For those using variable speed routers and switching them under the control of Mach3, a few questions.

First, since there is already a switch on the router body itself, do you have to turn it on closing it up to the SSR? (So that it is hot or ready to go at the control of Mach?)

I have seen the router approached in two different ways; one being switched on with the contactor for the entire enclosure, and switched separately with an additional contactor and momentary push button. Is this preference, any advantages over the other for either method?

Lastly how are you finding the supplied router cable, IE: porter-cable, this is an unshielded 14ga 2 or 3 conductor cable. Any of you switching this cable over to a continuous flex power cable or are you finding its sufficient as the stock cord snipped at the controller and connected? (I haven't had any issues with it in the machine as it stands for over 2 years.)

Thanks for any input.

Anyone :D ? thanks

Hi Brian, I'm no expert in this area, but here are my thoughts:

I use a contactor instead of SSR, but I believe the concept would be the same...I leave the router body switch on, and turn it on and off with Mach.

One advantage I see with the push button and 2nd contactor method is being able to turn the router on/off without having to reach into the y-car, especially when the y-car is out of reach. I wired mine this way, except used the PMDX relay instead of a push button to switch it on/off. My 2nd contactor is also wired through the main contactor so that it shuts down (along with everything else) when the e-stop is pushed.

Not sure about this one...I didn't want to take a chance and wired my shielded cable directly to the router.

John,
I have been using my Home Depot 12/3 flexible extension cord for the router for a few years now without cause or issue. I personally enjoy having the router switch available during tool change operations. Removing the power near the tooling change just adds a nice backup to the machine turning the spindle on by itself. I have had the Charge pump operation fail during power fluctuations in the shop. The router didn't stay on...but the less than a second pulse of the power to the router would have been enough to hurt!

If you read JR's forum, you will see he put a nice little disconnect switch at the top of his Z-slide for this operation. I just use the Porter Cable factory sealed switch.

Good luck with your choices.

Sean

Thanks John and Sean for the info provided. I like JR's switch, its simple and extra security when you can't rely on the comp/relay to be 100%.

Sean brings up a good point that I failed to mention. I do still have the router switch intact (I didn't remove or bypass the factory switch, just replaced the cord) and can still use it as a backup for tool changes. However, I normally shut down at the main switch during tool changes, as I'm leary of the gantry or y-car moving in addition to the router accidentally turning on.

Slight paranoia, but I don't put it past myself to drop my shuttle, bump the router switch, or make some other clumsy move during such critical times.

Appreciate your advice in the past guys. Wondered if I could throw a few more at you.

In regards to Mach3, what kind of delay time if any are you giving the router when switched on through Mach before it starts to jog into the program? Do you use the tool change so that you have to hit cycle start twice so you can hit cycle start - verify spindle is up to speed and then hit it again? Thanks.

With the router I used to delay one second. With the spindle I delay five seconds, but I have a nice gradual rampup on my spindle speed programmed into my VFD.

Was it simply a time delay or did you have to hit cycle start again?

Simple time delay in the gcode. (G4 P1 or G4 P5)

Sean,

I second this. I had my computer shutting off because of overheating twice and my router switched on/off very vast during the event making it spin for a split second. I didn't got hurt, however after that I always switch off my router during a bit change.

Ries

If using Mach3 there is no need to add a "G4 P#" to code for a spindle run up delay.

This delay can be set in Config / Ports and Pins / Spindle Setup.

Greg

G540 and the router SSR
 

Most of this thread talks about the PMDX-122 in relation to the SSR. I have the G540 and I think that I will have to add a DC power supply to power the SSR. My motor power supply is at 37v DC which is too high for my 3-32v DC SSR. I believe that the outputs on the G540 (terminals 5 & 6) are only a switch which controls the DC voltage that goes to the SSR and I will have to supply that voltage. Can anyone tell me if my logic is sound?

I don't know the G540, but I am fairly sure that the G540's output is 5V and will switch your SSR directly.

The schematic for the G540 (which is posted on the Gecko forum on Yahoo, v. March 2, 2008) doesn't seem to match the description of the G540's data sheet; however, it shows outputs 5 and 6 as the open-collector side of Field Effect Transistors.

An open collector connection acts as a current SINK (as opposed to a current SOURCE).

A current sink is like a switch that connects one side of a device to ground. It assumes that you have the other side of the device connected to a source of voltage. When it turns on it sinks current (or pulls current through the device).

A current source is like a switch that connects one side of a device to the source of voltage - like a light switch. It assumes that the other side of the device is connected to ground. When it turns on, it sources current (or furnishes the voltage to the device).

With the G540, you would connect the + side of the control logic for an SSR to the appropriate voltage (+3v to +32v, but typically +5v) and the - side of the control logic to terminal 5 or 6 on the G540. When the PC commands parallel port pin #17 to activate, an internal opto-isolator (1/4th of an ILQ74 package) turns on the FET that is connected to terminal #5 which would allow current to flow through the control logic of the SSR. When the PC commands parallel port pin #1 to activate, terminal #6 on the G540 would activate.

That description assumes that the operation of the G540 basically follows that old schematic.

I can confirm that Mike's description is how I've driven SSRs with my G540.

Router Contactor
 

In post # 43 John states that he connected his router contactor to his main contactor. I am trying to accomplish this as well but am having some wiring difficulties. I am using a Teco CN-16 and a CN-22 contactor . The main contactor wiring is fine and the table moves as it should but I cannot seem to get the wiring for the router contactor correct.
Can someone please give me advice on how to wire this.

