4th Axis on the Triac PC

[blatter]

Hi All,

Im looking at fitting a 4th axis to the Triac PC and am wondering if i can do it using standard Denford kit (if i can find any)
i am currently using VRmilling 5 and the machine has a nextstepES controller fitted. i have seen the instructions on how to enable the 4th axis in the machine setup and can see there is a space next to the existing SD12 cards for an extra driver card in the rack.
Will i need to use a SD12 or can i get away with a SD2/1, SD13, SD15, SD15m with a matching motor.

thanks

Paul

[Denford Admin]

I'm really not sure if the Euro card brings out the 4th axis step and direction pins (have a look on here for the EuroCard 96 pinout)
It's not something we've ever done with v5 - the original rack based Triac 4th axis, I believe, used the Z axis drive and a switchover relay to drive the 4th axis.

If you can find the step/direction pins for the 4th axis and enable it in the software, then it should be pretty straight forward to add a stepper drive+motor to run another axis.

[blatter]

thanks for the info, will have a check on the backplane to see if the lines exist

[blatter]

just a quick update, i have traced the correct pins on the backplane which appear to be routed straight into the optional controller card connector. as i dont have a card fitted i cut the tracks and used speedwire to connect to a SD12 fitted into the axis 3 slot. connected a stepper to the axis 3 connector only to find that when i enable the axis under machine settings it cannot find the Triac VME_4Axis.52xx file.

so looking at other 4axis mint files i have made one based on the Triac VME.52xx and recompiled with mint, i now have the stepper under the control of Vr milling 5 as an "A" Axis which can be programmed along with the X, Y, Z
ie G01 X10.0 Y10.0 Z10.0 A90.0 to move all 3 axis and rotate through 90 deg.

now i have to build the new 4th axis spindle assy....

i am also looking at adding a braking system to the 4th axis, but have hit a snag as i cannot find a spare Dout on the Custom card to operate a relay for the brake. i can see from the circuit diagrams fron the triac pc that there are some i could use from the optional controller card. Is there any information around on this card or does anyone know where i can obtain one.

PS. will try and get some diagrams and pics up of progress.

Paul

[Denford Admin]

Well done for getting so far
I've not looked in detail, but this new upload may help you find an output:
viewtopic.php?f=54&t=3068

[bpmsl]

Hi Paul,
I'm looking to do some thing similar on my novamill, could you please provide more details on how you did this? Your help would be much appreciated. It sounds like you're saying that the opt lines go straight to the option connector? If so which pins? Did you just bell out the lines with a multimeter?

Some pointers on what you had to in the mnt file would also be usefull, I'm going to have a look at the triac one also.

Any help would be much appreciated.
Cheers
BPM