KiCAD schematic Anilam Crusader M Conversion

I've been messing around w/ KiCAD and did a schematic for my Anilam Crusader M to a Mesa 5i25 & 7i77 conversion. In the github repository there's a Auto_Mesa.lib that includes a component for a 7i77. Since KiCAD is meant for circuit layout, I didn't know how to include the jumpers so left those off. But, the pins are there and it's in a multi-part format, which worked out kinda nice.

github.com/floppydisk525/AnilamToLinuxCNC

FloppyDisk,

Thank you for putting together those schematics. I started my conversion on the Crusader II and it encouraged me to cut the cord on the old control. So far I was able to enable the drives by jumpering pins 13 and 14 on P7 on PCB 803. Unfortunately this bypasses the safety circuit limit chain that kills power to the drives.I haven't fully wrapped my head around the PCB 801 relay board. I will probably do what you did and run the limits into the 7i77 and have a servo enable go to pin 2. Can you tell me a bit more about the 801 connections/modifications? Specifically why to remove the 24v connection on P5?

OT-CNC,

Probably the most useful page of the pdf w/ the link below is page 3, which has my notes of what I decided to do w/ PCB801.

drive.google.com/file/d/0ByHpuoFMRAsDeDh...bDQ/view?usp=sharing

Trying to explain it, I removed 2 of the 3 relays (ice cub style relays) on the top of the PCB801 board. The one that I left, K3 is used to trigger K2, which is a Solid State Relay (SSR) located UNDERNEATH the PCB801 and this SSR is what allows 120Vac power to goto the transformer (if I recall correctly) and ultimately power the West Amp servo amplifiers. They do this on P6, which I would have left attached.

The KEY here is that on P5 I disconnected the COM (pin 1) and +24Vdc (pin 2) and then connected the mesa to pins P3 1 and 2. This is the ENABLE for the servo axes and I used a standard OUTPUT from the 7i77.

I also left the auto/manual switch (p4) connected. That allows you to turn the switch to manual and NOT power the servo's. I never use it, though. Maybe once...

Also, I rewired P7 to the machines RESET button and Pilot light that is powered by the output from the mesa. Hmmm, I noticed that my pilot wasn't always working, I bet that output from the mesa (or something else) is an issue, need to look into that.

The main thing here is that the mesa has sourcing OUTPUTS while the PCB801 was designed for Sinking outputs. That's why they have +24VDC hooked up on P5 pin 2. Eliminate that and run the relays 'backwards' so to speak...

Holler with questions, think i have an idea of what and why I did it, but didn't document it that well.

Mark

Mark,

Thank you for the detailed explanation and link!

You're welcome and I hope it helps. My notes are a little bit unfinished so it takes a minute to go back through and decipher them. I do recall spending quite a bit of time trying to figure out how I should use PCB801. I'm sure there are other ways and probably could have eliminated it all-together. But, seemed useful and works well.

Good luck
Mark

I followed your schematics and notes on sheet 3/5 and it all works! Thanks for making it easy for me!!
A couple of questions. Did you add an additional fly back diode to protect the 7i77? I assume the diode on K3 is sufficient?
If I wanted to use K4 for any reason, would I remove the 220 ohm resistor?
My machine being an older crusader, does not seem to have any line conditioners built in! I see your schematics shows 2. One 5A and a 20A. Anything I need to know when sourcing those? I have a couple rated for different voltages. Can one rated for 250v ac 6A work the same on 120v?

I'm glad you got it to work!

OT-CNC wrote:

Did you add an additional fly back diode to protect the 7i77? I assume the diode on K3 is sufficient?

I did not use an additional fly back diode to protect the 7i77. Somewhere in the 7i77 manual it says that you don't need a diode for a small relay (with a coil) due to the 7i77 circuitry, so I didn't add one and you shouldn't have to.

OT-CNC wrote:

If I wanted to use K4 for any reason, would I remove the 220 ohm resistor?

I looked at the schematic that I sent you and only saw two 220ohm resistors and they are on the upper right side and didn't seem to be tied to K4 in any way?? Can you describe or tell me where the 220 ohm resistor is that you're talking about?

If you want to use K4, you would either tie P3 Pin 6 to ground or put in jumper JW6 to tie those to ground. Also, the 'triggering' of the relays would come from the 7i77 on P3 Pin 1 which means K3 and K4 would be actuated at the same time.

One thing I noticed that could be a problem on my setup is that I'm driving that Output from the 7i77 'too hard.' My output turns on K3 and then powers up the RESET light bulb, although that light bulb is only 2.4W (that's not much), so that shouldn't hurt it... Hmm, I did notice that my reset light bulb wasn't working. Need to investigate.

OT-CNC wrote:

My machine being an older crusader, does not seem to have any line conditioners built in! I see your schematics shows 2. One 5A and a 20A. Anything I need to know when sourcing those? I have a couple rated for different voltages. Can one rated for 250v ac 6A work the same on 120v?

I'm not entirely sure if the 250Vac one will have any issues, but I think it'd work. I don't think you want to put a line filter rated for 120Vac on a 240Vac line, but the other way around should be fine.

I will add, my machine is a noise machine!! I have an Automation Direct GS2 VFD to run my spindle and that thing must be generating noise as well as the bridge rectifier for converting 80Vac to 80Vdc. When I upgraded to the brand new LinuxCNC 2.7.0 release about a year and half ago, my machine wouldn't work! It turned out that, Yes, my system has a ton of noise, but the 2.6.x and previous versions had some 'ignoring' code to ignore bad and noise induced communications within the mesa 5i25/7i77. The programmers changed something around 2.7.4 and now my system should work, but I haven't gotten around to changing from 2.6.12.

Part of why I say this is that I have line filters, but I also have a ton of noise. Not sure how much the line filters will help you, so try the 250Vac ones and see if it works.

Mark

The resistors are shown on the original anilam schematic near jumper jw8 and jw9. (A)(B )(C)(D). I didn't look for them on the pcb. They are on K1 and K3 not K4 as I stated, sorry. If I'm using K4 it's irrelevant.

My initial running of the x and y did not show any obvious issues with noise even without line conditioners but I'll definitely will add them.
Things may look differently with noise once I start tuning and look at signals in hal scope. I also don't have a VFD yet on this machine. I'm running current release 2.7.8. and the 7i77 is not in the main electrical box as that one is too small.

Yes - I agree w/ everything you say about the resistors, that's what I saw as well. My guess is that if we followed the schematic further, those connections/wires led to other components or back to one of the main anilam control boards and were there to keep from dead-shorting the contact. But, what they do or what they're used for, I don't know and don't really care...

Glad you don't have any obvious noise issues. Version 2.7.8 should be just perfect and separating the 7i77 from everthing probably helps. My 7i77 is about 6 inches from my VFD and that VFD is grounded to the backpanel so there's probably noise there. I did it that way because the wires from teh original anilam all 'settled there' for the PCB803 (I think it was 803) and I didn't have to re-wire any of htose leads. They all 'just fit.' But, I might have gotten noise.

Anyway, you're on the right track - Good luck,
Mark