Seeking advice on converting machine to either Mach or LinuxCNC

First off, let me say that I have several years experience working with Mach3 and enough time messing with EMC to not be completely stupid.

I recently picked up an old (1996-ish) GSI/View Voyager video measurement/inspection machine that I'd like to convert from the proprietary control software to either Mach or EMC. My problem is that I have zero experience with servos. encoders, etc. so I am at a loss as to what needs to be added/replaced to make this work. As it sits now, everything works and can be controlled by the View software and joystick. Here is the current setup...

2x Motion Engineering PC-DSP cards in the PC (I'm guessing one for motion control & one for the Renishaw scales/encoders)
Interface card between the PC card and amps (this appears to be a simple pass through connection panel between the PC & the machine)
3x Glentek SMA-7105 servo amps
3x Glentek GM-2325 servos
Renishaw RGH22 encoders on each axis

I just got the service manual and it has dozens of pages of schematics, but haven't had a chance to do more than a quick browse through it.
Any insights or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Brian

That sounds like a good fit for a Mach3/Gali system. I would use a Galil DMC-4133 motion controller which would connect to Mach3 via an ethernet cable. This would give you solid encoder feedback to the Mach3 DRO screen. You would disconnect the servo drives and encoders from the Motion Engineering cards and connect them to the Galil controller. This would work fine and be really easy as long as the vision system is completely separate from the motion system. If the vision system is integrated, then it becomes (much) more complicated.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jim Dawson

That sounds like a good fit for a Mach3/Gali system. I would use a Galil DMC-4133 motion controller which would connect to Mach3 via an ethernet cable. This would give you solid encoder feedback to the Mach3 DRO screen. You would disconnect the servo drives and encoders from the Motion Engineering cards and connect them to the Galil controller. This would work fine and be really easy as long as the vision system is completely separate from the motion system. If the vision system is integrated, then it becomes (much) more complicated.

---

Good deal, the vision system is a completely separate setup. I'll check out the Galil controller asap.

Thanks a ton!

Happy to help out. If you have any questions I'll try to answer them.

Another quick question, is there any advantage to to going with the Ethernet controller over one of the PCI or even ISA versions? I only ask because there seem to be a pretty significant price difference and with this being a personal/hobbyist use machine, the less money I have to throw at it, the better.

Thanks again,
Brian

I don't think that the Mach3 plugin supports all versions, so you need to make sure you get one that the plugin supports.

Right, I understand that, but the plugin supports different form factors in each series of cards. I was just curious if there were advantages/disadvantages specific to each.

As far as I know Mach3 supports most of the cards. There are some that it does not support. As far as which is the best value for your application, and now that I know that this is a hobby project I'll take a quick look on ebay to make a recommendation.

Everything I list below is known to be compatible with Mach3

This one is probably the best deal on Ebay, 8 axis, built in drives, but not sure if stepper or servo. Even with the built in drives it can be used to run external steppers or servos also.
Galil dmc-4183 Ethernet/RS232 Econo Motion Controllers, 1-8 axes used | eBay

This one would work, missing the100 pin output connector for axis 5-8. Requires a breakout (below), and a $135 cable to use (not included)
Galil Motion control card, Galil DMC-1880, PCI, 8 axis controller | eBay

Requires a breakout (below), and a $135 cable to use (not included)
GALIL DMC-1842 PCI 4 AXIS Econo Motion Control Card | eBay

This looks complete, I don't think it requires anything else to run.
Galil DMC-2240 Motion Controller with ICM 2900 and ICM 2908, 30 Day Warranty | eBay

4 axis, built in drives, but not sure if stepper or servo drives. Even with the built in drives it can be used to run external steppers or servos also.
GALIL DMC-4143 41X3 4-AXIS ECONO MOTION CONTROL CONTROLLER ETHERNET USB RS232 | eBay

3 axis, includes the 100 pin cable, not a bad deal. Still requires the breakout (below).
http://www.ebay.com/itm/GALIL-DMC-18...AAAOSwa~BYN33k

Phoenix Contact 100 pin breakout

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PHOENIX-CONT...cAAOSwWZ9XoMqZ

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PHOENIX-CONT...EAAOxye2lSXVYu

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Phoenix-Cont...8AAMXQVERSwZU1

Jim, thanks a ton for the recommendations! The DMC-4183 is actually one of the auctions I have saved. I'm still curious though, is there any advantage to going with a PCI card over an external version and vice versa?

