My V2XT finially comes to life!

Well almost one year after I took delivery, my V2XT finially came to life this evening.
All axes home smoothly, and so far I've only run into the normal issues covered in previous threads (IE: gummy limit switches)

Here's my only puzzel. My spindle won't start. I'm pretty sure this has some thing to do with the break being active. Also note that my power draw bar will only work in "OUT" mode. This leads me to believe the the brake is on and or the system belives the brake is on.
On the manual units (2J heads) the break lever is pushed away from the operator to actuate, but this unit is a servo or air cylinder actuated.
Can anyone tell me if it should be in the extended position for operation of spindle or extended for braking of the spindle.

Thanks guys, I'm so excited I can hardly sit still

Check way oil level in tank. If low, spindle will not come on.
Check overload for spindle in top right side of electrical cabinet.
When air cylinder shaft is extended, brake is on. Air is not necessary for spindle operation. Turn air off and move brake lever so spindle turns freely by hand.

George

Hi George, thanks for your help on this.

I did try with out air, as yes, the brake cylinder releases the brake but, then I get a "Low air pressure" alarm. Not sure why the brake is activating as soon as air pressure is applied.
:confused:

The way oil level is fine.

I think there is an air leak at the power draw bar puch buttons that I'll track down. This would be why it works only in the "Out" direction.

Anyway play time is over as I'm jumping on the greyound and heading back to school ........ plenty of time to read the manual and search for any threads that reference the brake system and/or air system on these machines.

I won't be home now unitl March. :(

thanks again George, you sure spend alot of time helping us guys out. For that reason I make every effort to figure these things out before I come on here. I for one appreciate your information and assistance.

peace
Owen

I wish you well in school. I have one son that is a freshman in college. A equation that applies well there is no work = failure. Next year I will have a second son in college. I better find a second job!
Most VMC and the V2XT will home if you clear the low pressure alarm by pressing ESC.
The spindle should turn on if the brake is off, otherwise it will trip the overload. Be looking forward to hearing from you in March.
By the way, Marvel Mystery Oil works real well in air applications (SU carbs on MG, etc).

George

Well made a impromptu trip home yesterday. Took a look at my Way Oil tank, and sure enough it was pretty much empty. Sadly filling it up didn't help. The brake still stays on. I cleared the air pressure to let the brake off, cleared the alarm but am still unable to actually FIND any spindle ON command?? The Spindle >START< toggle and >ENABLE< don't do any thing. I'll post up pictures of the actual panel on monday.
I've been looking at the OS screen so long now I see it in my dreams. Heck I've even read the manual front to back and can't seem to find a reference to actually turning the spindle on.
Can anyone tell me the screen prompts or menu key stroke?
I'm stumped.
Owen

Two switches are necessary to start the spindle. Turn one to high or low and at the same time turn the second one to enable.
High or low reverses rotation in case you are in back gear.
There is the outside chance that the float switch in the way oil tank could be stuck or bad.
a wire could be broken, etc. need to follow a schematic with a meter.

George

Thanks Goerge,
Sadly I'm AGAIN serving time in the halls of learning but, I may ask my daughter to try this out for me and report back. She's 14 and expressing an interest in this stuff, even taking a mastercam course next year (grade 9) so this may be right up her alley.
I'll check the wires and sensors if not.

I have two other questions that I've been unable to answer via searches and the manual

I'm not really clear how the break interacts with the system. The power draw bar is "manually actuated" so how would the brake system activate at the same time?

and

the monitor shows Spindle "hi" and "low" but the Hi/Low lever is manually activated on the side of the head.


