HERCUS Mill Retrofit

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DICKEYBIRD
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Re: HERCUS Mill Retrofit

Post by DICKEYBIRD »

I'm curious, how did you manage to get the VCP to display on a 4:3 monitor? I never did & had to buy a widescreen which is against my frugal nature! ;)
Milton in Collierville, TN

"Accuracy is the sum total of your compensating mistakes."
Commotion
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Re: HERCUS Mill Retrofit

Post by Commotion »

I didn't think it would work but i changed the screen resolution in windows 10 to an aspect ratio that would keep CNC12 happy. It just has a black section top and bottom but at least i don't have to go buying another monitor just yet.
Commotion
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Re: HERCUS Mill Retrofit

Post by Commotion »

Okay, i went to sit down and look at connecting up this VFD and hit the first hurdle. It appears its the one which has the single row of terminals which a lot of ebay ads warn about. The problem i see is there is no separate GND and COM terminals. The wiring diagram and what not are below.
The acorn wiring diagram has it connecting to the VFD with both COM (forward/reverse/reset etc) and GND (0-10v). Surely this wont work if i connect COM and the 0v from the 0-10v output to the GND of the VFD. The acorn board was a lot more expensive than this dirt cheap VFD so if i need to i will cast it aside and get another one.
1488427940174.jpg
3616f2be7256a81895f69f8ac1d817d3.jpg
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martyscncgarage
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Re: HERCUS Mill Retrofit

Post by martyscncgarage »

Looks to me like you have what you need. What they are calling gnd is com.

Take a meter and set it to continuity/resistance and go across the gnd terminals of the vfd. I think you will find they are connected internally to the VFD.

You can test all of the function terminals on the vfd without connecting to Acorn. Just use a jumper from gnd touch to FWD terminal. Use any battery up to 9v on the analog input to command a speed. Of course you need to set the parameters in the vfd and some times there is a jumper to be moved for 0-10vdc analog operation. The jumper may not be on your cheaper drive.

If you can simply use a jumper (or little switch) from GND to Fwd and then Rev, and a battery to run the speed up(analog signal) you can connect it to ACORN.

The relay output needs to be programmed as a fault output. Use the NC contacts if possible.
Take your time. You'll get it. Becareful around high voltage.
Marty
Reminder, for support please follow this post: viewtopic.php?f=20&t=383
We can't "SEE" what you see...
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Commotion
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Re: HERCUS Mill Retrofit

Post by Commotion »

Thanks Marty,
i just came from the shed after having a play before seeing your reply. I will try what you say tomorrow. I also need to wire up the drive okay signals from the servo drives. I hadnt got around to that yet as i got distracted with the other little issues i was having.

I did manage to go through the parameters and get it running from the buttons on the VFD. i was reading somewhere on a forum someone having problems with this exact same VFD trying to run a mill motor. They observed almost no torque by the motor and you could stick your finger on the end and stop the shaft spinning. I found this when i first turned it on running 50Hz and was like oh great i have the same problem (there was no resolution in that thread). I changed the motor rated frequency from 400Hz to 50Hz and changed the torque factor or something like that from 0 to 1 and the motor ran well and there was no hope of me stalling the motor with my hand. i have no idea which one of those things or even if both of them had anything to do with the fix but i was working so didnt go back messing with the settings to find out. I even was able to run the motor up to 120Hz without any obvious opposition from the motor. Its a 4 pole motor and i heard you can run them at double the frequency because 4 pole motors are normally balanced to the same speed as 2 pole motors so this shouldnt have been a big surprise. once i have the motor mounted solidly and not just sitting on the bench i will see if i can get any more speed out of it. up to 4000rpm would be nice. i will hopefully update you tomorrow with what i discover and if all goes well can document some sort of wiring diagram for this style of VFD as i couldnt find anything on the single contact row VFD's.
Commotion
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Re: HERCUS Mill Retrofit

Post by Commotion »

Okay Marty, so i tested the VFD as per your suggestion and have taken a photo. It works as expected. i used the one gnd to connect to the battery and the FWD & REV terminals. I tried a 1.5v & 9V battery and seems to scale nicely.
IMG_0742.jpg
So i have done up a wiring diagram. My only concern (not knowing a real lot of about electrical circuits) is about running the VFD0-10v common connected to all the other commons. Will this work, or at least be be of small enough risk to the acorn board to give it a go?
My VFD Wiring.PNG
martyscncgarage
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Re: HERCUS Mill Retrofit

Post by martyscncgarage »

Commotion wrote: Sat Jan 13, 2018 7:47 pm Okay Marty, so i tested the VFD as per your suggestion and have taken a photo. It works as expected. i used the one gnd to connect to the battery and the FWD & REV terminals. I tried a 1.5v & 9V battery and seems to scale nicely.
IMG_0742.jpg

So i have done up a wiring diagram. My only concern (not knowing a real lot of about electrical circuits) is about running the VFD0-10v common connected to all the other commons. Will this work, or at least be be of small enough risk to the acorn board to give it a go?
My VFD Wiring.PNG
Your drawing looks good!
Marty
Reminder, for support please follow this post: viewtopic.php?f=20&t=383
We can't "SEE" what you see...
Mesa, AZ
Commotion
Posts: 83
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Location: Bisbane Australia

Re: HERCUS Mill Retrofit

Post by Commotion »

well i can confirm the diagram works...

https://youtu.be/3_kakDIqfn4
martyscncgarage
Posts: 9912
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Re: HERCUS Mill Retrofit

Post by martyscncgarage »

Another step closer....now you have to mount that motor.....
Reminder, for support please follow this post: viewtopic.php?f=20&t=383
We can't "SEE" what you see...
Mesa, AZ
Commotion
Posts: 83
Joined: Mon Jan 01, 2018 6:47 am
Acorn CNC Controller: Yes
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CNC Control System Serial Number: none
DC3IOB: No
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Location: Bisbane Australia

Re: HERCUS Mill Retrofit

Post by Commotion »

I finally got my z axis working after stuffing around with the new servo drive and then reverting back to changing parameters of the original drive. While i wait for my laser cut motor mounting bracket to arrive i dropped the 3 servo pulleys into a local engineering shop to broach 5mm key slots in them. i was just using grub screws bottoming in the key slot and it had some movement in it which was affecting my backlash settings.

Also the guy who gave me the mill has decided that he would like to clear more cnc stuff from his house and decided to give me his Hercus PC160 lathe to play with also. Looks like i will be buying another acorn board in the not too distant future. My plan would be to just buy some cheap stepper motors for that.
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