Chinese 1325 Acorn Retrofit

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essbend
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Chinese 1325 Acorn Retrofit

Post by essbend »

Hey folks,

I'm a member of Twin Cities Maker, a makerspace in Minneapolis. We just got a Chinese 1325 machine (1300mmx2500mm, or 4'x8'). I'm going to post a log of the conversion as we make progress.

We got it from Toolots, who shipped it from California. They are just a distributor, so they had specs but no details about the brand of each of the components. Here's what I've gathered after it arrived:
-Sequoyatec 1325
-Hiwin 20mm rails
-Ball screw Z
-R&P XY
-3.0 kW spindle
-BEST VFD
-RichAuto Controls
-Leadshine drivers
-NEMA 34 Motors


I fired it up just to jog the motors and turn on the spindle. It all worked right out of the box, although there were no instructions.











martyscncgarage
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Re: Chinese 1325 Acorn Retrofit

Post by martyscncgarage »

Should be straightforward build. Make sure you get a Windows 10 PC meeting minimum performance requirements:
https://www.centroidcnc.com/cnc_pc_perf ... ments.html
You need a 1080P Wide Screen monitor. Don't really need touch if you buy the wireless MPG
You should get the ACORN Pro license.

Post the model number to stepper drivers and a link to a manual. But I would probably plan on a DB25 male breakout board which can be had from Amazon.

Find a manual for the Variable frequency drive.
Do you have schematics?
Don't tear anything apart until all your research and questions are answered.

Marty
Reminder, for support please follow this post: viewtopic.php?f=20&t=383
We can't "SEE" what you see...
Mesa, AZ
martyscncgarage
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Re: Chinese 1325 Acorn Retrofit

Post by martyscncgarage »

Post a close up photo of the "Rich Auto" Breakout box.
I assume this machine was designed to connect to a PC's DB25 parallel port and run Mach3? OR is it self contained between the break out board and the hand controller?
Acorn, its power supply and relay board can take the place of the "Rich Auto" breakout board and hopefully with some good pre-planning, you can reuse the signal cables to the stepper drives..
Reminder, for support please follow this post: viewtopic.php?f=20&t=383
We can't "SEE" what you see...
Mesa, AZ
essbend
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Re: Chinese 1325 Acorn Retrofit

Post by essbend »

Thanks, Marty. I finally got some time to work on this.

Here is a close up of the RichAuto. It is self-contained between the hand controller and control box. There is a USB port on the hand controller where you can load up GCode.

I'm not sure what the X4(TS) input signal is for. I assume it is for the Z-touch probe.
I think the Y2, Y3, and Y4 signals are for the VFD. I think they are digital signals, whereas the Centroid outputs 0-10V for the VFD control. Is that right?




Here is a link to the Leadshine stepper drives:
http://www.leadshine.com/UploadFile/Down/MA860Hm.pdf



So far it looks like I can swap the RichAuto box for the Acorn board without adding any wires or a breakout box. Also, I already have a 24V power supply, so I might not have to add the power supply that came with the Acorn.
dweber
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Re: Chinese 1325 Acorn Retrofit

Post by dweber »

I also want to replace my RichAuto Hand Held for the Acorn system. How did this work for you. Was it as simple as it looked?
ShawnM
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Re: Chinese 1325 Acorn Retrofit

Post by ShawnM »

The swap is rather easy to do. The drives hooked to each axis on the Richauto will wire to the DB25 port on the Acorn. You'll need a DB25 breakout board for the Acorn. Typically on these BOB's Y1 thru Y4 are for the VFD and X1 thru X4 are for the NPN limit switches and X5 is for the tool touch off input. You may want to rewire the limit switches so they are all on one input to save inputs unless you are adding the Ether 1616 board. You'll need to use the power supply that came with the Acorn board as it's a great power supply and has a dual output that will drive the Acorn, proximity switches and provide the 5v needed for the stepper drives. The 5v supply is built in to the Richauto BOB so there is no separate 5v supply for the stepper drives.
dweber
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Re: Chinese 1325 Acorn Retrofit

Post by dweber »

Thanks for the information. I am now convinced acorn is the way to go and with a few more questions I will be able to to do the retrofit myself. Thanks again for your help.
Dave
slodat
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Re: Chinese 1325 Acorn Retrofit

Post by slodat »

I did a similar conversion on my Chinese router almost three years ago. I’ve been very happy it. There’s a link to my conversion in my signature that may have helpful information.
ShawnM
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Re: Chinese 1325 Acorn Retrofit

Post by ShawnM »

My Chinese router conversion was also similar and has been performing flawlessly for almost two years now powered by Acorn. I removed a crappy, USB Chinese controller that the previous owner had numerous issues with. I cut aluminum and plastics on my machine with great precision and love the Centroid setup I have.
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