Custom CNC programmable solutions

The application required five axes of motion. The machine needed to be capable of positioning cutter-tooth tool holders at any programmable orientation along the drum surface and at varied angles between +/- 30 degrees from vertical and +/- 45 degrees from horizontal. The five axes required were:

Axis 1: Rotate Drum

AC brushless servo motor with a precision, low-backlash reducer for rotation of the drum to accept placement of the tool holders

Axsis 2: Long Travel

AC brushless servo motor with a precision, low-backlash reducer for the tool holder module to traverse parallel to the length of the drum

Axis 3: Cross Travel

AC brushless servo motor with a precision, low-backlash reducer for the tool holder module to approach the drum perpendicular to the Long Travel motion

Axis 5: Cutter-Tooth

Vertical Rotate (Skew) axis - AC brushless servo motor with a precision, low-backlash right angle reducer for the tool holder orientation over the 60 degree range

Axsis 6: Cutter-Tooth

Horizontal Rotate (Pitch) axis - AC brushless servo motor with a precision, low-backlash right angle reducer for the tool holder orientation over the 90 degree range

The five SVA type servo drives were used as torque mode amplifiers. The wiring was simplified and labor reduced by using CN1 type breakout modules to go between the drive and the PC based 5-axis CNC controller.

The drives were very easy to startup and run out of the box. We were able to power on the drive and use the front-end keypad to manually run the motors to test the drive-to-motor connections. In addition, we were able to go online using the drive software, setup the parameters and proceed with preliminary tuning.

The SV-Pro software package's oscilloscope function made troubleshooting and tuning the drives easy. We were able to try several of the operating modes for best performance and found that the manual covered each mode thoroughly. There also were no problems finding gearboxes with adapters for the SVL type servomotors.

CNC Control Features

• Axis specific manual moves (incremental and absolute selectable)
• Axis homing independently or all together while avoiding any interferences
• Enable & disable manual, jog, and handwheel axis mode control
• Manual motion feedrates
• Start, pause and abort program feature
• Load & edit programs
• Monitoring of inputs
• Ability to force outputs and
• Reset of Estop conditions

Operator Interface Display

• The tool to be placed, its P/N and a picture of the tool
• Axis positions
• Over-travel and home limit switch states
• Custom messaging via G-Code display
• Program status