http://www3.telus.net/public/olloyd/millpanel.jpg

http://www3.telus.net/public/olloyd/monitorpanel.jpg

http://www3.telus.net/public/olloyd/brake.jpg

Side of head: Hi and Low is a mechanical lever that changes the gearing (simplified). This increases the torque but because of the additional gear train the spindle runs in reverse. Thus comes into play the electrical part of this. In high, the motor runs in one direction. If you leave it in mechanical high and turn on electrical low, the spindle runs in reverse. Not rocket science. Electrical high and low chooses a different contactor where 2 of the 3 phases are reversed thus reversing motor rotation. But put it mechanical low and use electrical low and your spindle runs in the correct direction.
The brake turns on whenever the spindle motor is shut off. This is a production machine. If you were to wait for the spindle to stop by coasting, you would waste a lot of precious time.
There were 2 types of power draw bars. The Lever type where you slap a handle left or right to loosen or tighten the tool into the spindle or the push button type. It helps both types if the spindle does not turn when these devices are used. Another good reason for a brake. The push button type also had a air delay built in so the spindle gets a chance to stop before the mechanism squats down onto the drawbar and does its thing.

George

Thanks George, what you say (about the brake) makes sense leading me to speculate that perhapse my brake is stuck on because my "OUT" button is stuck open. I'll have to check this.

Had my daughter try your recomendations for starting the spindle with some odd responses from the unit. When sellecting "low" and "Enable" the control box clicked but that was it. Then I had her try "high" and "enable" which caused the VFD to trip killing the whole machine. I know the spindle physically turns as I put it in neutral and was able to rotate it by hand. I have the mill head in High which shouldn't really matter.

I'm trying to figure if I can increase the out put of the VFD to compensate for this sudden power draw. The only other time the VFD trips out is if I power up the mill with the output on 60hz (rather than ramping the hz output up to full)

Any thoughts?

In your picture, the brake looks OFF. Turning the spindle by hand will verify that.
I know the stock machines. If you alter the machine, the variables go up and I cannot comment.

George

Yeah the brake is off because I've left the air disconnected. the machine is completely stock with the addition of the VFD for power supply only. We tried the spindle again and had the same result. obviously there is a dead short some where in the loom. time to break out the meter ...........

Owen

Explain VFD for power supply?
VFD should only be used for the spindle motor.

George

I use the VFD as a phase converter. It was the only way, I could figure, to get 3ph power into the mill. Though, I do wonder why the system, single phase hardware (pc electronics, drives, servos) would use 3ph power only to convert it back to single.
Are you suggesting I break out the spindle motor and run it seperate off of the VFD and provide single phase 120v for the electronics? I'll have to take another look at the schematic drawing.

I could be wrong but I don't think a VFD phase converter puts out the right 3 phase signal on the legs to really properly power a cnc bridgeport. Sure it would power the motor alone just fine and give you electronic variable speed in additoin to the belt CVT stuff in the head.

But I think it would make a mess of what the controller is trying to see.

Rotary phase converters are the only way to go with a CNC mill assuming you don't go through the trouble of altering things inside to separate the single phase stuff from what was 3 phase converted back to single.

Asside from that the machine will click celinoides (air or electric) when hitting one of the 2 buttons needed to trigger the spindle to start.

For example if I hold down my "enable spindle" button but don't twist the High/Low switch my mill triggers the break air to release in expectation the motor button will get twisted which would trigger another relay starting the motor . So the clicks are normal for pressing those buttons.

b/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wcarrothers1

I could be wrong but I don't think a VFD phase converter puts out the right 3 phase signal on the legs to really properly power a cnc bridgeport. Sure it would power the motor alone just fine and give you electronic variable speed in additoin to the belt CVT stuff in the head.

But I think it would make a mess of what the controller is trying to see.

Rotary phase converters are the only way to go with a CNC mill assuming you don't go through the trouble of altering things inside to separate the single phase stuff from what was 3 phase converted back to single.

Asside from that the machine will click celinoides (air or electric) when hitting one of the 2 buttons needed to trigger the spindle to start.

For example if I hold down my "enable spindle" button but don't twist the High/Low switch my mill triggers the break air to release in expectation the motor button will get twisted which would trigger another relay starting the motor . So the clicks are normal for pressing those buttons.

b/

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Thanks for the info, I've been studying the schematics and am considering breaking out the 120v components. There are two transformers indicated powering the different hardware components.
Initially it appears to be pretty straightforward though i'll have to give this some carfull consideration first.
Owen