WJ200 Settings to use mechanical brake on Bridgeport

ZeeKay

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I've finally got my BP wired up and basic settings configured for the WJ200 and its generally working well.

However I'm not sure if there's a free-wheel setting or similar designed to allow operation of the mechanical brake to slow it down, or if its even suggested. I don't have a braking resistor at the moment, and in testing I noticed that with the decel settings if I stop the motor during decel, it will then "speed back up" to meet the curve.

Its a 2HP variable head, and I've used the stock drum switch in the '2 wire' control method.
 
You could add a small microswitch to the braking lever that when the lever is in the resting position is NO. When you pull on the lever it goes to NC and then activates an input programmed = 11 (free run), so as long as the lever is pulled it is in free run if you want to go that route. The other thing you would need to do is run 3 wire control (momentary buttons) and when you pull on the mechanical brake lever it breaks the STOP circuit so the mill will not restart when the lever is release (2 wire control is dangerous in this setting). I usually recommend using 3 wire control in mills as a default, I would get a braking resistor (50-75 ohm 400-500W) wire it into the WJ200 and just skip the manual braking completely. I only used the manual brake on my VFD mill when it is stopped, not really needed otherwise. You can also program a fast stop if you wanted via a separate contact on the E-Stop.

Ditch the stock drum switch, the contacts are not designed for low voltage inputs/currents and a can often call erratic operation of the VFD. The 3 wire control is a lot safer, the mill will not restart if the power comes back on or you release an E-Stop, etc. Just use the VFD braking for stopping. I typically run 2-3 seconds.
 
Thanks for the advice, in your opinion, is a braking resistor required for normal hobby operation? 3 second decel is fine for me for my usage.
 
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