[KS_WGB]

We are building a light duty assembly press, right now the though is to use Exlar linear servo drives for the press's motive force. Since this project is on a tight budget we looked at ebay and low and behold we found mostly what we want:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Exlar-Linear-Ser...item439bb2c13f
There are other exlar models that would work as well. We would need 2 actuators working together in tandem to provide the up down motion of the press in a master/slave configuration. The actuator positional accuracy is important otherwise the press will bind. Can EMC communicate with a Kollmorgen, Emerson, AB, Yaskawa... servo driver? With that said, should we use the specified servo amp or should we use EMC plus some homemade circuitry? If we would go the "rolll your own" server driver, how hard is it to build one? Are servos pretty demanding on using a specific driver? Finally does it make a difference if the servo uses a resolvers vs an encoder?

Thanks

WGB

[PCW_MESA]

We are building a light duty assembly press, right now the though is to use Exlar linear servo drives for the press's motive force. Since this project is on a tight budget we looked at ebay and low and behold we found mostly what we want:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Exlar-Linear-Ser...item439bb2c13f
There are other exlar models that would work as well. We would need 2 actuators working together in tandem to provide the up down motion of the press in a master/slave configuration. The actuator positional accuracy is important otherwise the press will bind. Can EMC communicate with a Kollmorgen, Emerson, AB, Yaskawa... servo driver? With that said, should we use the specified servo amp or should we use EMC plus some homemade circuitry? If we would go the "rolll your own" server driver, how hard is it to build one? Are servos pretty demanding on using a specific driver? Finally does it make a difference if the servo uses a resolvers vs an encoder?

Thanks

WGB

Brushless motors (and in looks like the Exlar is brushless) usually require a matched servo amp from the same manufacturer. Rolling your own 3 phase servo driver is quite a project and likely a large distraction from you main task.

That said, it is possible to drive most brushless motors with a generic 3 phase servo drive, but this will require some engineering and perhaps kludgery to figure out motor ratings, how the motor is commutated, convert the motors commutation signals to signals the drive understands etc etc.