Thanks

Greg

Hi Greg. Can you clarify what you are trying to accomplish? I'll assume that you want the main contactor to cut all power, and the router contactor to switch the router on and off under computer control- as long as the main contactor is already on.

The challenge here is how to get the 120vac (or 24vac or 240vac) to switch the router contactor from the low voltage DC signal coming from your computer. To accomplish this, you generally need either a relay with a low voltage coil (sometimes provided by BOBs), or ... an SSR. If you are already going to drive an SSR, the router contactor is pretty redundant. If you have a BOB controlled relay that can switch the voltage and amperage required by the router contactor, then you have a path forward without an SSR.

So you can go with low voltage BOB signal to SSR to router, or with low voltage BOB signal to relay driver to low voltage relay to contactor. Unless you already have that relay provided by your BOB, I'd take the SSR approach.

Getting back to your question on the wiring of the contactors themselves, you likely want to feed the line side of the router contactor from the load side of the main contactor. No other relationship between the contactor circuits. Similarly, in the SSR approach you would power the SSR to router circuit from the load side of the main contactor.

Brad;

Thanks for the reply. I would like to be able to turn my router on and off using Mach as shutting it down through the main switch on my panel.
I assume that I will have to go through the main contactor and through the relay on my PMDX 122 but the exact wiring is confusing me. I do not have an SSR but I do have another contactor.

Thanks

Greg

Okay, assuming you have a 120v control box, 120v router, and two 120v contactors, and you have the main working fine, and the main is switching the neutral on T1 to L1, and the hot on T2 to L2

From the main contactor, run L1 to T1 on the router contactor. Same for L2 main to T2 router contactor. This provides the power to be switched.

From the router contactor, Run L1 and L2 to the router. Run a ground too, of course.
That's the drive circuit.

Now, for the control circuit. Run the neutral from L1 on the main (or T1 on the router contactor, they are the same), to A1 (coil) on the router contactor. Run from A2 (coil) on the router contactor to one side of the relay on the PMDX (J7-1). Run from the other side of the relay on the PMDX (J7-2) to hot on L2 on the main (or T2 on the router contactor).

So, both the router power, and the router control power are only available when the main is switched on. The router power is then switched again by the router contactor. The router contactor coil is switched by the relay on the PMDX.

Note: I've never seen a PMDX-122. I'm working from the User's Manual Revision 1.11, which also states that the relay contacts can handle 10 amps at 24, 120 or 240V in Section 9, and gives the relay connector data in Section 4.4.

Does that help?

Brad;

Again thanks. I will go give it a try right now. I will post if I encounter any difficulties but that seems straight forward.

Greg

All seems well except I am not sure how to turn on the router using Mach. I am able to manually turn "on" the contactor and the router responds but I am unable to get it to respond via Mach. I am going to diagnostics and trying spindle toggle yet this may not be the correct method to test.
I believe that I have the ports & pins set up correctly with Output 1 enabled at port 1 pin 17.

Greg

I'm pretty sure the PMDX manual said that the relay (and the LED) are on pin1 (Strobe). Not on pin 17.

Brad;

I tried pin 1 as well, but still no response. I will re-check the wiring later today.

Thanks

Greg

Okay, so the PMDX docs seem to indicate there's an LED on the PMDX for pin 1. If the LED is toggling, and not the router, then look for a wiring problem. If the LED is not toggling, you have a software config issue.

Unfortunately nothing I have tried has worked. I have wired as you suggested Brad yet I cannot get the relay to energize.
In the PMDX manual it states;

"In order to energize the relay, a "0" must be written to the parallel port control register"

I have searched on how to do this but I am very confused by the literature. Can anyone please guide me in the right direction.

Thanks as always.

Greg

Greg, is the LED on the PMDX toggling on and off, or not? We need to know whether to help with the wiring, or with the software config. If it's the wiring, maybe post a picture. If it's the software config, maybe post a screen shot of the pin configuration page.

Brad; No, it is not toggling. The output 1 light in Mach 3 does toggle, but not the light on the board. I will post pics asap.

Greg

Okay, so it's a software problem. Check out page 10 of this guide; it appears that you need to both set up the spindle to output 1 on the spindle setup page, and map output 1 to pin 1 on the output signals page.

Brad here are my settings.

That all looks right to me. I think you need to call tech support at PMDX and get them to walk you through to the point that the LED on the board toggles on and off.

Thanks for all the help Brad. I will call on Mon.

Greg

Are there any other alternative that replaces the SSR

Hi Guys, It's been a while.

During my build I had trouble getting my SSR going so I just wired 5v directly to it and used my safety switch near the router to turn on/off the router.

I thought I'd re-visit the problem. I'm starting to think the problem is with the BOB not the SSR. I have the SMD LED on J8 port 14 of the BOB toggling on/off with the spindle toggle button but don't get 5v out only 2v which isn't enough to trigger the SSR.

Also the LED on pin 17 is lit and I don't know why.

If you disconnect SSR from BOB, do you still get 2V or you now have 5V ?

Actually I only measured it with the SSR disconnected. I did connect it to the SSR but the 2v wasn't enough to turn it on.

Well, after working with this for a while I decided to give PMDX a call.
As it turns out because I have a regulated 5v out (from my Antek) it should be feeding the 122 NOT to the GND and Pwr Alt in terminals but the GND and the +5 Aux OUT terminal. It does sound counter intuitive but everything works great now!!

I was wondering if anyone had an updated post on doing this? Gerald's original called for a pmdx-122, and I know most are using a pmdx 126 (as am I). I was hoping someone could give direction on what pins and ports they used physically as well as in mach 3/4.