[Todd Zuercher]

Hi.

I just picked up a Gerber 408. I saw the colossal controller box and only being familiar with small stepper machines and mach3; I am unsure on how to proceed. It did not come with the software. I contacted Gerber to see what I need to do to get the software, but no response thus far. I will try again.

Will converting the machine to steppers have any negative effect on accuracy/speed?
Why convert to stepper rather than a servo controller like G320X DC Servo Motor Controller?

Since I have always looked at the more budget attainable machines with steppers and mach3, I am just at a loss as to what would be the wise direction to go.

Thank you for your advice.

-Mike

Personally I am not a fan of Mach3. If I were to retrofit one of our Gerber Sabres I'd use Linuxcnc and keep the old servos and drives. We just updated to the latest Gerber software, and it seems to be significantly better than the ancient Windows 95 era version we had been using. But it is still way too expensive for it's capability. We only went through with the upgrade because, it was next to impossible to get our old software to run on a new pc, and we have a huge library of old machine files we did not want to loose. That said these routers are treated like an unloved stepchild by Gerber and their support is abysmal, and almost non existent. I have already converted one of our old Greber routers to Linuxcnc (A Dimension-200) I have that one set up so I can run it with both Linuxcnc and the old Gerber software. That would not be possible with the Sabers though. Those would have to be a one way conversion, because too much would have to be changed.

I think there are a few other router software solutions that can run these Gerber routers. One that I know works is Enroute, by SAI (I use it too). But it is almost as expensive as Gerbers Omega software. But Enroute is much more capable for running CNC routers. ArtCAM might be another option. It can also be possible to send generic G-code to the Sabres, but it this feature is purposely crippled by Gerber and doesn't work as well as it could/should.

The biggest barrier to converting one of the Sabres to Mach3 would be the analog servo amps. (Linuxcnc can use/run these though.) You would need to at least replace these with digital servo drives that can accept step/dir signals. That or replace all of the servos with step motors and stepper drives. A third retro fit option would be WinCNC (that would cost you about $5000.)

Another Achilles heal for the Sabres is their lead screw drive system on the axis. The nuts wear out surprisingly fast (especially the Y-axis on 408s.) And when they start to go bad they will start to bind up and cause the control to set servo alarms. I bet 75% of Sabres that get converted because of servo alarms simply needed the lead screws replaced. We used to have to change the Y screw on our 408 about every 2 years. Then I converted it to a Hiwin ball screw about 7 years ago. That screw cost about half as much as the lead screws from Gerber, and the Y-axis has been trouble free since.