Incidentally, wouldn't the Pico servo controller systems have been a more natural fit for this machine?
All of the commercial spindles I have worked on have both a P.G. feedback from motor to drive, and also either encoder or other means on the spindle itself for final orient.
plus you will find Fagor use Baldor VFDs for there spindle motors.
cincinnati used control technique but they used to make a CNC control so i bet there VFDs have that tech built in now on unidrive.
I think I have settled on a Vector drive. Delta has some that are fairly inexpensive, they have built in PLC, and lots of I/O options in case I do end up using them. I have circled the 7.5HP model specs (VFD055E23A) and it shows that it can handle up to 25 Amps. Looking at the Fanuc name plate for the Spindle motor it shows it is 17A continuous, 22A for 30 minutes. By my calculations this drive should be able to handle it easily. I like the idea of oversizing the drive just a bit for the motor so the drive doesn't have to be pegged at 100% output for max spindle speed. I've also included pictures of the original electrical book about the Spindle motor.
I took some of the covers off the spindle area and it looks like it may be more involved that I originally thought to install an encoder on the motor and Spindle shaft. Taking a look at the terminal wiring diagram on the Spindle Motor it appears that there is a Pulse Generator in there somewhere? I can physically see the magnet and sensor for orientation (hard to locate in the picture) but I think the Pulse Generator diagram might just be a wiring option and not really installed on the machine. I'd bet they use the same diagram plate for all the installs and that's why the PG wiring has a dashed line around it.
For those of you geeks out there, I included a picture of the Raspberry Pi Cases I make.
Really my only question at this point is... Will this be an acceptable Vector Drive to use, even if I am not sure how it will all be hooked up together yet. I'd like to get this purchase going so I can start working on wiring things up. I work much better seeing things first hand vs theory from a book. Even if I bought all the option cards listed it's still under $800 which is a steal in my opinion. From the sounds of it I could just use a standard V/F drive and probably spend about half as much, but I like having the Vector option with encoder feedback right to the drive. Seems like I will learn more this way for future retrofits even if I don't end up using it.
FYI here is a link to the Delta drive which has some nicely laid out specs High Performance AC Vector Drive, IP20 Rated<br>Single or 3 Phase<br>Delta VFD-E | Search All AC Drives | Marshall Wolf Automation, Inc.
but i dont see anything about position stop what are you final plans for this?
as for the PG, if u take the fan and top cover of you will find in the top of the motor the PG if it is there, i bet it is as the old drive would of needed it for speed reff into the drive.
I took some of the covers off the spindle area and it looks like it may be more involved that I originally thought to install an encoder on the motor and Spindle shaft.
gear tooth sensors to turn the bull gear into an encoder on my Bridgeport.
so they can handle the environment.