2016 POTD Thread Archive

amazing what they will come up with to put us out of work...soon it will be this...

 
Hi Paco, sorry to hear about your friends loss. It is very difficult when this happens in front of you and there is nothing more one can do. I have coded a number of friends family members in years past, I have never forgotten when we could not pull one through. Working in the shop is therapeutic for many of us, fortunately we have our health today (and minds), and we can enjoy our time thinking and working with our hands.

Nez, you are always welcome to come up and stay at our place and have a get together with Paco.

Been busy the last couple of days building another VFD control system for a PM1340GT, this one threw me a wrinkle that had me scratching my head for awhile. This particular build uses two proximity sensors, one attaches to the micrometer stop and controls the stop position of the feed toward the headstock. The second can be used in a number of different places, either as a stop on the power cross feed or a Z axis feed stop in the Z direction toward the tailstock. There have been a few occasions where this could be handy if you are doing a repetitive procedure between two positions, or to prevent crashing into the tailstock center when you reverse the machine direction. I can think of a number of occasions when this would have been handy, especially small stock with an extended nose center.

So the quandary with this build, I originally had though that the two proximity stops connect be connected serially, kind of like Christmas tree lights. It ended up that the sensors need to be attached to power on input side and a load on the output side, there is also a negative power supply connection. Well if you have two in a chain the first one will not see the load and the second one won't turn on, and the second one ends up shorting its input to the negative side of the power supply until it turns on., so it shorts the first sensor to the negative. Fortunately these proximity sensors are internally protected from overload and it shuts down if the current limit is exceeded. I finally figured what was going on by measuring the current/voltage in different wires. The solution was to limit the power to negative side of the power supply of the second sensor by adding a resistor in this this lead. This allows the first sensor to turn on without overloading and supply power to the next sensor which then turns on. At least that is what I think is happening. Anyway, all finished with the system build, all the VFD logic works correctly.

This system build has a wide range of features incorporated into it, so it is a very tight fit. The lathe control box on the PM1340GT is very small, this control board will fit in with almost 0 clearance on either side. The lathe has a 240VAC single phase coolant pump, so a breaker and a coolant contactor was incorporated into the build, the contactor is only activated when the lathe spindle direction switch is engaged. A joystick operates the jog in either direction, two braking rates (fast and slow) that defaults to fast (1 second) if the sensor or safety stop switches are triggered. The front panel controls are all 24VDC, the VFD input terminals are on a separate control circuit operated by the relays. There is terminals for 24VDC and 12VDC to run low voltage lights, tach, etc. The proximity sensor holder for the micrometer has some additional tweaks and was finally able to find a higher quality micro limit switch which switches the system down if the P sensor fails (or operator error). Next will be the installation and the VFD programming, hopefully that go smoothly at this point.

PM1340GT Build 1.jpg
PM1340GT Build 12.jpg
 
Got a deal at the auction this week end, John Deere 3000 psi Gas powered pressure washer, Looked like heck but has a Honda engine, extra hose etc. Took a whiff of the gas, BOy was that something must have been old when they put it In there. Put new gas in it, kept trying to start, still nothing. Finally took the carb off cleaned it and everything, Put it back together and finally got it started. Then the longer it ran the better it did. Now have a fully functional pressure washer, all for under 100,
 
mksj said:
Hi Paco, sorry to hear about your friends loss. It is very difficult when this happens in front of you and there is nothing more one can do. I have coded a number of friends family members in years past, I have never forgotten when we could not pull one through. Working in the shop is therapeutic for many of us, fortunately we have our health today (and minds), and we can enjoy our time thinking and working with our hands.

Nez, you are always welcome to come up and stay at our place and have a get together with Paco.

Been busy the last couple of days building another VFD control system for a PM1340GT, this one threw me a wrinkle that had me scratching my head for awhile. This particular build uses two proximity sensors, one attaches to the micrometer stop and controls the stop position of the feed toward the headstock. The second can be used in a number of different places, either as a stop on the power cross feed or a Z axis feed stop in the Z direction toward the tailstock. There have been a few occasions where this could be handy if you are doing a repetitive procedure between two positions, or to prevent crashing into the tailstock center when you reverse the machine direction. I can think of a number of occasions when this would have been handy, especially small stock with an extended nose center.

So the quandary with this build, I originally had though that the two proximity stops connect be connected serially, kind of like Christmas tree lights. It ended up that the sensors need to be attached to power on input side and a load on the output side, there is also a negative power supply connection. Well if you have two in a chain the first one will not see the load and the second one won't turn on, and the second one ends up shorting its input to the negative side of the power supply until it turns on., so it shorts the first sensor to the negative. Fortunately these proximity sensors are internally protected from overload and it shuts down if the current limit is exceeded. I finally figured what was going on by measuring the current/voltage in different wires. The solution was to limit the power to negative side of the power supply of the second sensor by adding a resistor in this this lead. This allows the first sensor to turn on without overloading and supply power to the next sensor which then turns on. At least that is what I think is happening. Anyway, all finished with the system build, all the VFD logic works correctly.

