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IndustryArena Forum > Hobby Projects > RC Robotics and Autonomous Robots > Cannibalize Industrial Robot Servo System to Retrofit Milling Machine???
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Posts
    48

    Question Cannibalize Industrial Robot Servo System to Retrofit Milling Machine???

    I see a lot of old Fanuc 6 axis bots with controls relatively cheap out there

    and i was wondering if it was a sound idea to buy one -

    dismantle it and recycle motors/ drives/ power out of them

    to retrofit a mill or a lathe

    I just want to get motor and drive specifications and maybe wiring diagrams
    so i can determine if the motors are powerful enough or not
    and if i do buy one be able to power it up and test within 30 days to be able to exchange for another one
    til i find one that works


    If anyone has experience with these things and/ or has advice please toss in your two cents
    even if you want to yell at me and tell me how dumb of an idea this is

    http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/wells2.jpg
    http://www.hgrindustrialsurplus.com/...90-397-014.jpg

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Posts
    24216
    Fanuc motors are hard to integrate into other systems at the best of times, unless you are able to also use the drives.
    The encoders on robots are most surely going to be absolute not incremental type.
    Looking at the pictures the motors are probabally DC brushed, so you may have some luck using those.
    Al.
    CNC, Mechatronics Integration and Custom Machine Design

    “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
    Albert E.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Posts
    48
    im not really worried about monetary value of the thing once its done
    i just want to have fun screwing around with it and trying to make it work

    my original idea was to take the crap off a robot arm -
    and apply them as motion power to the swivel/ nod /rotation of spindle head unit
    and also to the rotation and in/ out travel of turret ram

    then i had idea of mounting a number of arms to the base of the bridgeport
    and using them to load tools and feed workpieces

    then i got to thinking about how ive dismantled and moved it and the other machines
    and how much fun it was
    and the idea of setting the whole thing on some sort of spider leg or tracked setup
    seemed ideal, as it could move itself around a shop and feed itself
    or load itself onto a trailer

    so anyways then i got the wells index and started looking for motors and drives
    and the robot savagery idea came into play
    again im not totally dead set on using the servos and drives out of a robot
    but it seemed like a good way to get a complete drive system cheap
    and im hoping someone can slide me some technical information
    about these specific ones so can at least see if the motors
    are powerful enuf to move the table around

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