I finally decided to bite the bullet and get the wiring run from the G540 to the Super-PID.
The Super-PID will ride on the Y gantry, as that will bring it close to the places it needs to be without requiring too many cable nightmares (I can picture several cables being too short, and others being unnecessarily long in that scenario). I decided to use Servo connectors for the home switches, and to put the interface circuit onto a piece of perfboard.
The PC to S-PID cable will be CAT5, with cable ends set up for straight-through. They will be distinguishable from the motor wires because both the pins and the gender are different. Pin 5 is NC in the S-PID connections, where pins 2-4 are NC in the motor connections.
Hooking up the S-PID “all-in-one” cable (which has connections for inputs 1-4, output 2, and VFD ports 1-3) required shuffling wires around on the G540, which meant uninstalling it and reinstalling it at the end of the evening. While I was in there, I did a few minor repairs that had been needed, and right before I put everything back together, I decided to hook a servo cable to the G540 output 1 (plus 5v and ground), so that all ports on the G540 are now broken out, and I can just plug something in when I need it. Of all the inspired ideas I had last night, that’s the one I’m most proud of. At this point, I should never have to move the G540 again. (I just remembered: at some point, I’ll have to pull it again to replace the faulty Y axis controller board, hopefully that won’t be for a long time).
I pulled 5v/Gnd off of the PC power supply. That connection was a little sketchy, but I taped it and put in strain relief, so I think it’ll work.
I tied together the PC power supply ground and the 48vdc power supply ground. I don’t know if it was necessary (they both run off grounded power cables, so they share the AC ground already), but it felt right.
I had a CAT5 cable lying around that was too short to be a motor cable, but works fine for a Super-PID cable.
While I was messing with cabling, I also crimped a male servo cable end onto one of the Hall Effect sensors. I probably need to solder those on, as the connection isn’t as firm as I’d like. Also, the sensors have the pinout: +5v, Gnd, Signal, which is swapped around from the “normal” servo wiring of Gnd, +5v, signal. I just have to remember to hook up the wiring properly in the interface board, and it’ll be fine. The wires will be improperly color coded, but I can use standard servo cable to do the runs.
I have a couple more sensors to cable up, and a case for the S-PID to design and build, but the wiring inside the PC is done, and that feels really good. The CNC side needs to be done, and I’ll get router on/off, speed control, and home switches all available to me in one shot! Nice.
Todo:
– Servo end for S-PID RPM sensor
– Wire up the “inside” of the S-PID case
– 3-prong extension cable
– make home switch wires
– connectors on the home switch sensors