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Pm-940m-cnc (pre-assembled)
- Thread starter fugawii
- Start date
I'm placing my order the the PM-940 cnc tomorrow. My original plan was to place it up against a wall. Then I realized that the service electronic cabinet is in the back. I contacted Matt to ask if it's possible to relocate the cabinet to the right side of the mill like the Tormach 1100, also for the back wall clearance if I didn't relocate.
Matts reply was:
As far as the back cabinet, I have had people take it off and put it in a different location, but that takes quite a bit of work. Not impossible, really its just extending the wires for the axis motors and a few others for various controls.
The cabinet doors are about 13” Wide, so you’d want about that much room in the back to be able to open them up all the way.
I then asked Matt for any tips or hints to make it easier.
The only tip I can really say is do one wire at a time, then it should be no problem.
Finally, I asked Matt if doing so would void the warranty.
no it doesn’t void the warranty, unless it’s a part directly affected by that, like if you cross wires and something burns up, then yes it would affect that, but in general, no, just moving the cabinet like that doesn’t void the whole warranty at all.
So far the pre-sale experience with Precision Matthews as been great. I'm hoping for the same experience after the sale.
Anyway, has anybody relocated their electronics cabinet? Did you run into any issues?
Finally, since my mill won't arrive for 4 or 6 weeks, I would appreciate it if a member would take some detailed pictures of electronics cabinets and if possible the wiring. Different angles would be great. I would like to finalize the mill position in advance of delivery and if I will relocate the cabinet or not.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Rod in San Francisco
Matts reply was:
As far as the back cabinet, I have had people take it off and put it in a different location, but that takes quite a bit of work. Not impossible, really its just extending the wires for the axis motors and a few others for various controls.
The cabinet doors are about 13” Wide, so you’d want about that much room in the back to be able to open them up all the way.
I then asked Matt for any tips or hints to make it easier.
The only tip I can really say is do one wire at a time, then it should be no problem.
Finally, I asked Matt if doing so would void the warranty.
no it doesn’t void the warranty, unless it’s a part directly affected by that, like if you cross wires and something burns up, then yes it would affect that, but in general, no, just moving the cabinet like that doesn’t void the whole warranty at all.
So far the pre-sale experience with Precision Matthews as been great. I'm hoping for the same experience after the sale.
Anyway, has anybody relocated their electronics cabinet? Did you run into any issues?
Finally, since my mill won't arrive for 4 or 6 weeks, I would appreciate it if a member would take some detailed pictures of electronics cabinets and if possible the wiring. Different angles would be great. I would like to finalize the mill position in advance of delivery and if I will relocate the cabinet or not.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Rod in San Francisco
I moved the electronics. Later tonight I'll explain in detail. Here is a picture of mine. Besides elbow grease and a day of work, it's not too bad. The box is very very heavy, so you'll need two people minimum. Some of the wires are just barely long enough but it's very doable. When you are doing it it seems a little crazy, but in the end it's worth it, imho.
Jake
Hey PhazerTwo,
These are the settings I am using so far. ( see pictures )
1) Motor Output 2) Pulley setup, and finally 3) M-Codes to get it to spin. ( I have not run any G-Code yet, hopefully tomorrow after I finish tramming.
The M-Code I used is M4 S400 , Then M5 to stop it. S400 is telling it to spin at 400 rpm. You must indicate the speed or it will not execute the M4 command. While it is spinning, you can change the speed with a simple S(rpm) command. M5 is used to stop it. I believe M3 is for clockwise rotation. Don't forget to choose the appropriate pulley for the rpm range you want. Let me know if it isn't working after using these settings and I'll see if I missed anything.
edit : And if the spindle is spinning in the wrong direction its very possible you need to change your motor wiring.
btw, I finally checked my backlash properly and found I have .001 in the X, and .002 in the Y and .001 in the Z. I'm not terribly happy about the Y, maybe someday I'll get oversized balls for the Y ball nut and repack it. When you get yours checked hopefully you can post your backlash results ?
Cheers,
Jake
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I opened up the box yesterday and there is no orange wire connected to e-stop button. The button itself also checks out good.
Will try to wire directly next.
The wires for almost everything are long enough, but the flexible conduit is sometimes not long enough, so for a number of them I had to drill new holes in the electronics cabinet and pull sets of wires out and back through the conduit to relocate the hole which saved me from having to make new wires. . I put my main electrical cabinet box on the right of the mill which also required me to move the swing arm control box . Because the large bundle of wires to that sub control box ( that swings , which houses the on off switch , e -stop, light and coolant control ) it's very difficult to pull the wires back through, so I ended up going direct through the flex conduit instead of trying to pull it back through the pipe.
In the process I just took a ton of pictures and also made a wiring diagram ( DVCnewt, I'll post that here for you ) for that swing arm box. If you put the main electrical cabinet on the left of the mill, you could possibly avoid having to disassemble the swing arm box altogether. I, however can't say the wires would be long enough. I can bet you'd have to relocate the holes in the main cabinet as I had to. I used a couple step drill bits ( see picture ) at their maximum diameter.
That being said, all wires go through the terminal block, so rewiring with longer wire when needed Wouldn't be a big deal. Finding and purchasing the same black rubberized coated flexible metal conduit they used would make the job go pretty easy and stress free. Still time consuming however. You'd also want some crimp wire connectors and a good crimper.
Edit, I forgot to add one slightly difficult part of the process. There are four hidden allen head bolts that hold the main electrical cabinet to the column of the mill. There are four nuts on each corner of the panel of electronics ( see picture ). You have to remove those four nuts and lean the interior panel of electrics forward to get access to those four Allen head bolts. All the while keeping the weight of the box as you remove the four bolts. As I said it's a two ( or even three man job.).
Ultimately your mill gets cosmetically beat up even if you are careful, which is hard to do with the weight being significant. Why because of the soft bondo / auto filler they use to smooth out the entire mills casting. It's thick and chips off fairly easily. So when detaching stuff it chips off a lot. My mill looks used at this point, so don't think it's going to be a show piece after all is said and done. But the shiny surfaces that matter look great.
..... if anyone wants a link to my unorganized and snap happy library of pictures just send me a private message.
Jake
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Have you been running with your X, Y, and Z on those settings? That's not what I have...
Our spindle settings actually do match. I thought you could just clikc the "Spindle CW" button to fire up the spindle... I will give the G-code a shot and see if that fires it up.
PZ
After shooting this video to ensure the orientation is correct I took pictures of my settings again ( enclosed ). What I created in fusion 360 came out exactly as it should have.
I am able to fire up the spindle with the Spindle CW button. Not sure why you cannot. I did have to reverse two of the motor wires (from the VFD ) to get it to spin in the correct direction. Maybe hit the reset button next to the Spindle CW button to get the default 100%. Or try the M-Codes... for example : M3 S200.
Be sure to set the pulley configuration too.
Jake