Retrofit of my CNC One machine from Kickstarter

[Tealfixie]

This thread is intended to be a place to record my progress in retrofit of my CNC One router to Centroid Acorn. I am a DIY hobbyist with no training in electrical engineering, however, with the power of Youtube and the internet, I have built two MPCNCs, and coded various other small electronic projects successfully. Last year I purchased a CNC on kickstarter with the intention of one day replacing the controller to something more robust, I was considering UCCNC at the time, but Centroid won me over since they are located in PA (I'm in MD) and it seems like the documentation and support forum is a great resource. I hope that sharing my progress in this thread might provide a place for discussion if and when I am headed in the wrong direction.

Current Machine Configuration:

• 3-Axis Router with paired Y-axis
• 4-Motors: JMC iHSV57 36V Hybrid Servo motor on all Axis - Spec Sheet
• Limit switch: Z- inductive proximity sensor, X/Y1/Y2: mechanical switch
• Controller: Custom CNC One controller built on a Duet3D custom board
• Spindle: AMB 1400 FME-U : German made 1400W router spindle with quick change and 0-10v analog spindle control.
• XY- Auto Squaring with 4 independent motors and limit switch inputs

While the mechanicals of this machine are robust and heavy duty, the motion control system, which is based on RepRap 3d printing platform leaves much to be desired. The main drawbacks of such a system are below:

• Not all CNC related G-code commands are supported. Mainly probing movements, since they are not usually applicable in a 3d printing environment.
• No ability to adjust feedrate in real time. The controller must finish a line before any changes to the feedrate can be applied.
• No feed-hold ability. There is a way to pause, but it does not pause instantly, again, it must wait for a line of code to complete
• Reliability. On several rare occasions the machine has lost position and/or performed unexpected movements during a job.

Relevant Schematic Drawings and Guides I will be referencing during this build:

• ACORN, Router, 110VAC-240VAC, Hardware Paired Axes, Relay Style Auto-Squaring
• Hardware Pairing Homing and Squaring Methods
• JMC_MOTOR-DRAFT.pdf
• Paired-Axis Auto Squaring
• Blog Post on a Birk's CNC Build

Now I await the arrival of all the parts and continue researching.

A few things come to mind as far as questions go:

• Since I am using these JMC hybrid servo motors, I am assuming that I can wire the motors up as diagramed in the schematic even though they are for external driver modules, correct?
• I am looking through the documentation to determine if there are ways to map the analog 0-10v to the spindle speed. At 0 volts, the spindle is off, from 1-10V there is a linear increase from 3500rpm to 22000RPM. I assume this is in the CNC12 parameters somewhere?

[cnckeith]

Cool, thanks for posting. Looking forward to seeing the thread progress

[Tealfixie]

Build Gallery

I just finished up wiring up the cabinet. Wow what a journey it has been. The only thing that is left is to wire up all the sensor and motor plugs. Lots of tiny wires to solder to these connectors. I should be done with those soon.

I think I might have read and re-read some of these schematics a hundred times. The challenge was that none of the schematics matched my exact setup so I had to cherry pick parts from a few schematics. To help me along the way, I also had to figure out how to draw my own schematics in KiCad. This turned out to be a huge help since it allowed me to understand and get it straight in my head where all the wires go. Oh so many wires. So, now that everything is wired up, I had the chance to power everything on for the first time last night and no magic smoke. Huge relief.

Now that I've spent a bunch of time looking at the schematics, I do have a few questions. In the relay auto squaring schematic, all of the switches are wired to a single input for homeall, however in the auto squaring guide, the slave axis limit switch is on a separate input. Which one is recommended?

I understand that relay auto squaring is somewhat of a hybrid between hardware and software pairing, right? If I think about it, it should not really matter if they are wired together or separately as long as the wizard is creating the correct PLC routine for homing as long as the inputs are assigned correctly?

I think I'm also going to need some help soon since the wizard doesn't have any setup options for relay auto squaring at the moment otherwise I'm going to have to wait until a new guide is published or the wizard is updated.

[centroid467]

The cabinet is looking good so far and those schematics are nice and readable.

Regarding your question about spindle speed offsets, I do not know if there is a way to set ACORN and CNC12 to understand that spindle starts moving at 1V. Typically, spindle speed range is set in the Setup (F1) -> Config (F3) -> Contrl (F1) menu. I'll ask around to see if there is a specific way to handle that.

You should be safe to wire up the hybrid motors as in the schematic but always verify against both user manuals. It is possible that there are differences in what kinds of signal they expect.

[ShawnM]

Glad you are making progress. There wont be an exact wiring diagram for your setup or anyone else for that matter. There are endless combinations and no two people will have the exact same setup. With what Centroid publishes you should be able to wired it up without any issues.

[cnckeith]

the pairing and squaring guide doesn't cover the relay auto squaring method. I will add guidance on that soon.

at the moment you have to write your own home program to do that.

[cnckeith]

fyi...the ethernet cable connection to the Acorn is being strained in the photo, that might cause issues in the future.

[Tealfixie]

Thanks Keith, I will see if I can 3d print a different mount to give it some more room for the ethernet cable.

[CNCMaryland]

Good luck with your build. I am in MD as well. Harford County.

Just finished up a new controller using similar integrated servos.

[Tealfixie]

Howard County here, I might have to DM you with some questions regarding the parameters for the motors for the wizard. Have you had any hiccups with your setup? I'd probably rather go with something tested.

Good luck with your build. I am in MD as well. Harford County.

Just finished up a new controller using similar integrated servos.