Mmmmmm,tough question. The down side of the PCI card versions is they pretty much require a full sized desktop or server style PC to install them. Then there is the expensive cable and breakout board. That breakout board is about $325 from non-ebay vendors. Having said that, I use those in all of my industrial upgrades for sawmill equipment. On the up side, I think the communication is faster because it's operating at bus speeds. I have the DMC-1846 cards in both my mill and router. But I just installed a DMC-4080 in a Shizuoka AN-S mill that I have sitting in my shop.

The Ethernet boards work fine, and they have the same processor as the equivalent PCI boards. The cabling costs are about the same per axis. They also allow you to run them off of a laptop.or micro computer that doesn't have PCI slots so you can have that flexibility.

I'm not sure if the Mach3 plug-in for Galil will work with the PCI bus cards past WinXP or Vista, I have not tried it with Win7 or Win10. The Ethernet cards will work with Mach3 at least to Win7, and should work with Win10 but I have not tried it. Galil changed their drivers at Win7. I guess I should try Mach3/PCI, I have a Galil card in my desktop, and Win10. I don't normally use Mach3, but I do have it around here somewhere. I've been working with Galil products for about 20 years, so am pretty much up to speed on them.

An update I loaded up Mach3 on my Win10 computer and was able to communicate with the Galil card in my computer by using the Galiltools drivers.

Hi
i would just do an comparison of the cost and benefit of the 2 versions to be sure
You need an dedicated pc anyway ,.. depending on your needs it may be that the flexibility and stability of an linuxcnc system is worth the change ( as torrmach did )
we use in our system small MINI ITX boards which are fabless an cheap maybe you look at the mesa cards and do your maths
just my 5 cents

I've got another quick question for you guys if you don't mind. I bought a DMC-1830 PCI controller card which calls for the ICM-1900 bob. My question is, can I just use the breakout that's on the machine now, assuming that I can match the pinouts on each end of the cable?

Not really, the ICM-1900 has some electronics on it for the charge pump (+/- 10V) signal, as does this BoB.

PHOENIX CONTACT 5602077, COMMUNICATION MODEL, 1A, #222642 | eBay

I would buy the one from ebay, much easier to mount and connect. You also need the 100 pin cable.

Gotcha & thank you yet again. I've got the 100 pin cable coming with the card but wanted to make sure about the breakout board before I ordered it.

Jim (or anyone else), I was wondering if I could pick you brain a bit for some info on getting this setup running.

My understanding of servo systems is pretty limited, so please bear with me if I ask the proverbial "stupid question." I've got the DMC-1830 & Phoenix Contact 5602077 installed but I'm having problems with the encoders. I have Renishaw RGH22C's (12 μA analog differential), which are one of only a couple of analog models in that line of encoders. At the moment, I'm kind of lost on how these should be connected. I tried hooking them up like a standard differential encoder, but the servos runaway anytime I try to use one of the tuning methods in GalilSuite.

The encoder direction and the motor direction don't agree. So in GalilSuite type in CEn=2, where n=the axis (Configure Encoder). This swaps the encoder signals direction. Type in BN to burn to memory

If you don't have the command reference and the user manual for the Galil card, you can download them from Galil

Ignore what I said above, I need to have my first cup of coffee before I answer.

It is possible to connect a sin/cos encoder (analog) to the Galil, but I have never done it. Download the Command Reference, and the User Manual from Galil. I'll research this a bit.

Google ''galil connecting sin/cos encoder''

Also Google ''sin cos to incremental converter''

It's kind of funny, but I was going to try the configure encoder command when I got home from work this afternoon. I've downloaded the command reference and will check it out when I get home. Once again, I can't thank you enough for your help.

Ok, so if I'm reading the reference correctly, AF 1,1,1 will set all 3 axis' to analog feedback? What I'm still kind of lost on is the the way they current vs voltage. I'm not sure what to enter for the interpolation command or if there is anything else I may need to input for the 12 μA encoders.