Old esab CNC table

Hi all just bought a esab CNC table
Model number , combirex CXD-P 4000
at handy money
It's that old it runs on floppy discs

Who would advise ripping all the control gear out and replace with modern gear
I think it runs on servo motors
I only ever worked with steppers on our table, so not sure how servo works
I brought it for the factor that it's a ht2000 hypertherm unit on it, and it would suit us as we need to cut heavier stuff faster 20-25mm
I had a homemade Mach 3 table running a 120Amp thermal dynamics, this esab table is slot bigger 12ft X 30ft which would also suit us better

I converted an old Esab DuctCutter to Mach3, and it wasn't that bad, the Vision controller on it was not very user friendly, and I wanted rid of the floating head. I didn't have a lot of luck with the servos and original drives, so finally ended up going to geckos. If I ever need to upgrade motors, or have a motion controller issue, I'll likely switch to Clearpath Servos to simplify the system a bit.

Thanks for reply
I'll check them out


UOTE=wyofreeride;2325076]I converted an old Esab DuctCutter to Mach3, and it wasn't that bad, the Vision controller on it was not very user friendly, and I wanted rid of the floating head. I didn't have a lot of luck with the servos and original drives, so finally ended up going to geckos. If I ever need to upgrade motors, or have a motion controller issue, I'll likely switch to Clearpath Servos to simplify the system a bit.[/QUOTE]

I would try Techserv Cutting Systems http://techserv.co.uk
They make some really good machines (I know because I have had two of them).
They use their own controller which is really easy to use and they do a lot of retro fitting to machines like yours, if fact I believe there are a couple of videos on YouTube showing such installations.

Hi Simon, thanks for the mention.

Cheers

Mike

Techserv

Hi Guys. I'm in the same boat here.
A friend bought an ESAB NCE290 with a Hypertherm200.
It runs on two floppy disks. One for the OS and one for transferring files.
I'm looking into upgrading it with a modern controller or computer with a hard drive and if possible network access.
We have a computer geek who is ready to do the uplifting and programming so any links to such projects are very welcome.
I contacted the company mentioned above to have thier take on the upgrade idea. I inquired if they have any kits.
We are ready to build a kit from scratch if we you guys have any instructions.
He would also like to use a smaller less power hungry plasma cutter. The plasma cutter does work but it still need manual confirmation to start cutting.
Sorry for the confusion as I don't know much myself about all this. I'm just trying to help him get the best out of his machine. Esab told him the machine is not supported anymore and that kind of stuff.

Hi

Where are you based?
We have upgraded a few machines including Esab. The cost depends on how much of the old system you can keep and what it will be used for. For general jobbing / hobby then Mach 3 and stepper motors would be ok. For production cutting we could offer a touch screen pc based system and replacement AC brushless drives similar to this upgrade https://techserv.blog/2018/10/26/esab-restoration/ ( techserv.blog search for esab ). We usually replace the drives on the ESAB machines as they use their own drive amps and it is tricky to get parts. We would also replace the Z axis lifter with a new arc voltage height sense head.
Regarding the Hypertherm MAX 200 how thick do you wish to cut and what materials, ie just mild steel or stainless and aluminium?

Sorry there are quite a few questions but its best to get this stuff out of the way first.

Best regards

Mike
Techserv

Hi Mike. Thanks for the quick reply.
To be honest I don't know anything about CNC. I'm just helping a friend.
How much are looking at for the production cutting upgrade solution?
We are based in France. We can pretty much all the lifting. We only need the kit and the instructions.
He is thinking of removing the Hypertherm Max200 and putting his small unit. The max200 is too much for what he needs. He already tried his plasma unit and it does work but it requires a manual interaction with the NCE290.

I'm opening a new thread for help on converting the machine and using linuxcnc or other solutions to achieve this.