HAAS VF1 retrofit

sspeed33317 wrote: Which brand VFD works best with Modbus for LInuxCNC ?? Or is it not a problem
to just as long as the drive is Modbus capable.

Why the enthusiasm for Modbus? Initially I would suggest running the VFD from an analogue voltage and fwd-rev commands.
Modbus will give you more access to what the drive is doing and more "tweakability" but it is likely to be something of a project all of its own.

Which version of LInuxCNC should I be using ?
I have to do the M6 remap for the tool changer.

2.6. It is very close to release, and has a lot of fun new things (including remap).
Just follow the instructions at buildbot.linuxcnc.org to get it as a pre-built package.

OK, i will try to work on getting 2.6 running

I figure modbus would be better to use because I need to
get the spindle to orient for tool change, maybe i dont need it..

the way I read in the HAAS manual, for orient

Spindle set at orient speed, as it triggers the orient pin it goes into coast mode
when the pin drops into the detent there is a switch that lets the control know it
dropped and also commands a stop signal to the VFD, so until that pin raises
back out no matter what the VFD will not move the spindle, giving a spindle lock fault

If i can do that without using Modbus i'm all for it

ok, just ordered the mesa boards..
might have to wait on ordering a VFD for a week or two.. rent is coming due :dry:

sspeed33317 wrote: OK, i will try to work on getting 2.6 running

It shouldn't be hard.

Spindle set at orient speed, as it triggers the orient pin it goes into coast mode
when the pin drops into the detent there is a switch that lets the control know it
dropped and also commands a stop signal to the VFD, so until that pin raises
back out no matter what the VFD will not move the spindle, giving a spindle lock fault
If i can do that without using Modbus i'm all for it

You can do all that in HAL. I would probably write a custom comp (because I can, and it's fun) but I can actually see it being easy enough in ordinary HAL.

Consider, this basically comes down to the VFD command voltage either being (scaled) spindle speed request, or a small slow-speed rotate, or zero.

A "mux" can do that, and mux8 has 3 inputs.
www.linuxcnc.org/docs/2.6/html/man/man9/mux8.9.html

If we say that sel0 is spindle-on, sel1 is orient, and sel2 is "pin engaged"

Then draw up a table.
So,
Does that make sense?

It will make sense eventually..
I just have to open my mind up and do a lot of reading.

My strengths are mechanical and electrical, not so much in the programing.

Its been a long time , since Mach3 was still Mach1 and EMC2 was released as a BDI...
My first attempt at building a CNC machine was a bust, lots of things got in the way..

Got a great deal on this old HAAS and now is the time to make it all happen.. finally...

Thanks.

I have installed the latest 2.6 from the latest ISO on wheezy..

So far works great , hope to have my Mesa hardware sometime this week.

One thing i noticed my latency test is half of what it was .