Just as an FYI to every one CNCzone. I would avoid these drives like the plague. They are often quite cheap to buy on ebay, and there is a reason for this.
They are unwilling to answer even basic questions about their hardware and, if you ask, will tell you that they never support end-users. I asked them a simple question, and got a rather annoying form answer about 'not supporting end-users'. It may be a nice product (who knows since you basically can't use it), but the company's policies make it essentially impossible for anyone to realistically use these.
And if you are an OEM, you can expect to have to provide direct end-user support forever and you should be aware that there will essentially be no residual value in these components (aka, Teknic's refusal to answer any questions unless you are OEM destroys the secondary market value of these devices). And, if you go out of business (not a pleasant thought, but it happens), your customers are screwed.
I would strongly suggest anyone looking at Teknic hardware to look at Rutex or Yaskawa instead. With Rutex, you get direct access to the designers of the hardware and Yaskawa has pretty good support. Given that Yaskawa drives and motors are plentiful on eBay, they are an obvious choice for higher end servo control, even if it's trying to match drivers and motors (patience is a virtue here...).
If you are looking at using brushless servo's with drives that are motor agnostic, Granite Devices (based in Finland) would be a lower-cost alternative. For low cost brushed servo, the Gecko drives are one of the best solutions. New, they are the same price as Yaskawa used. They have fewer features, but Mariss (the designer) is more than willing to answer any and all questions, reason alone to use his hardware. And his reasoning for providing this level of support is refreshing:
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showpo...9&postcount=14
In my day job (I do CNC and other stuff as a small side business), I advise very large companies on technology and business strategies, and the successful ones essentially understand what Mariss talks about. However, quite a few companies could learn a lot by reading Mariss's post, including Teknic.
Yes, it's annoying to have to deal with random questions about hardware from people you've never heard of before, esp. if you are a small business, but it's far worse to just dismiss people because you can't be bothered. Esp. if you are a small business....
As a last note, Mitsubishi Automation has some stellar support. I emailed them about specs for a 20 year old servo and they sent them to me a couple of hours later. Others have called them to get support on 15 year old controls and gotten extensive help, even though they were third or fourth owners of the machinery...
Chris.