Mach3 upgrade to Acorn CNC12 project

[cnc4me]

One question for Shawnm - I did purchase the tool touchoff from amazon you mentioned (link above) to replace the conductive tto I currently have - how did you wire that up? Looks solid especially for $35 - but no instructions included.

Almost done putting everything back together.

Bill

Hi Bill, I bought two of them for my latest router retrofit, one fixed and one movable, and they both came with a wiring diagram. Unfortunately I won't be back at the shop until Monday but if you can wait I'll post a pic of the diagram. Otherwise if you have a multimeter you can just ring out the wires for the two different switches. There's a touch off switch and an overtravel switch.

They are very robust and work excellent for the cost. Again I use them on a router so plus or minus a few thou isn't noticeable for me.

Thanks Shawn! Yes I was able to get continuity with the yellow and brown at the initial (touch off?) switch, continuity for both the initial and second switch (over travel?) with the blue and green wires. I just started looking through documentation and wiring schematics to determine where to connect to the Acorn.

[ShawnM]

Thanks Shawn! Yes I was able to get continuity with the yellow and brown at the initial (touch off?) switch, continuity for both the initial and second switch (over travel?) with the blue and green wires. I just started looking through documentation and wiring schematics to determine where to connect to the Acorn.

That's great Bill, glad you got it sorted. I don't even remember my wire colors but it doesn't matter. Yes the initial switch will be wired to any input and setup as "ToolTouchOffTriggered". I don't know if you bought the NO or NC version so you have to set that accordingly for your touch off.

You can wire the overtravel switch to your e-stop circuit if you want for some extra protection. It's not required so it's your option. On larger cnc routers, 4x8 and 5x10, it doubles as a "remote" estop switch if you ever need it.

[cnc4me]

Almost done with my upgrade and hopefully ready to do some test cuts tomorrow or Thursday. I could swear the (cheap) stepper motors are running smoother and quieter with Acorn vs the old Warp9 / Mach3 setup - is that possible?

I just need to finalize my tool touch off setup, homing and motor overall turn ratios (per Keith's instructions).

I did have one question regarding my VFD / spindle set up - the 0-10 analog output works great. There are also 2 terminals on the VFD that require a switch to start and stop the spindle. I was able to successfully control it with the one of the outputs on the relay board (using M6x to turn on and M8x to turn off where x is the relay number). If I set the speed to O and DON'T use the M8x to close the relay the spindle will still keep running very slowly - I guess the small amount of voltage the analog output is still enough to turn the spindle? I thought the minimum speed in the wizard would control that but it doesn't.

Unfortunately my space is a little tight, so I tried using one of the onboard outputs (#1) and was unsuccessful - the spindle/VFD would not turn on even though I was getting continuity on the 2 output leads when I closed it. (I used the diagnostics tool to turn the output on and off).

I read the voltage as 12v across the the 2 terminals on the VFD if that means anything - is that too much for the onboard output (my fluke doesn't have amperage). I have limited electrical expertise at best, so not sure why I can't use the onboard output? I added pic's of the relevant VFD wiring info to google photos. Worst case I'll have to squeeze in the relay board - which may be best since I can control with a macro using M6 and M8 - I think I'd have to mess with PLC if I wanted to control the onboard output?

Thanks for all the help here! Very happy with the product and my progress! Acorn gives me so much more control vs. Mach3/Warp9. Documentation is great. I know this is a pretty simple setup compared to other work I see going on here, but a good first project for me.

Bill

[centroid467]

What do you mean by the "onboard outputs"? Do you mean the outputs on the DB25 header? Are you using an older revision of the Acorn?

If you are using the output on the DB25, that should only ever have 5V DC across it. Are you trying to save a relay on the relay board? It won't work like that because the DB25 outputs and the relay board outputs are the same if they have the same number.


As far as starting and stopping the spindle goes, why are you not using the typical M3, M4, and M5 codes? You can assign the Acorn output to "SpinFwd" and then set the VFD input to "Run Forward". No need to manually set the relay using M6x and M8x that I can see here.

Regarding the spindle creeping when set to zero speed but still on, there should be some parameters on the VFD for adjusting its analog input voltage range or offsets. It is possible that there is some baseline noise being picked up or that the Acorn's analog output did not go all the way to ground because of the Acorn's spindle speed settings.

[ShawnM]

It would be really helpful if you post what wiring diagram you are following and also a link to the VFD manual. The pic of the manual page in your album is very blurry. Please upload a better pic or share a link to the manual.

As Centroid467 stated you assign one of the relay outputs to "SpinFWD" and that's where you wire those " 2 terminals on the VFD that require a switch to start and stop the spindle". Then wire the 0-10 volt analog out of the Acorn to the analog common and the analog in on the VFD. That would be COM and AIN. Then the Acorn and your g code will turn it off and on and control the spindle speed automatically. There's no manual operation of the spindle needed.