This system build has a wide range of features incorporated into it, so it is a very tight fit. The lathe control box on the PM1340GT is very small, this control board will fit in with almost 0 clearance on either side. The lathe has a 240VAC single phase coolant pump, so a breaker and a coolant contactor was incorporated into the build, the contactor is only activated when the lathe spindle direction switch is engaged. A joystick operates the jog in either direction, two braking rates (fast and slow) that defaults to fast (1 second) if the sensor or safety stop switches are triggered. The front panel controls are all 24VDC, the VFD input terminals are on a separate control circuit operated by the relays. There is terminals for 24VDC and 12VDC to run low voltage lights, tach, etc. The proximity sensor holder for the micrometer has some additional tweaks and was finally able to find a higher quality micro limit switch which switches the system down if the P sensor fails (or operator error). Next will be the installation and the VFD programming, hopefully that go smoothly at this point.

View attachment 129591
View attachment 129592
Click to expand...
Great job on the build Mark, looks like you used all the real estate the space has to offer. if you keep adding on features, you'll end up with a CNC machine Haha!
As always, beautiful work amigo.

kvt said:
Got a deal at the auction this week end, John Deere 3000 psi Gas powered pressure washer, Looked like heck but has a Honda engine, extra hose etc. Took a whiff of the gas, BOy was that something must have been old when they put it In there. Put new gas in it, kept trying to start, still nothing. Finally took the carb off cleaned it and everything, Put it back together and finally got it started. Then the longer it ran the better it did. Now have a fully functional pressure washer, all for under 100,
Click to expand...

Good deal! I wanted to share with you about a product that really works well for clearing old fuel and conditioning the carb. Seafoam, I keep at least one can on hand, it has multiple uses.



Lastly, you guys are a great bunch! Thanks for the kind words and support. The funeral services was a full house with full honors just short of line of duty death. Seems he continues to serve and touch others, his body was still in Phoenix during the services as he donated his organs. Like many have said, this too shall pass as time has a way of healing.

For the record and to keep on the POTD, I spent all morning and part of the afternoon sweeping and moping the shop. Then I sprayed some deterrent around the inside/outside perimeter. Last week I encountered several spiders and one scorpion.

Have a great week gentlemen and thank you again!
Turn and burn,
Paco
 
Well I just got home from my road trip. I got the Boyer Shultz 6-12 Deluxe in the bed of the truck. I will post some pictures tomorrow when I have the energy to unload it. :encourage:
 
Made a hinged rubber cover/output chute for my new-to-me 52" Snapper Pro Hydro Walk Behind mower. Don't like using the OEM output chutes because rocks and pine cones, stuff like that get flung out without getting slowed down by the chute and working on uneven ground around buildings, vehicles and people, may damage any of them.

The hinge is at an angle so the cover will tilt up if something hits it from the front instead of just bending stuff.

IMG_0564.jpg IMG_0564.jpg
 
Last edited:
This year my brothers and I have been remodeling our mother's house. It's been a slow process as we are usually only available on Saturdays. She had a tiny galley kitchen. We built her a new kitchen in what was a family room addition. a7f31dace732ad90640c9ee10529db3b.jpg

I keep forgetting to do a new photo now that the electrical has been patched in and the counters are done, etc, but that will do.

Tonight I spent two hours cutting out a single heater vent in the bamboo floor. She got the strand stuff that is extra hard. It's more resin than bamboo and it's murder on blades of all sorts. I had to wear a respirator, safety glasses, and hearing protection as I cut it out with an oscillating saw and it smoked the whole time. Then I carefully shaved off little bits with a chisel until the flush-style vent cover fit. And then I forgot to take a picture.

I've done plenty of flooring but this is my first project with bamboo.

I hate bamboo.
 
Yesterday I needed to drill 23 holes through 1" square steel with a #24 drill. However, the drill was rather dull. I went to grind it on my HF mini grinder but had a hard time because it was so small. So I attached a small piece of steel to the rest with a single screw through holes threaded in both parts. This holds it tightly enough but still allows me to adjust the angle fairly closely. It worked pretty well so I also cut and tapped a narrower piece for larger drills. Not very impressive as far as grinding jigs go, but it was a good ten-minute solution.

Please excuse the somewhat blurry picture as I took it with my old phone. It does show the gist of it.

drill rest s.jpg
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top