Originally Posted by
Advil
To avoid falling afoul of advertising rules I'll just mention the name and how to go find it, as well as my reasoning.
After reading another thread this week on attempting servo upgrades to an older machine, there are a lot of issues, new power supplies, completely different drive method and a lot of software work. Things like the Z axis brake don't just work automatically. Too much work and tinkering when I'd rather be making parts.
There is a guy named Jody Olivent. You can find his stepper project if you search his name on youtube and kickstarter. He's offering to make up a batch of closed loop stepper kits, including the Z axis with brake. They not only will report a limit switch fault on the appropriate axis if they lose steps (which effectively is an E-stop), but a huge side benefit is that he's tested several types and the motors and drivers he's setteled on are more powerful than stock. Up to 300ipm rapids are possible, providing most of the benefits of the servo upgrade's performance (that Tormach doesn't offer for our series 1,2,3 machines) with a fairly easy install.
It's half the price of the Servo upgrade kit from Tormach, and he's sending all wiring and documentation with it. As far as I'm concerned it's a good enough deal to get me to bite since I wouldn't spend the time figuring this out otherwise.