How do I hook up air solenoid for my plate marker??

[ajk2004]

Gentlemen,
I am just finishing up my CNC machine and I would like to hook up a plate marker to my machine. I got an air solenoid off of amazon. It is a 5 way, 2 position solenoid. I have 2 spring return cylinders so I think I may have bought more then what I need. What I am going to do is buy mufflers/silencers for the ports that I do not need. Does anyone know where I hook up my shop air and where I run the air line for my cylinders? The other question I have, can I hook my cylinder and scribe up on the same line? So when the cylinders shoot down, that is when my scribe will turn on. Can I do this or do I need an additional solenoid? I thought about either getting another one or just manually running my scribe will a ball valve to turn on/off as needed. I would like to run it from a solenoid if possible. Thanks for your help.
Andy


[attachment=0]air solenoid 2.jpg[/attachment][attachment=1]air solenoid 1.jpg[/attachment]

[acourtjester]

How I did what you want is use one solenoid and a "T" on the output going to 2 regulators one for cylinder down and the other for scribe air.
Set one to about 5 PSI (cylinder) and the other to about 90 PSI (scribe). since I used the scribe by it self I hooked the torch trigger to a relay for turning the solenoid on/off. The trigger output uses a 12 volt power supply for the relay.
I also have CandCNC electronics for DTHC and they have a triggered output for the solenoid through another relay (120 volts output) and I can use both torch and scribe together.

[ajk2004]

acourtjester,
Thanks for your reply. I think I understand what you are talking about. I need to get myself a couple of regulators. I also have the C and CNC setup so that is what I planned to use as well, the plug in that will turn on/off via cut program. By looking at my solenoid, do you understand how to hook it up? I have more ports then what I need but whatever ports I don't use, I'm going to install mufflers/silencers to let air out when the cylinders are released. I don't know which port to hook my shop air into and which port to use to send air to the cylinders. Thanks.
Andy

[acourtjester]

I googled it and here is some info but nothing about how to hook it up
http://www.airtac.com.ar/admin/pdfs/4V300%20SERIES.pdf

[sphurley]

Red is down, Blue is up, Black is input and also scribe. I had to but some RF clamps on the AC power to the solenoid to keep noise off the CandCNC controller. The small brass filters on the solenoid kept dirt out (helps with noise but the scribe will drowned out anything within 100miles.

IMG_20160809_1759362.jpg

IMG_20160809_1758478.jpg

[tm america]

Also might wanna install a flyback diode on the air solenoid as it can backfeed the controller when it turns off if you do not

[Paint Chip]

Hi Folks, I am assembling a plate marker and I wanted to run my schematic by you guys that have built one before to see if you see any issues with it. I am using 1 HP regulator for the oiler and scribe, 1 oiler, 1 low P regulator to the cylinder, 1- 3 way 110 V solenoid to the the oiler/scribe and 1- 5 way 110V solenoid to the cylinder (with linear guide rail). Supply to the scribe and cylinder-down sides will be normally closed. Both solenoids will be tied to one 110V outlet from my CandCNC control box, controllable from CommandCNC. I'd appreciate any comments you might have.

Here's a schematic:

[djreiswig]

You will want the high pressure air for raising the cylinder or it will come up too slow. Low pressure for lowering the cylinder to keep it from digging in. Look up Wolfe metal fabrication on YouTube. I modified my post like his so the cylinder stays down and the z retracts
It gets rid of the delay. I also used a precision regulator on the cylinder to get more consistent down force. I think I made a post on here about it.

[Paint Chip]

So move the Low P regulator to the output (down) side of the five way solenoid. I'm assuming the slow response is due to the volume of low P air in a long air line - correct? I couldn't find a video by Wolfe Metal Fab that described his set up - just a bunch of videos of it running. Do you have a link by any chance? Thanks for the response.

[djreiswig]

Yes you are correct about the low pressure air causing a delay. The video of his scribe running is what I was talking about. See how it stays on and extended and the z moves up and down. I like this arrangement because the z motor is controlled by the computer and is a more consistent movement compared to the air cylinder moving up and down. The low pressure needed to keep the scribe from digging made my cylinder extend slowly and required a delay in the code. Leaving the cylinder extended makes it work just like the torch. You'll have to modify your post processor to change where the M08 and M09 happen so it only turns off after the operation is finished. If you let me know what post you are using I can try and help you with this.
I also had a problem with the normal regulator not being able to maintain a steady down pressure. It would not relieve the pressure when the scribe pressed down on the metal. My air pressure would jump after it hit. I would an SMC precision regulator that will vent quickly and it never goes above the setting.
There is some info here.
http://www.plasmaspider.com/viewtopic.p ... 80#p139680
Hope that helps.

[djreiswig]

I didn't look really close at your drawing until now. I have mine plumbed like this.

Scribe Plumbing.JPG

The top regulator and valve is for the scribe. It is 3/8" because we were going to try to use an air drill to make pierce holes for a flame torch. The air slide didn't have enough down force so it wouldn't drill. I originally had a 1/4" valve & regulator and it worked fine for the scribe. I have oiler before the valve because it connects to the regulator with the handy mounting bracket. Some people say to not run the oil through the valve, but I've worked on lots of industrial equipment that has oilers before air valves and they work fine.
The lower regulator and valve are for the slide (cylinder). The tubing runs to the gantry and the retract pressure side goes right to the retract port on the slide. The extend pressure side goes through the precision regulator that is mounted about 2 feet from the slide and then to the extend port on the slide. The two valves are wired together and plugged into one of the AUX ports on the C&CNC control box.
Never mind the toggle switch. It was for something unrelated.

[Paint Chip]

Thanks so much for your help. I missed the thread on controlling down pressure - will read it and study over the photos today. I like the way you have yours plumbed - never thought of running the solenoids right off the regulators; eliminates a lot of fittings and tubing pieces. I'll see if I can find a similar high precision regulator on ebay. I thought about mounting the oiler just ahead of the scribe (on the z axis) because I thought it would be hard to get oil mist to make it through a long tube - but it appears you are not finding that to be an issue, so I may re-think that (really want to keep the weight added to Z axis to a minimum). I saw where someone mounted theirs to the end of their Y axis - I may go that route. I'm not sure what post I'll be using yet - just upgraded to Linux/CommandCNC and don't have my control box back yet. Sheetcam has a different version for Linux that I haven't seen yet (but maybe it makes no difference ?). I'm hoping to get the air scribe assembled before it gets here so I can then concentrate on installing an learning the new software. Thanks again for your help!

[Brand X]

Many ways, no oilier on mine,because the Pencil scribe is oil-less. It's already filtered, so none of that needed on the controls.