[jdr]

Hi

I want to retrofit an older 4 axis Servo Classic desktop milling machine with EMC2 and Yaskawa 400/200 watt SGDH series drives with matching motors. I plan to use velocity/speed mode with +/- 10 volt analog interface.

I need help in deciding what breakout board to use. Any suggestions?

Does anyone have any experience in retrofitting these small desktop machines?

Am I on the right track with my design/choices?

I already own the mill, motors and drives.

I will be machining wax, aluminum, and brass.

I plan to use the 4th axis on the mill.

Looking for any input.

[unterhaus]

I would go with the Mesa board. You need the 5i20 pci board, the 7I33T analog interface and the 7I37T digital interface.

http://mesanet.com/
I ended up calling to order.

[jdr]

unterhaus,

Thanks for the quick reply. Searching CNCZone, the Mesa boards seem to be a popular choice.

Any idea how many lines of Gcode are processed per second with a typical setup?

Do you know anything that speeds this throughput up?(faster computer, more memory, etc.) I have read that adding a dedicated video card helps EMC2 process faster.

Someone today in the Artcam Forum posted a message about Gcode files with over one half million lines(500,000) of code. That is a lot of short moves with a small .002" diameter cutter!

[unterhaus]

with a servo setup, the limitation is your amps/motors/machine. You should be able to keep up with 1GHz computer, no problem. The best setup is at least 500MB of RAM. A dedicated video card is best, if you use one on the motherboard, you run the risk of real time problems.

[Roguish]

I have a similar setup. Very good system. Don't be too cheap on the computer, though.
you will find the tuning to be pretty tricky. there are 2 pid loops to deal with. the yaskawa internal one and the EMC2 loop. Yaskawa has setup software in windows so you will need a 2nd computer while tuning. Good luck.