Multicam Series IIs Conversion

[blaze]

Gday all,
There have been a couple of conversions on the Multicam machines already on the forums, so I thought I would add mine as well.

Machine History
I purchased the machine back in January 2021 from a shopfitter who bought the machine new back in 2011. It was a daily workhorse for them until 2019 where they upgraded to a more modern machine. The machine was serviced regularly with service records included in the sale, an ATC (automatic tool changer) with tooling / collects / tool holders included as well as an upgraded interface to run on windows 10. The Multicam machine had its last service and was covered up for the next couple of years.

The Learning Curve

Upon unloading and setting up everything on the machine worked as intended. The issue I had was being able to incorporate the included ToolPath program into my workflow. Since it was an older 2001 program it is quite limited as well as the onboard memory of the controller could only handle smaller file sizes with no way of trickle feeding information. This leads to many hours of learning how the machine worked. In the end, I decided it would be more cost-effective for me to upgrade the controller to a Masso as well as new drivers and motors. A ground-up rebuild was in order.

The Upgrade
Parts List so far:

Masso g3 Touch controller
Inc with 2 x 6 sets of relays
4 x Y Series Closed-loop Stepper Drivers
4 x YE Series Closed-loop stepper motor (9Nm)
4 x XL 20T Pulleys for 14mm ID shaft of the motors ( X Y Z axis)

Custom Parts

Transformer - 60v (32A) 24v (2A) 12v (3A)
Motor Mount for Gantry to house a 2nd motor

 

[blaze]

Parts Arriving

Motors, Drives and Masso All ready to go in.

Building Parts


Because the Multicam is only driven by one motor on the X-axis coupled with a driveshaft to the other side, an adaptor plate was needed so I could mount the other Nema 34 motor.
Designed inside Fusion 360, plasma cut 10mm aluminium plate, drill and tapped as per Nema 34 specs (M6).

Design for Bracket

Original X-Axis Plate

Modified Plate with motor Mounted.

Winding new transformer for all the power needs. The new motors draw a lot more amps than the previous ones. Instead of having four separate power supplies, I am just going to make my own power source.

 

[blaze]

Out with the old in with the new

Removed all the old 2001 stepper motors leaving the homing sensors, airlines, spindle cables, fitting in the new stepper motors into the X-axis (tight fit but worked). Due to the 12mm original motor shafts the XL pulleys won't fit the new motors so I had to source some 14mm ID bore to fit.

Out with the cabling, motors and connecting shaft

More to come. This is as far as I have gotten at this stage in the conversion.
Coming up rewiring everything (waiting on cabling) finishing off the transformer and setup, calibrate etc.

 

[blaze]

More work on the transformer today. Got all the tapping and windings done, time to assemble. Still waiting on cable and pulleys should be here Tuesday (public holiday Monday). Also need to build the rectifier as I cant seem to find a decent 100A one..

 

[blaze]

Bit of an update:

Shielded Cabling came in (still waiting on belts)
Finished the Transformer
Got a control cabinet off work for free *best price*
Did the wiring diagram for the control box (Multicam wiring diagram) might help people out in the future. Included PDF.

Transformer (testing in this pic)

Control Box: Everything will be mounted inside this enclosure except the VFD

 

[ross-n]

Some nice work Blaze.

I'm about to start a retrofit of a Multicam S2 as well but am hoping to use the existing steppers, but probably new drivers. Why did you decide to change your steppers out?

I have 4PS PRECISION & SPEED LTD steppers (PST342-1B6 Current 3.0A Voltage: 2.6 Volts 1.8 deg per step) and I believe proprietary AXYZ 'AXI Stepper Motor Driver' drivers. I have read elsewhere that these drivers may or may not work with non AXYZ electronics.

Cheers

 

[blaze]

Gday @ross-n I think I know you from the other cnc forums we spoke about SolidWorks and the Post-processing out to stock Toolpath.

Anyways I decided to upgrade motors to a closed-loop system for a couple of reasons.
The current multiccam motors are SLOW and can only be pushed so much through the material. Since I was rewiring the machine regardless I thought why not. This means I can get a more accurate motor (a bit newer tech) with encoders as well as push the machine a bit harder without the motors bogging down. For a few hundred $ why not. Having closed-loop also means less noise to the motors.

I have read the same thing about the AXYZ drivers, but another guy on this forum who has used the same driver Link to Build might be worth looking at.

 

[ross-n]

Thanks Blaze

Yes, that's right! I thought this was you too. I'm trying to work out which direction to go with my retrofit so I've posted here and there. Each direction comes with pros and cons. I had pretty much settled on using Masso, but I'm pretty wedded to Solidworks and at this stage I can't find a Solidworks /Masso PP so I'll need to overcome that before committing.



I'll keep watching your build. I don't mind the idea of changing motors too, but I'm not up for the level of adaption you've taken on. Hats off to you!

 

[blaze]

No worries @ross-n anything i can do to help like you helped me just ask.

Masso accepts normal gcode is accepted everywhere and anywhere so you don't need to worry about the post in Solidworks it will still all work.

I use a lot of fusion360 and inventor so I will also have a learning curve as I haven't done cam out from those programs. Went and worked on the machine/controller today will post pics later on. Just testing stage at the moment. I am kind of lucky that I work in the electrical industry and build transformers and other automation within the company so lots of people around want to help me (get involved) as they see how passionate I am about what I'm doing.
As you see you don't have to go all-in like I did, you can just get a masso and hook in, all you have to do is wire the sensors as they are linked together etc.

