I have a Southwestern Industries Prototrak MX3e system installed on a Knee Mill as a retrofit. I need to replace the liner encoder which reads the X axis movement. The original encoder is the Gage Wheel type and limits my travel in the Y Axis by a few inches because it fairly large. I would like to replace it with a glass scale type or a newall type. As far as I know the machine does not have encoders built onto the servos. I disconnected the gage wheel output to the control and of course no movement. My X axis travel is about 30 inches.
I was informed a Newall SHG-TT Linear Encoder would work but, I was also informed the encoder needs some sort of "mark" for the Prototrak system to read it. The Newall is pretty expensive and I am looking for something a lot less costly. Any ideas or experiences would be appreciated. My past experience is very limited. Usually I replace parts from the factory and it always cost a small fortune.
Thanks
Ken