[jak785]

Hi,
I'm sorta new to cnc, and I had a few questions.
At my school we have a Supermax YCM30 cnc milling machine, and it been sitting in a room with noone using it for probably the past 6-8 years now, and I wan't to get it back up and running to use it.
The machine is in really nice condition and it looks like it was hardley ever used even though its from 1985. It uses an Allen Bradley Bandit III to control the servos. I can't figure out how to get anything working on the machine, and it says I need a password, which no one at the school knows. First question is does anyone know if the company that makes the bandit III and if it's still in buisness and how to contact them?
I can turn on the monitor on, and select a bunch of options like manual control and it shows a digital read out with resolution of .0001, and it has electronic jog etc, but I can't get the spindle motor on to use it manualy and I can't get the servos to jog.
That raises the next question. Is there a way I can test the servo motors out without going through the servo drives? The servos say
"Danctics 500oz/in dc brush servo motor 100v max, 10amps, and 30 puluse amps. " I'm not sure if the servo drives are bad or not, so I need a way to see if the servos even work. Does anyone have any options on this?

I was also thinking of just maybe updating the whole system with new servo drives using the same servos(if they work) and use a pc instead of the bandit software. We use autodesk inventor and solid works at my school which I use to design parts, and I have a copy of mastercam which I have been learing to use already (alot easier than what i though it would be to make g-code), and Mach3 or 4 would probably be a good program to run the machine on. My next question is if I do end up going this route, what type of servo drives would you all recomend I use?

I attached a file of what the bandit III control looks like.

Please if anyone could give me some help, I would greatly appreciate it.
-Jason

[jak785]

did I post this in the wrong section? If so, can someone tell me where to post it?
Thanks
Jason

[HuFlungDung]

Try contacting Len Albright. You should be able to contact him through the info at this site:

www.shadowcnc.com

I've never had anything to do with the Allen Bradley Bandit III but he might know what it is about, and how it differs from the Summit Dana Bandit.

[jak785]

thx, I'll try contacting him and see what he says.
-Jason

[lastmn]

cool i have a bandit 4. The primary password is set at the factory hopfely no one has changed it. To turn on the spindle enter the proper m code in mdi. then you can go to jog and move the axises

[jak785]

I got all the genral factory set passwords with no luck. I will try what you said with the m-code in the mdi. I'll let ya know if anything happens.
Thanks
-Jason

[Karl_T]

Most likely, you're about to learn there was a reason the machine was moved to the back room. That 20 year old control is not worth putting any $ into.

This machine would be a GREAT candidate for Mach 3 pc control. Much better control and inexpensive to install. Read this NG for all the folks that have done just this.

Karl

[jak785]

I'm not putting any money into the machine...If I do, its to upgrade the system to a pc control like you said. Right now I'm just trying to get the machine to run manualy so I can use the digital readout for the time being. I would like to get it up and running fully sometime soon though.
Do you know if I could use the same drives and power supply that are already on the machine and then connect a pc to it? If so, it would be a whole lot cheaper than if I had to buy new drives for the servos and also make a new power supply.
The only problem is a way for me to test the drives etc to see if they are still good, or if there shot.
I still never typed the mcode to see if the motor will turn on in the mdi...the mcode for the spindle is m3 and m4 right?

Thanks
-Jason

[Karl_T]

You'll need different drives. Most are using Gecko step servo drives.

Most likely you have resolvers instead of encoders on your servos. You'll have to install encoders. Usdigital is a good source.

Power supply should be OK, double check voltage is not too high.

M3 is spindle CW M4 is spindle CCW M5 is spindle stop.

[jak785]

whats the reason behind me needing new drivers for the servo motors? I would need a diffrent type of drive other than gecko. The motor reads "100V max, 10amps, and 30 puluse amps" I think gecko only goes up to 80V. But than again, I thought I heard somewhere that you should usualy only run your motors up to 80% of thier power. I might be wrong on that.

About the encoder or resolver...how would I go about finding out what the servos have on them?
thanks karl
-Jason

[Karl_T]

Gecko drives work by taking step signals from a PC control and outputing the correct voltage. They use encoders to determine position. Your old drives took 10 volt signal from control and used resolver to determine position.

Inspect your servos. The resolver will be attached to it. A dead give away is a little speed increase gearbox. Becouse resolvers are such low resolution, this was needed.

A servo is really just a DC motor. It will run fine, with less power, at a lower voltage. Sounds like your power supply puts out too high a voltage. You'd have to replace it.

Karl

[jak785]

The encoder or resolver is inside the servo casing, so I can't see anything without taking it apart. Both the x and y axis has an enclosed gearbox, and the z just uses a ball screw. You sound well educated on this topic, so your probably right that it has a resolver. This is probably going to end up alot more expensive then what I thought it would be, and expensive isn't my budget.

Thanks
-Jason

[Helix60]

Your Bandit III uses Enocders not resolvers if upgrading. While the servos use too much power in comparison to todays drives they are still quality drives.

As for the password problem check your PM's.

Anyone else with Bandit III controlers who has a problem. I'm quite farmiluar with them and can give you a hand keeping it running.

Regards,
Heli