Set the "minimum speed" in the VFD if you need to but when Acorn is controlling the spindle you wont need it. You'll never have the spindle "on" at a zero speed if you want to use this router to cut parts. If it's a concern for you then set the minimum speed in the VFD parameters.

There's no need for ANY external "relay board" for anything. The Acorn relay board is all you need to run everything. And no need for any PLC changes.

[cnc4me]

What do you mean by the "onboard outputs"? Do you mean the outputs on the DB25 header? Are you using an older revision of the Acorn?

If you are using the output on the DB25, that should only ever have 5V DC across it. Are you trying to save a relay on the relay board? It won't work like that because the DB25 outputs and the relay board outputs are the same if they have the same number.


As far as starting and stopping the spindle goes, why are you not using the typical M3, M4, and M5 codes? You can assign the Acorn output to "SpinFwd" and then set the VFD input to "Run Forward". No need to manually set the relay using M6x and M8x that I can see here.

Regarding the spindle creeping when set to zero speed but still on, there should be some parameters on the VFD for adjusting its analog input voltage range or offsets. It is possible that there is some baseline noise being picked up or that the Acorn's analog output did not go all the way to ground because of the Acorn's spindle speed settings.

Thanks for the quick response! I am using the latest board / Pro router software.

I think you answered my question. Yes I was trying to use one of the DB25 outputs - #1. Sounds like the 12v the from the VFD exceeds the 5 volt DC max. I am using the M3 to start and M5 to stop the spindle, but the switch across terminal 1 and 4 (12v) on the VFD needs to be closed first. Then when I open it, the break is applied and spindle turned off (M3 command will not work). I have the Acorn analog 0-10v output wired to VFD terminals 2 and 5 and that is working fine.

So I will go ahead and use the relay board. The other options would be use a jumper from 1 to 4 (but it will always be on) or install a mechanical switch, but I like the relay board better - this is how it operated before (using an additional board that converted step and direction to analog voltage and a relay to accomplish the above- no longer needed!) - and I think it is safest.

I will add a macro / button to turn on/off the spindle before M3 and after M5.

Please let me know if I'm missing something here.

Thanks!

Bill

[cnc4me]

It would be really helpful if you post what wiring diagram you are following and also a link to the VFD manual. The pic of the manual page in your album is very blurry. Please upload a better pic or share a link to the manual.

As Centroid467 stated you assign one of the relay outputs to "SpinFWD" and that's where you wire those " 2 terminals on the VFD that require a switch to start and stop the spindle". Then wire the 0-10 volt analog out of the Acorn to the analog common and the analog in on the VFD. That would be COM and AIN. Then the Acorn and your g code will turn it off and on and control the spindle speed automatically. There's no manual operation of the spindle needed.

Set the "minimum speed" in the VFD if you need to but when Acorn is controlling the spindle you wont need it. You'll never have the spindle "on" at a zero speed if you want to use this router to cut parts. If it's a concern for you then set the minimum speed in the VFD parameters.

There's no need for ANY external "relay board" for anything. The Acorn relay board is all you need to run everything. And no need for any PLC changes.

Thank you once again Shawn. I think Centroid467 answered my questions. I will go ahead and upload better pics too, but I think I'm good!

[Gary Campbell]

I could swear the (cheap) stepper motors are running smoother and quieter with Acorn vs the old Warp9 / Mach3 setup - is that possible?

Yup. Thats why the old hobby controllers like Mach and ShopBot are the "most swapped" to Centroid

[ShawnM]

Bill, M3 starts the spindle by activating the Acorn relay output you have set to SpinFWD and M5 turns off that relay and stops the spindle. No external switch is needed for spindle control.

You should not be using any 12v signal from the VFD. Acorn supplies the analog signal of 0-10 for speed and it also turns on and off the VFD with its relay board and g code. No external voltage is needed.

[cnc4me]

Bill, M3 starts the spindle by activating the Acorn relay output you have set to SpinFWD and M5 turns off that relay and stops the spindle. No external switch is needed for spindle control.

You should not be using any 12v signal from the VFD. Acorn supplies the analog signal of 0-10 for speed and it also turns on and off the VFD with its relay board and g code. No external voltage is needed.

Hi Shawn - Thanks for the response. I've uploaded clearer wiring pics from the VFD manual. The switch between 1 and 4 needs to be closed before it will recognize the 0-10V analog output from Acorn (using M3 or M5). Once that is closed, the Spindle recognizes the 0-10V output. I could use a jumper across 1 and 4 I guess so it's always closed, but per my above there is some stray current so the spindle starts rotating at a very slow speed once that switch is closed. Also, once I open the switch, a break is applied which is safer. I used relay (#3) and it works great - I'll just add a button to turn it on (M63) before I run my gcode and then off (M83) when it's done - or / and maybe figure out a way to automatically add those commands in my gcode (M63 and M83) generated from Vetric. As you'll see below I am up and running!

Bill