Re: CNC Tensilathe Upgrades and Conversions
I had to Google Tensilathe, looks like a nice machine. I don't know anything about the Tensilathe operating software or the control system hardware so you will have to help me to help you. I do use Galil products on all of my machines, so have a very good understanding of that hardware, however the DMC-10x0 cards are antiques. But a quick look at the manual tells me that they will do threading on a lathe, the proper commands are available.
I'm assuming that the Tensilathe computer runs on MS-DOS or something like that?
As far as a sensor, the best way is to hang an encoder on the spindle, and use an encoder that has an index pulse that can be read by the Galil card.
I don't know if the Mach3 Galil plugin is compatible with the DMC-10x0 cards, but I see no reason that it would not be. Might require some modification to the initializing code. But the DMC-10x0 command set seems to be nearly the same as the later 17/18x0 cards. LinuxCNC might be an option for you.
If you decide to do some upgrades, I think the biggest problem will be trying to use that Galil card. I don't think there has been an ISA bus computer made in the last 20 years, certainly nothing compatible with modern operating systems.
Does the current software accept standard G code?
Jim Dawson
Sandy, Oregon, USA