Spindle Situation

Alrite perfect, that's my goal for tomorrow after school I get back at noon and I'll be taking the motor out to gathery as much information about it as possible. I'll measure the shaft size and take the cover off the hall sensor for an inspection as well as get pictures. Again thanks for all the information and have a good evening then spumco

How’s it going and good day spumco,  so I took the spindle motor out of the machine and I’m taking a look at it to see if it will accept an encoder of some kind.  I’ve never done this before but I kind of understand what its purpose is from all my research after you gave me the recommendation.  The motor does have a sticker on it says it’s a 300v unit 4.7A with IP45 enclosure type.  I take it you’ve done modifications like this before and are very knowledgeable so as I appreciate your helping me with this.  My goal in the end is to have a control link through my existing LTP cable using LinuxCNC.  I’m still not completely sure where to start though but understand that if I do find an encoder to fit the motor that I will also need a special motor drive (Of which I also am not sure where to start lol.  Possibly the Allen Bradley Ultra 3000 or Copley Controls Xenus like you’ve mentioned)  Also I was trying to remove the hall sensors cap cover on the motor but I’m not able to without potentially damaging the bushing/holder as it appears to be glued to the shaft.  I did notice there’s a couple holes tapped on the cap cover that are potentially the rite size and dimensions to accept an encoder though.  What do you suggest I should do?  I’ve still got a lot to learn about this.  Thanks.  Ohh and also the shaft size in the front is 14mm and on the back hall sensor the shaft is size is much smaller 8mm

Edit: I just got the hall sensor off and the cover. (Cover probably wasn’t necessary lol) The hall sensor bushing pickup thing is still glued to the 8mm shaft though.

Ok I got an AMT312C-V and a Allen Bradley 2098-DSD-010-SE ULTRA 3000 lined up in a cart. Should i pull the trigger you think? Also I posted some pictures on here at the bottom of the forum. Let me know what you think?

SLOW DOWN.

Don't buy anything yet.

First thing... you're trying to use the LPT port on a computer to output signals.  I've never done that, so before you start buying stuff you need to get some more advice from some other folks here on what the LPT is capable of.  It can't do analog signals, so you're left with step & direction.

Next, the Xenus can't use single-ended step & direction signals.  Only differential, so I think that leaves the Xenus out of the running if you insist on using the LPT port(s).

The U3k can - I think - use single-ended S&D signals, but you should read the drive manual first.  I've got a copy but it's too big to post here.  Search the internets for it.  Same thing for a free copy of the drive programming software (Ultraware), which also requires a Win PC.

Is there some reason you aren't using a Mesa board for your setup?

Have you priced out cables?  Have you ever made a fiddly encoder cable?  You'll need a cable from the encoder to the drive, plus a connector to attach it to the drive.  Plus a cable from the drive to the LPT port (or other IO hardware).

I'm pointing this stuff out because you come across as rather excited at a potential solution... but this isn't trivial for a novice.
 

I might be missing something, but from reading this, we have
-a iffy motor
-even iffy-er drive
-eager to buy an iffy-est drive
-for several hundred $ used !!!
-
That is the point where i would stop, hand brake on and sliding sideways!
The motor has hal sensors, have a look at Granite devices drives, step/dir, analog, and some other stuff, costs under 500$, works as advertised, quite easy to setup, and good customer care if you can get stuff to Finland.
What i do not get it, you can get a new motor and drive for 300$, more power and not iffy, but OK servo system.
Why?
On the parallel port side, using a low count encoder can get quite usable, can do only step/dir, quadrature, PWM, no analog. That low count must be quite low, like 50-100PPM for a 3-5K spindle.
With no feedback to LinuxCNC you can do any speed, as long as it uses one of the above control types.

tommylight wrote:

I might be missing something, but from reading this, we have
-a iffy motor
-even iffy-er drive
-eager to buy an iffy-est drive
-for several hundred $ used !!!
-
That is the point where i would stop, hand brake on and sliding sideways!
The motor has hal sensors, have a look at Granite devices drives, step/dir, analog, and some other stuff, costs under 500$, works as advertised, quite easy to setup, and good customer care if you can get stuff to Finland.
What i do not get it, you can get a new motor and drive for 300$, more power and not iffy, but OK servo system.
Why?
On the parallel port side, using a low count encoder can get quite usable, can do only step/dir, quadrature, PWM, no analog. That low count must be quite low, like 50-100PPM for a 3-5K spindle.
With no feedback to LinuxCNC you can do any speed, as long as it uses one of the above control types.
 

Tommy - thank you as usual, especially for the LPT advice.

The Ultra 3000 drive isn't the least bit 'iffy' - they're awesome servo drives - just a bit old and not as plug-n-play as other options.

Existing motor isn't 'iffy'.  But the OEM drive is terrible - not just 'iffy.'

If the OP wants to re-use his spindle motor (i.e. zero mechanical changes) then the cheapest way is to get a used U3k servo drive and turn the BLDC in to a servo. Maybe $100-150 for an ebay drive, maybe another $40 for the encoder, $40 for the cable.  Chop up a $10 HD26 cable for the drive IO connections.

If the OP is open to mechanical alterations, then a modbus-capable VFD and a 1hp or 1/5hp induction motor would probably be the simplest from a wiring standpoint.  Still need an encoder, but that could be a cheapo thing driven from the spindle directly.

And there's always the possibility of sticking in one of the cheap 1kw/80mm or 1.8kw/130mm servos from the usual sources.

The OP hasn't indicated what their capabilities are.  Are they more comfortable with electrical/electroncs?  Or machining a motor adapter?  Or neither/both?