PMDX-107 connection my my Chinese 3kw spindle and BEST VFD

[ChrisM]

Hello,

     I of course have not been able to find any info online about this VFD.  I have it running correctly right now using the controls on the VFD itself. My machine I?m working on includes a PMDX-126 (rev. C) along with a PMDX-107 to control my 3kw spindle and a ESS SmoothStepper.  I want to verify the connection of the 107 to my VFD if you all can take a look for me. 

PMDX-107 vfd speed control relay board to VFD ? change VFD configuration P065 to ???

Make sure dip switch 6 to off for 10v setting

?Agnd? on PMDX-107 to COM terminal on VFD
?Aout? on PMDX-107 to ?AVI? (0-10v) on VFD
"COM" on PMDX-107 to "   " on VFD
?Aref? on PMDX-107 (NOT USED?)
?FWD/RUN? on PMDX-107 to ?X1? on VFD
?REV/DIR? on PMDX-107 to ?X2? on VFD

I'm not quite sure about these or what configuration I'm supposed to set my VFD to on P064 and P065.

[ChrisM]

Thanks for all the help

Chris...

[Steve Stallings]

In your first post, you said.....

"COM" on PMDX-107 to "   " on VFD

Not sure what this means. Perhaps you do not know where to connect it
and left it unconnected.

My best guess is that "COM" of the PMDX-107 should connect to COM on the VFD.
This is a little confusing because the last entry in their chart seems to be talking
about two terminals, COM and 24V, but I assume they are separate and COM
really is common for both the multifunction inputs and the analog input.

Aref on the PMDX-107 can be left not connected for VFDs that expect 0 - 10V input
on the analog speed control input.

P64 on the VFD should be set to 1.

P65 on the VFD should be set to 1, and use X1 and X2 as you described.

We strongly recommend using the Test button on the PMDX-107 to verify
operation before trying to get the software set up to control the PMDX-107.

[ChrisM]

Thanks for the reply Steve...


I got the spindle working correctly via the test button.  I'll list connections for anybody's future reference.

Agnd - COM on VFD
Aout - AVI on VFD
Aref - Not Used
COM - Second COM on VFD (there are two COM terminals and they continuity test as being the same)
Fwd/Run - X1 on VFD
Rev/Dir - X2 on VFD

So i've tried for quite some time to get it working with Mach 4 but have not been successful.  It starts to move and hums then stops moving but keeps humming.  I've tried a lot of combinations of speeds and settings of course.  I'm attaching some pictures and a video link of how the spindle is behaving in Mach.  Again it works perfectly by using the 107 test button.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGZ1_ljeoJg

[ChrisM]

Here's one more pic

[Bob at PMDX]

I'm not that familiar with the new ESS plug-in and configuration screens.  Somewhere in the ESS configuration should be a place where you define the spindle PWM frequency.  Make sure that is set to some value that will work with the PMDX-107 (25 or 50 Hz are typical values).

Here is how to use the LEDs on the PMDX-126 to help diagnose the problems.  Connector J6 on the PMDX-126 has the parallel port #1 pin 14 and 16 output signals (in addition to having them routed to the PMDX-107).  There are LEDs next to each screw terminal.

- In Mach, turn on the spindle in the forward direction and set the spindle speed to 5000 RPM.  Look for messages in the Mach status line to make sure there are no errors (you may have to open the history to see if a message has scrolled off the 1-line display).
- Look at the LED on the PMDX-126 for pin 16.  It should be on but a bit dim.  If the PWM frequency is 25 Hz you may even see the LED flicker.
- The LED for pin 14 should be off.
- Change the spindle speed to 24000 RPM.
- Look at the LED for pin 16 again.  It should be bright (much brighter than before).
- In Mach turn the spindle on in the reverse direction.
- The LED for pin 14 should no be on.

If you don't see the LEDs behaving like this, then something in Mach or the ESS is not configured properly.

Bob

[ChrisM]

Thanks again for the replies guys.   Hey Bob... I guess that is the issue...  There is not anywhere to input the PWM frequency in the damn ESS Mach4 plugin.  The amount of wasted time everyone spends really sucks.  Anyhoo with what you said in mind about setting the frequency my searches came up with this document.  https://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?action=printpage;topic=29989.0   Funny that its a print page link but I'm sure we can navigate to the actual post if we want to.  So by going to the machine.ini file in the Mach directory and searching PWM in it I found that it was set at 1000.  I changed the 1000 to 50 and presto! It worked!   Crazy stuff that they don't have a box that edits that entry in the plugin after all this time. 

Thanks again for all the help on this issue... I'm sure I'll have a couple more items before I'm done.   :)

Chris...