board and for a hobbyist like me the learning curve has been a little steep. I was able to get the VFD working today. I used the 0-10v analog outputs from the board for speed control. I saw the same frequency oscillation on my VFD that Gerry did when he tested his Huanyang with the analog voltage control. The Hitachi VFD has a parameter to apply a filter to the analog input to correct this and it was marginally effective but its was still there. And the filter slightly delays speed changes which I didnt care for. I'll probably try some capacitors at the VFD terminals to filter it some more and maybe toy around with PWM frequency to see if some frequencies are less susceptible to noise. I can still use MODBUS. I think I'm also going to try the step and direction spindle mode and see if the pulse train it generates is compatible with the Hitachi. Definitely open to suggestions so post em if you got em.

[ger21]

I'll probably try some capacitors at the VFD terminals to filter it some more and maybe toy around with PWM frequency to see if some frequencies are less susceptible to noise

The PWM is converted to 0-10V in the MB2. If you measure the voltage, I think you'll find that it's very stable. Mine is. Which means that it's not the PWM frequency that's causing the problem, but apparently noise in the VFD?
I tried the capacitor yesterday, and a 33uF made a big difference. When I get time, I'm going to try with 2 capacitors. I think that should get it as close as possible.

It won't be as good as Modbus, which can tell the spindle the exact RPM that you want. But right now mine is ±200RPM, which isn't bad.

[1Jumper10]

I'm assuming it's noise picked up by the analog signal wires as they run between the MB2 and VFD. If that's the cause, shielded wire might help. Paired with the capacitors it might be perfectly fine?

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[ger21]

Yes, I'm not using any shielded wires.