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With my vote, just cast, that option is now in the lead.

I have a low cost Grizzly G1006 bench top milling machine that I'm going to convert to CNC, but it's definitely an exercise in turd...

I don't have my notes in front of me at the moment, but the Siemens brushless servo motors have part numbers starting with 1F if my memory is working today. They look similar to the pictures, but...

Bingo! I need a lot of current for the large servos, and they aren't rated for higher voltage. I'd need to buy servo drives rated for twice the power if I was going to run -HV drives at half the...

I've been looking into the Allen-Bradley Ultra3000 servo drives, off and on for the last few days. My application is very simple and the Ultra3000 has a lot of extra features I don't need, but that...

I worked third shift tonight making some parts. Gotta get the laser time when I can. I had some unattended run time where I had to be there to keep an eye on it but didn't have any real work to do,...

The design is trivial. There are CMOS Schmitt buffers. I wasn't planning on designing it. I assumed that any servo drive that used Hall Effect sensors to externally sense commutation would have...

I think I'm still not communicating that concept clearly.

The Hall Effect sensors, one per phase, are fixed relative to the motor coil phases. The adjustment that I was describing is advancing...

OK. I managed to confuse myself.

The encoders are incremental quadrature encoders with index pulses, and NOT absolute encoders.

Sorry about that. Caffeine isn't always your friend. :)

As I...

I searched this entire web page, and your quote above is the only reference to "incremental". I sometimes say the wrong thing, so I wanted to make sure I wasn't thinking "absolute" and typing...

These old Siemens three phase brushless DC servos have a three phase tachometer, implemented with Hall Effect sensors, to tell the servo drive when to switch phases. I believe newer servo drives...

I'm certainly not beyond buying good surplus equipment. I had actually been shopping around eBay a while ago and didn't see many options in our power range. I just took another look and things look...

The X and Y axes are just large one-motor-per-axis designs, albeit with large motors. The servos turn large ball screws.

This machine cuts wood, not metal. While the tolerances are on the high...

I'm currently involved in a complete tear down and CNC upgrade on a very large gantry machine (7.5 HP saw, dual 15 HP routers, dual air drills) that I affectionately refer to as The Beast. It has...

I'm removing some Siemens servo drives from a large CNC machine, but it's across town. I should be by there tomorrow. I printed your request and I'll look to see if any of the boards match your...

This may be a boring video for many of you, but it's a big deal to me. My lathe is finally connected to 220 VAC through an inverter, and it just turned under power for the first time. While it was...

For my first attempt, I'm going to run the servo motor encoder signals back to the Gecko servo motor drives only. EMC2 will be running essentially in open loop stepper mode, although I am planning...

Given that this is my first EMC2 retrofit and I'm just getting started, I'm far from an expert, but I get the feeling that most retrofits are complex enough that a parallel port will quickly run out...

Well, I was waiting until I had something substantive to post. I've been plugging away an hour of two a day, but work has been busy lately and it's cutting into my lathe retrofit time.

My CNC...

Well, that doesn't bode well for my success with the CUI encoders. :(

I have them, so I'll try them and see how well they work in my application. If nothing else, I'll add to the body of EMC2...

I ordered four of the Allegro ATS667LSG Hall effect gear tooth sensors from Digi-Key.

Digi-Key - 620-1328-1-ND (Manufacturer - ATS667LSGTN-T)

One sensor is for the encoder index pulse, once per...

Jon,

I finally pulled the cover off the upper headstock section to look at the spindle, with an eye toward attaching an encoder. I knew I couldn't just slap an encoder on a hollow spindle. I was...

Hi Jon,

Thanks for the info. That Bridgeport spindle encoder is ugly but good! The gear tooth detector was very clever. For the index pulse, I'd just chisel off a tooth and wire up a missing...

I went with Mesa instead of Triplebeast largely because I'm in the USA and international shipping and support seemed like an unneeded complication. I did bookmark their website from your previous...

I/O Electronics Ordered!

Mesa Electronics

5i25 $89.00
7i76 $119.00
10' DB25M to DB25M IEEE-1284 cable $12.50

The 5i25 is fairly new. The goal is a product that's more optimized...

Thank you both for your comments and suggestions. I'm leaning toward a Mesa solution. A couple of weeks ago, I talked to Peter at Mesa (nice guy!) and it seems that they're realizing that a...

I'm a month and a half into a lathe CNC retrofit, working part time. I was going to buy a Grizzly G0602 10X22 lathe and retrofit it, but a machine shop friend talked me into an old American made...

I'd also be very interested in seeing a Shopmaster CNC mill/lathe anywhere close to Lexington, if someone would be so kind.

Otherwise, I'll keep searching online for opinions, including CNCZone.
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