[mgb1974]

I have a older CNC bed mill that looks like a company put a retrofit on it. It is call Racer Tech. Looks to be a Canadian company.

Anyway it is 2.5 axis machine not a full 3 axis machine and it limits our machining abilities. I am looking to retrofit it with Mach 3 control software and to change out the drivers and use the existing stepper motors.

Now do I just get 3 gecko drives and that will control x y and z or what do I need to get full 3 axis in x y and z????

Just trying to understand the whole system.
Thanks

[Al_The_Man]

Generally the axis is limited to the software as long as it has 3 axis installed, and it is mechanically sound, you should just require the new software.
If steppers and drives now functioning, all that may be necessary is to make the suitable connection to Mach via the parallel port via a break-out board.
Al.

[mgb1974]

Thanks for the response.

So you are saying that we can remove the old software and put on say Mach3 software and this should give us a full 3 axis machine??

The machine seems to be mechanically sound and it runs nice and quite just fighting the limitations of only having 2.5 axis.

Thanks

[Al_The_Man]

If there is full CNC (capable) control of the 3rd axis then it is commonly the issue that the installed s/w is only capable of interpolated moves for 2 axis.
So it sounds like you just need a suitable operating system that will perform 3 axis moves.
Al.

[mgb1974]

Wow that's great news!!!!

Will check the control panel and see how the computer in there is wired to the drivers and such. Might be just a unplug and plug in a newer computer with mach3 Software on it.

Thanks again!

[Al_The_Man]

Like I mentioned, you will most likely need an interface between the PC port and the drives and any I/O, known as a Break-Out board.
Al.

[mgb1974]

I will have to check to make sure what specfically we have but the mill as of now has to have something becuase it is running off of a dos based pc that is built into the box on the back of the machine.

Anything specfic to look for?

Not at the machine now but will be in a few hours.

Thanks again

[Al_The_Man]

If you have any original schematics it would help a great deal.
Al.

[mgb1974]

Ok took a look at the control panel. I saw the breakout board and the computer that is in the panel.

What are the 5 lines coming out of the PC? The big one in the picture is the line that comes from the break out board. All of those lines are one pci card in the computer. I am assuming these will need to be incorpatared in the new Mach3 setup? Are they just stuff like e-stop?

Thanks

[DareBee]

They better not be the E-stop.

Law requires the E-stop to be directly hard wired and it must cut the power to all IO boards as well as all drive circuits(this includes solenoids).

Racer is a company in Cambridge Ontario.
Their smaller machines are typically Korean type machines with controls installed (I usually see Fanucs but who knows what the used to do in the past). I don't like to call them retrofits because they are specifically designed to be CNC and have controls installed.

They also make large machines (from scratch) right in Cambridge, Boring mills, etc.

Not much help to you but interesting info and you could try phoneing them for help/info

[mgb1974]

That was just a guess. Is it a additional breakout board?

I tried giving them a call awhile ago and they werent much help. The guy I talked to knew about the machine but said there wasnt much he could help me with.

[Al_The_Man]

I think what you have there is a system that is closer to EMC which if you search here you will get all the info on it or the Linux site.
The relay output card looks like it is operated from a PC slot I/O card, I am not sure whether MACH handles I/O cards or just operates through a second parallel card.
This is one of the problems that have to be overcome when using a parallel port system, is to interface to a machine that has a large number of I/O and the necessary PLC logic to operate it.
Al.

[123CNC]

A schematic would give you the quickest answers.

Yes the board in your second pic is just an input/output (I/O) terminal board, looks like at least 16 relay outputs, with 8 in actual use and maybe 8 to 16 discrete inputs.

I would say MACH3 or EMC2 are viable candidates, more a preference thing than anything else.

Although Mesa Electronics PCI anything I/O cards may be the least hardware re-arranging route, in which case EMC2 might be a nice choice. Depending on your preferences.

You'll need to dig a little more. Either physically trace out your system or find a schematic.

On the bright side, the cabinet looks well organized, intact, and un-cannibalized. If the mechanicals are in-kind, a very good start.

Oh, also meant to add, it's already PC based too, so alot of your hardware layout is well done as well. A very-very good start.

[123CNC]

Perhaps some more pics. Your a natural with the camera, keep'em coming.

[mgb1974]

Thanks for the information. Slowly getting through everything we need to convert it.

The motor drivers are Servo Dynamics SDFCC 1020-12. The manual that came with the machine says they are pulse width modulated. Are these compatible with Mach3?



Thanks

[123CNC]

It is likely they are referring to the output signal to the servo motors and they probably are analog (+10Vdc) control signal. May have tach feedback as well to the amps. All speculation, I'm not familiar nor could find any specific information on the SD 1020-12 drives.

Are your servo's brushed motors? You should see 2 or 4 brush caps for servicing. Behind or outboard the brushes you should find your feedback hardware, resolvers, tachometer, encoders.

My guess woud be that your drives are not directly MACH3 compatible, not Step/Direction control signal. Perhaps a close shot of your drives terminal connections and any connection notation? Rutex makes a step/dir to analog convertor, around $98 each I think. You may also want to look at other supported hardware on MACH's site, a Galil board may be an option as well as DSPMC/IP Motion Controller by Vital Systems (relatively new to the MACH playing field).

EMC2 and MESA boards can directly interface to analog drives.

Your options are still wide open. Your preferences and comfort level with the integration and controller choice should be your guide.

[HANSJUERGENKARL]

hi this is my first post
the picture you showed is the interface board to the mektronixs motion control card
(i bought a similar bed mill made by racer/cambridge)
the pc contains the mektronics motion control card plus the encoder input cable
this is a closed loop cnc control but not a step direction servo set up.
i am in the beginning stages to integrate the amps (servo dynamics) with my galil 1730 card using the jarco cnc control software.
i am familiar with the galil/jarco control but not with the mektronics.

[HANSJUERGENKARL]

sorry
i did not read the second page
it is identical to the machine i bought same amp from servo dynamics,same interface card
same comcable from pc to interface
i would say it is the same control/machine
i am going to use galil/jarco for my retrofit and try to use the existing amps

[mgb1974]

I was going to try and figure out what I have tonight with the machine.

Do you know the answers to these questions:

Steppers or Servos? Motor Amp rating?

You look into the Mach3 software at all?

What are you using the galil board for?

thanks alot. Interesting to hear someone has the same machine out there. I havent been able to find anything on it, on the net.

[HANSJUERGENKARL]

i use a galil 1730 motion control card plus the jarco cnc control control software for my retrofit set up.
the jarco software translates the g code (created by cam or yourself) into the galil specific intruction sets for the x,y,z motions
the galil will either output analog voltage for closed loop servo amp or you could decide
to use the galil for stepper motor control (step direction) and then use either rutex,larken
or even gecko step direction servo drives.
camsoft software and galil are the best integrated, i bought a jarco cnc software
i would not go for stepper motors
that big mill (bed mill 4020) has 40taper spindle 7.5 hp, 2 speed gearbox and sem servo motors (i think 120v 38 amp i think i would have to check)
the minimum i would go is for step/direction using either rutex or larken servo amp.
well mach3 that is a big question?
i like a dedicated motion control card like galil/delta tau/mektronics and not a parallel port
signal setup
even my old cnc lathe is still using the AH-HA control card to drive my control(step direction servo)