[2_many_hobbies]

I am wondering if their are any sub $1000 motion controller cards out there geared for the smaller machinist. I love the ability to visualize your PID and fine tune every aspect of your controls.

Anyone have some links or know of any products in my category?

[H.O]

Hi,
I think it depends a bit on what type of control software you want to use, Mach3, EMC2 or some propriatary for the particular controler....

The DSPMC from Vital Systems is a motion controler at the end of a ethernet cable - $995. As far as I know the DSPMC does not yet support step and direction but since you mentions PID etc in your post I guess you want to run servos even though you posted in the Stepper motor and drives category.

There's also the motion control cards from Dynomotion although I believe they are USB and not ethernet. It outputs step and direction by default but can be converted to analog with the add-on card (KAnalog).

MESA has range of cards as well, I believe the 5I20 (and perhaps others) are supported by EMC2.

Then of course there are some products from Galil (and other "industrial" suppliers) but I don't know enough about them to say more.

[2_many_hobbies]

Thanks for the links, I did post this in the wrong category sorry...

The DSPMC is exactly the kind of product I was thinking about, but I see you require a servo drive that accepts analog inputs and those would be more than the controller per axis...

I like Dynomotions modularity and all in one package for a good price but unfortunately the 3A/axis is quite limiting and once you add their amp your over $1000. I see they have mach3 support any threads of people using these devices?

I got the idea after finding Galil's website and watching all their videos on tuning and loved the setup but defiantly not the price. I am thinking ahead for my next mill and just seeing whats out there.

Originally I had the idea of using the cnc brain as it looked quite good from the youtube video I found but as their website is only a loading page right now I have no idea about their software or capabilities.

[H.O]

Well, I thought that was what you wanted - a way to drive analog amplifiers. Because when you use a digital drive (that takes step and direction) like the Gecko G320 for example the PID is generally in the drive and not in the motion controler so the motion controler does not have the information that the drive has (from the encoder). And then it's not really a motion controler anymore, rather a "motion commander"....

With that said the Dynomtion cards looks to have a lot of features so perahps it's possible to double the encoder feedback to the drive AND the KFlop and use it to plot data etc - you'll have to read up on the docs and/or contact Dynomotion.

Also, higher end drives like the VSD-E from Granite Devices have extensive datalogging capabillities where you can log and plot a LOT of different values of interest, not only position. And if your motors are brushed DC and not too big a single VSD-E can drive TWO motors.

[2_many_hobbies]

Hey, I forgot about the analog amplifiers and then realized they add quite a cost.

That Granite Devices VSD-E is one heck of a product! Its exactly what I am looking for, can drive pretty much any motor out there, and has full PID control.

Even without the DualDC setup three controllers are in my price range. If you ran three of these guys in DualDC you could easily setup an X/Y/Z/A/ATC setup for a reasonable cost.

Im planning on getting an IH clone and overhauling it to make some money with. I currently use keeling drives and have used a gecko but only on stepper motor setups and they can be very accurate but leave alot of trust upto the setup. With a VSD-E I like that I can pass the encoder back to mach to always know absolute positioning.

So im thinking my setup is going to have:
2x VSD-E drivers (ill add a third as needed) ... $640
VSDEPI breakout ... $100
SmoothStepper .. $175
Breakout Board (C10 maybe) for controls .. $FREE
I might also pick up a PoKeys so I can have console buttons and my own jogging controller ... $85

Shipping might kill me but the total price im aiming for is ~$1200 and im at $1000 for hardware Ill probably add $300 more for things like cabling, switches, sheet metal, etc

I cant find much on youtube and theirs not alot of threads on these drives, anyone done a detailed build?

EDIT: Random find on ebay a 1.5Kw 2phase AC servo, 130V 10A its a perfect match to the VSD-E for a spindle.

[H.O]

With a VSD-E I like that I can pass the encoder back to mach to always know absolute positioning

I'm not sure exactly what you're after here. You can split the encoder signals between the drive and Mach3 so that Mach3 will display the position in its encoder DROs but the position loop is ALWAYS closed outside of Mach3 - in the drive in this case. Mach3 position can be updated from the encoder DRO's but not in real-time.

If someone writes a plugin for Mach3 then I guess you could retrieve the encoder position via the SPI-interface but for now you'd have to split the actual encoder signals. It won't change the fact though - Mach3 runs open loop.

I've not personally tried the VSD-E but I have three of their older model, the VSD-A, and it's a very very nice package - docs, software, hardware and support are all just great IMO. Unfortunately the 10A limit on the VSD-A turned out to be on the low side for the project I got them for so I'm saving them for a future project.

Good luck and remember to make a thread about the project!

/Henrik.

[2_many_hobbies]

How hard are these VDS drives to keep cool pushing them at their max?? I am thinking of making drive modules out of them and was just going to put on a aluminum heatsink and a pc fan. How would you keep yours cool?

[H.O]

See section 8.5 in the manual for details about cooling requirments or contact Granite Devices.

Here's how i did my VSD-A's, a simple heatsink mounted to the drive:
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t...ols/VSD-A1.jpg

The mechanical design of the VSD-E is a bit different though.