Deckel Retrofit FP4A

Hi Christoph,

I was wondering if you have an update on your project? I'm working on retrofitting an FP4A as well and was wondering how the Lichuan motors worked out for you, I have been in touch with them about ordering some in.

How did you couple the new motors to the machine? Did you order in special pulleys or adapt the originals to fit somehow?

Any info you can share would be very helpful!

Oh, the new Lichuan servos are completely different from the old ones,
there is a new generation of chinese servos based on an stm32 or sth out there and most chinese companies are using this base to develop new servo controllers which are cheaper,

in hindsight the lichuan ones were a bad choice as the software only allowed flashing of the parameters nothing else,

i'd go for jmc similar price but they have some sort of tuning software


also yeah i used taper pulleys, there was a vendor offering a set with custom bore size for 5€ per pulley + taper fit for the servo shaft
so for all pulleys in total it was like 15€

tho you have to hack some adapter for the z servo crash prevention mechanism

Hello.

I am also trying to retrofit my FP4A. I just got started to do it.

Can you tell me how you solved spindle speeds in your project?

Also i am having ATC which i want to make running. But this is different debugging.

In the end, did you use linear scales as return feedback with position?

Thanks!

The Deckel gearbox is a bit different from the Maho, as the shifters on the Deckel can rotate through 360, whereas the Maho ones have to reverse.
A friend of mine who is a programmer wrote the Maho control comp which is published here...
You can probably use that code as a basis and modify it for the Deckel.
github.com/jin-eld/mh400e-linuxcnc
 

I saw the code. I will have to look to adapt it to my machine.

Also, a question. Does it makes difference which interpolators you use on the machine? I don't know if mine linear encoder is Heidenhain. since i did not disconnect it from the machine.

Did you buy MESA from USA, or from EU? I see that 7I77 is not available in Europe, or at least not on stock.

Modern scales generally have the A/D conversion in the read head and output TLL or differential signals which you can feed straight into a Mesa Card. the LS-403 Heindenhains need A/D conversion units in between  (called EXE). SOme of the Maho's used Phillips scalle which used some funky protocol, I dont know of anyone interfacing with them. Put a scope on a scale output, and hand wind the screw and see what you get.

I bought mine in the US years ago. Today I would use a 7i97. Saves a bit of space.

Well i think that this one is here, on my Deckel, since i do not see any Heidenhain marks. But i will remove one from machine to see which one is used, since in documentation i do not have any data about measuring system. If i understood documentation it is interpolatin sine wave in TTL signal.

With usage of 7i97 there is no need for 5i25 if i saw correctly. It is connected with ethernet. So i suppose that it can support more I/O than 7i77?

Take a look at the mesa manuals, but I expect both the 7i77 and the 7i97 have the same 32 outputs and 16 inputs. You will probably need an additional 7i84 to have enough I/O  if you want to control the gearbox and ATC.

I will take a look. A friend of mine lives in US and will come soon in Serbia. So i think that he will bring MESA hardware. And maybe interpolators.

Do you think that it would be smarter if I use some simple plc to control ATC, rather than LinuxCNC?

I know nothing about a Deckel ATC, but the one on my Schaublin lathe is only a single output (Pneumatic tool release and turn, and 4 inputs for the four positions). LinuxCNC has a built in PLC - Classic ladder, or for more complex control, you can write a comp. I dont see much point in finding space for an addition PLC which you have to integrate.