Difference between revisions of "Spindle speed control"

Revision as of 07:45, 3 October 2011

Spindle speed control

Computer based spindle speed control can be done many different ways, all of which depend on the controller you are using and the spindle.

The most common methods of speed control involve having a toolchanger or a riser card.

Toolchanger Speed Control setup: The inverter for a toolchanger should already be wired up properly and settings set properly in the inverter.

Go into the CNC interface, then:

Click Setup

Click Advanced

Click Spindle Control

Set the Spindle Control Mode to 2 (automatic toolchanger) and click OK in the lower left

To change speeds in the cnc interface, double-click the word spindle on the main screen and drag the slider. To change speeds in gcode, use the "S xxxxx" gcode. eg: S18000. Note that the automatic toolchanger has 7 discrete steps for speed, and the system will round to the nearest one. These 7 settings are preset in the inverter and can be changed with help from tech support.

Analog Speed Control Setup:

Most Analog speed control is done with the Riser card. If speed control was purchased with the machine, the inverter will already be wired and programmed. If it is a retrofit, you will need to wire and program the inverter (instructions below)

If you have an LC Control box, the riser card is installed inside the control box and connects to the only similar connector in the box.

If you have the Longer PCI card, the riser card is installed in the PC and connected to the connector on the PCI card.

The cable that goes between the Riser card and either control board should be keyed to prevent incorrect installation. If it is not keyed, find the tiny gray arrow on the connector and match it up to the red wire on the cable.

Once the card is installed, the wire has to be run from the riser card to the inverter.

If this is an install where speed control was purchased with the machine, the wire should already be present. It will be a small 2 pin white connector. Plug this into the spindle connector on the riser card (it is marked in white text).

If this is a retrofit:

Lock out power to the machine

Connect the 2 pin cable to the riser card, then run the wire to the inverter.

On an altivar inverter:

Connect the red wire to AI3

Connect the black wire to COM

Document for installing and setting up an old teco inverter