back at the BP to pc conversion

[j king]

Hi all. finally got back to working on the mill. I wired up the ac drive. I was wondering if it would be more convenient to just install a pot switch on the control panel instead of having the computer control it. Is there a reason one would be better than the other?Have wires already in place so really just need to install the switch.

I also fixed the air powered speed control that came on the mill. My thinking is that the computer will not know the true speed of the spindle if I also change the vari speed pulleys.

Jim

[macona]

Suppose better lathe than never.

You need spindle feedback. You can do it all sorts of ways, encoder, fiber optic retro-reflective sensors. This signal goes back to mach and tells it how fast the spindle is running.

I used to pick up the speed off the nose of the spindle till I went to a 30 taper and didnt have room left. Now I pick up off the fixed side of the reeves pulley. I use a keyence fiber optic retro reflective sensor.