Anilam 3000 mill axis direction problem

M. Moore · Dec 11, 2019

New to me Topwell 5avk milling machine with Anilam 3000 control, 1998 machine.
I am completely new to CNC and have never made a cut with a cnc machine other than my CNC torch table.

I just hooked it up and got everything working and I noticed the X and Y moved opposite to the control spec.
The Z axis worked correctly and the spindle turned in the correct direction.
Machine powered up and homed properly.

I looked in the manual and it seemed simple to change the encoder settings to reverse the readout. I changed the X and Y and saved the changes.

Now the problem, the machine tries to home and it just moves a few inches and errors off. So I went back and changed them back to the default settings, still the same error and movement of the table when trying to home the machine.

Do I have to manually reset the home position?

Thanks for any help in advance.

Michael

ripperj · Dec 11, 2019

Absolutely no insult intended, but are you sure the axis are backwards? Picture the endmill moving through the work, that’s what the cnc references .
For positive X values, the end mil moves from center to the right side of the work, but the table moves left.
Same with Y, table moves opposite.

Kicks your ass if you think about it too much.

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M. Moore · Dec 11, 2019

No insult taken.
I was having a bit of time with the + - aspect but I checked and double checked with the manual open and in front of me.
They were running backwards, when jogging in x- the table moved to the left.

Thanks for checking on a noob.

M. Moore · Dec 11, 2019

I tried a few more times with different inputs and got it to work!
It homes and is now correct in its movements.
Whew!
Thought I had f’d it up.

ripperj · Dec 11, 2019

I'm a bit curious how it got like that , I have 3000m on a knee mill and don't see how that happens accidentally.

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M. Moore · Dec 11, 2019

I obviously don’t understand either but the previous owner had a few programs on the machine and as I was playing around with the machine it would not run the programs correctly, its seemed to be reversed.
That may or may not be true given my experience level.

Is it possible that it had something to do with the initial power up, I had the phases reversed and the spindle was running backwards? I switched two wires and the spindle turned correctly.

However it doesn’t really matter now as it is fixed!

ripper, how long have you had your machine? Which knee mill?

ripperj · Dec 12, 2019

My mill is a Acer 3vs (BP) clone. I really like it. I just bought a small Fadal, but plan on keeping the Acer as they are so versatile.
I have only had it a couple years(upgraded from all manual) but use it quite frequently with no issues.
It’s a 2005, but came out of a school that shut down almost immediately after buying their equipment (maybe a blood bath in the school??) I wish I was rich, there was another Acer knee mill and a couple Acer lathes that came from the same place.

My control runs off a separate 110v circuit, I take it that your is tapped off the main 3 phase?

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M. Moore · Dec 12, 2019

The control does run off its own 110 separate circuit.
When I turn on the control the whole machine fires up as well.

It it is entirely possible I hallucinated the whole reverse feed as I have a bad head cold right now and the brain is a bit foggy.

My machine is older but has not been used very much. The biggest problem is the stinky coolant that was left in the machine. Horrible grey black sludge, two five gallon buckets. It is stinking up my whole shop. I flushed it with soapy water but no improvement yet.
The previous owner just used mist coolant on aluminum, never ran steel as far as I can tell.

Does your machine just have the quill travel and the knee is manual up down? Seems like a no brainer to put a single DRO on the knee for easy positioning. I am keen to use some of the capacity on this one, 38” x 20” x 20” travels, but only 4” quill travel.

ripperj · Dec 12, 2019

My control is just two axis. I added a quill encoder , that one is easy and integrates right into the control.
I also added a knee encoder that integrates into the control, but not as cleanly. To zero it out you have to run a one line program. It’s pretty easy once you are used to it. That encoder shows up as W, where as the quill shows as Z.
I was unable to get the two encoders to talk (ie move quill up 1” and knee down 1”, Z still reads zero. When I bought the knee encoder I thought that’s how it would work.

Look under my posts , I posted some pics here of both

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ripperj · Dec 12, 2019

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LotusRallyman · Dec 12, 2019

RipperJ

I am courious in your knee intergration as I have three axis Anilam 3000M but knee is motorised and not under cnc control. i do like the look of your setup and very interested in incorperating it into the system.

ripperj · Dec 13, 2019

The knee scale is an Acu-rite SENC 150 16” 5um.

Coupled axis is what I was referring to above, I forgot the term. My two Z scales are not coupled like I thought that they would be.

The scale and the needed wiring (as well as the help to set-up and know what to buy)was from Don Schoof at Measurement Technologies. It was about $800.

If I remember our conversations properly, the reason we could not couple my two Z scales had to do with the fact that I have a 2 axis system. I believe Don indicated that a 3 axis system would couple.

Even uncoupled , it’s pretty nice having he knee scale. The knee scale zeros where ever the knee is when you boot the control, and can be zeroed anytime by running a one line program. You can then move the knee as needed to perform tool changes or drilling ops.

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M. Moore · Dec 13, 2019

Ripper,
Nice looking mill. Very nice scale bracket!
What is the purpose of the handle or knob on the reader bracket?

I like the the idea of coupling and integrating the scales. Something to aim for when I get things rolling. It will be quite a milestone when I actually cut my first part.

ripperj · Dec 13, 2019

Knob? Are you taking the knee encoder? That’s just the knee lock sticking out from under the bracket.

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