 

[ross-n]

Thanks Blaze.

Looking forward to seeing how you get on. I'll keep posting as I learn so chime in anytime!

 

[blaze]

Bit of an update. With the transformer finished and tested now, it's onto starting to test all components and wiring.

Purpose built transformer - 60v -24v- 12v Taps custom built by me

Initial wiring layout for testing. Mounted the drivers and trunking to the back panel of the enclosure. Wired all the rectifiers to give me DC voltage from AC supply. Capacitors are just there for smoothing the DC wave (also known as smoothing capacitors). Still need to wire all the AC to control the spindle, hold down vacuum (snail), and the dust collector. For not just focusing on the machine side of things to make it move.

Hooking up the masso to test out the wiring for the drives and motors. I had some issues but have been sorted out and all is working as it should. After testing all the voltages and current all is well and on to transplanting everything into the Multicam. Don't worry about all the wiring its just for testing .

Finished putting all four motors into the Multicam ready to be wired up to the masso controller. Which hopefully will be tomorrow (4th Aug 2021). Had to wait for the 14mm bore (14mm shaft on motors) pulleys to arrive, which took about 4 weeks...urgh.
Showing Y and Z motors.

Still to come... The rest of the motor and control wiring back to the control box and all the sensor cabling.

 

[ross-n]

Awesome blaze

Looking at the steppers for the Y and Z, they are monsters compared with the stock ones. I've been holding off actually ordering parts and starting my conversion, partly to see how yours ends up and partly because the router has been in use a fair bit this week and last.

 

[blaze]

OH, the pressure! haha, yer i have been working on it on and off for a while now. The parts take the longest to come in. I should have all the wiring and have it moving by (hopefully) tomorrow. Then I will have to tackle the A/C side of things and the spindle. According to This Post about the ATC might be able to get that to work as well have to rely on @breezy for that one.

Here are some more pics of how the wiring is going. I did have to make more space to fit all the new cabling in though. It is not too difficult so far.

 

[tayloredtech]

Some mighty impressive work there Blaze!

Hope you're proud of the work so far! How is it all going now? Got movement?

 

[tayloredtech]

I'm about to add the same steppers to mine. Going to be a good bit of fun to fit.

I'm also fitting new linear rails as the existing ones are laughable and the steel bar is rusting up and only secured with 2 bolts on either end. If you remove the ends of the T track you have room to add them direct to the bed. I had some SR20 rails from a 2AM drunken purchase from a couple years ago I'll use for the moment but eventually going for 30mm HGR Hiwins which will be stepped out wider to allow more access for the spindle on the bed.

 

[blaze]

Welcome back @tayloredtech! Thanks mate it's been a fair bit of time in the making. But no movement yet.

Work has gotten in the way and it's SO frustrating watching the machine sit there collecting dust. Hoping to get back to actually moving the bloody thing! I'm so close...
What's wrong with the existing rails?

Not sure what you mean by replacing the bed tracks. Talking about replacing the rack and pinion with liner rails? Might have to draw me a picture haha.

Don't get me started on drunken purchases I've had many of those that's for sure.

 

[blaze]

DC Side has been completed.

On to control side so I can start moving things!

 

[tayloredtech]

Quote from blaze on September 25, 2021, 11:19 pm

Welcome back @tayloredtech! Thanks mate it's been a fair bit of time in the making. But no movement yet.

Work has gotten in the way and it's SO frustrating watching the machine sit there collecting dust. Hoping to get back to actually moving the bloody thing! I'm so close...
What's wrong with the existing rails?

Not sure what you mean by replacing the bed tracks. Talking about replacing the rack and pinion with liner rails? Might have to draw me a picture haha.

Don't get me started on drunken purchases ? I've had many of those that's for sure.

The Y axis rails are literally 2 bearings on a 45 degree angle riding on the steel rod. They aren't secured at all and the rail is only secured about 300mm from each end so the rod can flex. Mine rusted up a bit after being left for so long. You'll see in this photo the new rails which are seated on the metal below the T-track vacuum bed. These are still only round rails not flat Hiwin but I had them on hand so they'll be much better than the original. Also the Z and X rails use the smallest carriages ever which after 15-20 years of life really need replacing as I found the balls were stuck on all bar 2! So Hiwin rails are going in. The existing rails are actually the same height etc as EGR20 Hiwin rails and carriages so I just need to tap some new holes and they fit!

 

[tayloredtech]

Quote from blaze on September 27, 2021, 9:29 pm

DC Side has been completed.

On to control side so I can start moving things!

So so clean mate. It's almost like you're in the industry of doing electronics ???. I'm going for a more minimal look with my enclosure. Keep chipping and changing what I'm doing though. Spent last night designing the enclosure then chasing my mind about drivers and power supplies so now I'm starting again ??

 

[blaze]

It's like I know what I'm doing (power side anyway) lol.

OH, I get what you mean now. I wouldn't have guessed there would be flex there but looking at those above pictures I see why you would want to change em... Dam you @tayloredtech now Ia need to buy rails (maybe drink tonight and do that) Have a link ?
I find the rack and pinion have so much backlash in them You can jolt the frame forward and back a fair way before the teeth engage into the grooves...normal? Was thinking ball screws but $ and I don't think it's really worth it. Rails though....that's a good idea. Least then you know there is a greater surface area for smoother motion.