Automation of plastic lathe (timer, delay)

I have a machine (plastic autofeed lathe) that I need to add some timing functionality to. We basically load the plastic, turn on the blades, then turn on the feed, mark where we want it to stop on the pipe, and hit the stop button when it gets to that mark.

What I would like is two-fold.
1. A button that first starts the blades, waits 1 second, then turns on the feed.
2. A timer to set the amount of time the machine will feed, then turn off at desired time. The feedrate is fixed so we can count the time for the desired length.

Here is a photo of the machine controls. Switch on right is for blades on, left for feed, and then the stop button.

Can you recommend the equipment to retrofit this? It is a 220V single phase machine.

Thanks for any advise in the right direction!

The pix you posted are just of a couple of motor starters
(sort of a standard in the industry, like a nut or bolt)


Please post some pix of the actual machine.

John,

Not being 100% on the process you need, what you are describing could be done with a 'delay on make' relay for the first segment and a 'single shot' relay for the second part. They make these in digital or analog octal base relays or you could get fancy and us a small programmable relay..just depends on how sophisticated you want to get.

Stuart

atomarc said:

John,

Not being 100% on the process you need, what you are describing could be done with a 'delay on make' relay for the first segment and a 'single shot' relay for the second part. They make these in digital or analog octal base relays or you could get fancy and us a small programmable relay..just depends on how sophisticated you want to get.

Stuart

Click to expand...

That's a real half-baked answer to the problem. What about replacing the manual contactors, among a few other details.
Out in the world there is fake news, here it is fake advising. Stay out of the electrical advisement business.

rons said:

That's a real half-baked answer to the problem. What about replacing the manual contactors, among a few other details.
Out in the world there is fake news, here it is fake advise. Stay out the electrical advise business.

Click to expand...

Rons,

Looks like your electrical knowledge is as lacking as your grammar..those aren't manual contactors, and the proper word would be 'advice' not 'advise'! Better luck next time Bozo!

Stuart

atomarc said:

Rons,

Looks like your electrical knowledge is as lacking as your grammar..those aren't manual contactors, and the proper word would be 'advice' not 'advise'! Better luck next time Bozo!

Stuart

Click to expand...

The last manual contactors I owned had the exact same push buttons. If those are electrical push buttons using auxiliary points then of course they are not manual. But on the electronics scale, you are a Troglodike. No that's Troglodyte.

The word "advise" still holds, bozo. (notice that bozo is lower case). Bozo is the name of a particular clown.

To return to the original question, this is a pretty simple problem to solve with a couple of (fairly) inexpensive Omron programmable timers, or any of their competition, and one really cheap signal relay. Maybe a couple of additional relays if the timers are not rated for the current needed to drive your contactor coils.

Do you have anybody in house who can read/write old-school ladder logic? Because ladder logic was MADE to be translated directly into relay-based control implementations.

I am not going to attempt to draw ladder logic with ASCII art. But this is a real easy problem.

• Control power goes through NC (normally closed) contacts controlled by second programmable timer to what I will call the "stop bus". If you want emergency stop buttons, put their NC contacts in series with the second programmable timer contacts.
• Button NO (normally open) contacts go from control power to coil of a relay. A set of NO contacts on the relay connect stop bus back to the relay's coils. This forms a latch. Once activated by a momentary button press, it will stay activated until power is removed from the stop bus.
• Stop bus feeds first programmable timer, set for 1 second input-to-output delay.
• Stop bus also feeds coil of blades motor contactor.
• Control power goes through NO contacts of first programmable timer to feed the second programmable timer, set for adjustable delay, and also coil of feed motor contactor.
• Finally, as mentioned up above, control power goes through NC contacts of the second programmable timer to the stop bus. When the timer goes off, the contacts open, removing power from the stop bus. The latch relay opens, removing power from the first programmable timer and the blades motor contactor. When power is removed from the first programmable timer, its contacts open, removing power from the second programmable timer and the feed motor contactor. When power is removed from the second programmer timer, its contacts close, resetting the system for another button-push cycle.

If you want appropriate safety features in that control logic, pay someone to do the job properly.

rons said:

That's a real half-baked answer to the problem. What about replacing the manual contactors, among a few other details.
Out in the world there is fake news, here it is fake advising. Stay out of the electrical advisement business.

Click to expand...

Atomarc replied with an answer with little info to go on. You sir, replied with a bunch of shit.

JRNICO said:

I have a machine (plastic autofeed lathe) that I need to add some timing functionality to. We basically load the plastic, turn on the blades, then turn on the feed, mark where we want it to stop on the pipe, and hit the stop button when it gets to that mark.

What I would like is two-fold.
1. A button that first starts the blades, waits 1 second, then turns on the feed.
2. A timer to set the amount of time the machine will feed, then turn off at desired time. The feedrate is fixed so we can count the time for the desired length.

Here is a photo of the machine controls. Switch on right is for blades on, left for feed, and then the stop button.

Can you recommend the equipment to retrofit this? It is a 220V single phase machine.

Thanks for any advise in the right direction!

View attachment 223697

Click to expand...

If those boxes contain manual operated contacts then they have to be replaced with coil operated ones. Otherwise you have electro-magnetic controls.

Assuming you have electro-magnetic controls:
To suggest a couple of octal relays with adjustable pot controls is extremely old technology. If you did choose to use them I doubt that there would be any space inside a box. A then the height would be too high. I have been inside those types of relays and examined the circuits. Simple RC circuit with a transistor.

A professional approach is to incorporate the emergency stop switch into a larger enclosure with lcd panel that allows you to control the timing. The control should allow you to interlock the timing so that you don't have the opportunity for interference as might happen with two independent octal relays.

I work in this area and search for parts all the time. During the searches I see a lot of those octal relays on the shelves. They are not used much in modern designs.

There are computer controlled boards on this website that will do what you want. I would assume you could use one of those and program it with a laptop via USB. One example.

Elexol Website - USBIO24 R

crazygoat said:

Atomarc replied with an answer with little info to go on. You sir, replied with a bunch of shit.

Click to expand...

The answer was not that great. Open loop timers with inaccurate delays running a process.

We are waiting to hear about your solution.

Just to add a little more information for the peanut gallery..and the head nut, Rons..this machine is located a few miles from my shop. I have seen the machine, I have run the machine, I have pushed the buttons on the mags on the machine and know the budget for the upgrade and what the owner expects.

This machine is not the space shuttle and my initial post was merely a low budget pitch to the OP..a friend of mine, what might be done and to get a dialog going.

Then the crazy shit started.

Stuart

You use words like "meds", "Bozo", "head nut". You like to stir the shit?

As for the crazygoat:
Atomarc replied with an answer with little info to go on. You sir, replied with a bunch of shit.

little info huh?

May you low budget guys RIP. Shop insurance? What an idea.