Bridgeport VMC760 retrofit

I've just heard back from the team at Leadshine.

It looks like the EL7 drives have a 0.0625ms delay on the encoder outputs.

Know people have had an issue with the 5ms delay on the DMM drives. Anyone think this might be an issue?

I've just enquired regarding any delay from analog velocity signal to drive reaction, which I assume would effect tuning as well.

Thanks,

J

The 7i97T has one SS configured on a connector, but with two S devices (7i73 and 7i84) you will probably need to flash a firmware with an additional SS port on the DIL connector.

RotarySMP wrote:

The 7i97T has one SS configured on a connector, but with two S devices (7i73 and 7i84) you will probably need to flash a firmware with an additional SS port on the DIL connector.

Thanks for your input Mark.

Excuse my ignorance, but I assume the SS refers to the RS-422 serial connection?

Love your channel by the way. Digging the engine build. The John Britton diy way must run deep, and rightly so.

langdons wrote:

I recommend you keep all original brusheless motors, but perhaps you don't care about preserving old motors enough to spend the time.

Try to sell them, they may be worth more than their scrap value.

(Not sure what scarp metal prices are like where you are)

I'm assuming the closer you are to China (and Vietnam, Thailand, etc.), the higher the value of E-waste because the shipping to the reccling center in Asia is cheaper.

Hi Langdons,

I'd like to reuse them, but I haven't been able to find any successful examples of this online so far.

I can find Delta drives in the right voltage and they sell all their encoders as spare parts. I guess it's a matter of deciphering the spare part codes to match the right drives and figuring out how to adapt them. There is space to mount on the back of the motors where the Heidenhain encoders are.

Anyone done this?

Yes, the RS-422 is their smart serial connection between the 7i97T FPGA main board and 7i73 and 7i84 daughter boards. Since there is only one RS-422 configured standard on the 7i97T (on TB4), you can only connect one of those two cards, until you reflash the 7i97T to reconfigure some of the pins of the P2 expansion port to provide a second RS-422.

Glad you are enjoying my videos. It is fun to dick around with this stuff
Cheers,
Mark

langdons wrote:

Do you need all new drives?

I thought only one broke.

Sorry Langdons, I've been away the last week and decided to take a breather from the internet.

By the looks of it yes, just one. However, given the likelihood of another dying in the future, I'd rather replace the whole bunch. The quotes to repair them are sky high and secondhand ones are almost as bad.

RotarySMP wrote:

Yes, the RS-422 is their smart serial connection between the 7i97T FPGA main board and 7i73 and 7i84 daughter boards. Since there is only one RS-422 configured standard on the 7i97T (on TB4), you can only connect one of those two cards, until you reflash the 7i97T to reconfigure some of the pins of the P2 expansion port to provide a second RS-422.

Glad you are enjoying my videos. It is fun to dick around with this stuff
Cheers,
Mark

Thanks for the clarification Mark.
Apologies on the slow reply, I've had an internet detox the last week! 

Howdy!

I've made some progress the last couple of days with the retrofit. Mainly around the control panel design.

I received a secondhand 27" ELO touchscreen in the post, which I got for an absolute steal. Yet to power it up, but it was sold as functioning and the drivers work on linux. The new control panel is based around this screen and the gmoccapy gui, with a handful on hardware controls I've deemed necessary from the Heidenhain. I'd also like the panel to rotate around to aid interaction while standing in front of the bed/doors. I've orientated the screen vertical, as it's bloody huge.

Attached are some screen grabs of the CAD model. It's designed to take the MX Cherry style switches. Looks like a few of you have used them and I'm a sucker for a "clicky" button. One MPG, e-stop, usb jack, all the usual suspects etc. Control enclosure is to be fabricated from 80x25x3mm aluminium channel for the perimeter frame and cnc routed 3mm sheet for the front and rear panels. I'll glue this together with the TIG and send it out with the next client job batch for powder. 

I also received a Delta 11kw VFD. Again, it was removed from a working machine and was considerably better value than a new one. Dug out a Omron encoder that was leftover from another project that never saw life. Planning to use this on the spindle.

Cheers,

J
 
 
 
 
 

 

Not sure Langdons. I'll have to look at the manual.

Made some progress with the control panel today. Machined the panels on the router and welded up the frame. Just need to countersink the panels and tap the rear mount holes. Not shown are the monitor facia and rear panels. Should be off to powder coating next week. I'll start 3d printing the custom keys in the meantime. Pictures below.

Cheers,

j 

 
 
 
 
 

Its steel actually.

Made it. Not hard!

Have a few of them in the shop. Made out of solid 2" (50mm) plate offcuts from the scrap dealer. I had them blanchard ground. Just mag drilled and tapped the M16 holes. Cheap and flat fixture tables. I've built some very straight motorbike and push bike frames on them over the years.

Thanks for the heads up on the switches. I'll keep this in mind.