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mill retro HELP
« on: May 25, 2008, 01:54:57 AM »
I have a excello vert mill which I want to retrofit and run on Mach 3. My questions are- I have Baldor servodrive-um4-100-2 and 3 Baldor  dc brush type 40 in lb motors. Will these work with Mach? If not the servo drive, what would I need? also what breaker board? How about a wiring schematic ?
  I recently retrofit-ed a Yamazen mill with the Ajax control which works fine, but should for the 4k it cost me. >:( It cannot read a loaded g code program that has any subs. That's a $1,5OO option from Ajax, along with all their other options The conversation part of is is fine, but mirror and scale is another option along with text. I want to set up the Excello with Mach, . From what Ive been reading on this forum it sounds like the best deal for my application. Thanks in advance, and hope someone can answer my questions
Ed V from Whitelaw Wi.
Ed VanEss

Offline Hood

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Re: mill retro HELP
« Reply #1 on: May 25, 2008, 03:48:37 AM »
Just had a quick look and it seems your drives are analogue, this means they accept +-10V for control of the motor, Mach needs drives that can accept Step/Direction. You can get Analogue to Step/Dir convertors but dont have any real experience with them so cant say how good/bad they are.
What voltage and current are your motors?
Hood
Re: mill retro HELP
« Reply #2 on: May 25, 2008, 04:50:19 PM »
the motors are the ones used with the drive I have. 650 oz. in. Max volts 150. max current 13.0 a-Peak 55 a. with 500L encoder.
Ed VanEss
Re: mill retro HELP
« Reply #3 on: May 26, 2008, 02:01:23 PM »
Will my servo motors work with Gecko g340 drives, and if so what breaker board should I use?  Any help here will be deeply appreciated.
Ed VanEss

Offline Hood

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Re: mill retro HELP
« Reply #4 on: May 26, 2008, 02:33:49 PM »
Sorry meant to reply earlier but just been a hectic day at the workshop.
 Geckos may run your motors but you will be limited on speed and may even have problems with hard accelerations as the peak is a lot higher than I would think the Geckos would take so you may get overcurrent trips.
 Not sure what speed your motors are but if they are 3000RPM then with the max the Geckos can run you will only get 1600RPM.
If you can settle for that speed then it would be better emailing Gecko just to make sure they think they will be ok.
Another option is the CNC Teknix drives, they are a bit higher on the current but I think they are the same voltage.
 Another option would be the Rutex drives, heard a lot of good and also a lot of bad about them but as I have never used them I cant say for sure.
 There are also viper drives that may work.
 First thing I would say is email Mariss at Gecko and see what he says.
 For Breakouts then you have lots of choices, my experience is with the PMDX 122 from www.pmdx.com and the Acustep from cncbuildingbloacks.com. I use both of these on my mills and lathes and they are both excellent. No experience of others so cant comment.

Hood
Re: mill retro HELP
« Reply #5 on: May 26, 2008, 04:18:22 PM »
THANKS Hood, you sound like a pretty smart guy. I sent an e-mail to Gecko, and will wait for a reply.
Ed VanEss

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Re: mill retro HELP
« Reply #6 on: May 26, 2008, 04:47:38 PM »
Just goes to show how
THANKS Hood, you sound like a pretty smart guy. I sent an e-mail to Gecko, and will wait for a reply.
May I suggest you go for a hearing checkup then :D

Hood
Re: mill retro HELP
« Reply #7 on: May 26, 2008, 05:04:02 PM »
After surfin this forum, I've seen Hoods name quite a bit, and would say the forum wouldn't be what it is without him.
Thanks again , and will keep you posted on my findings
Ed VanEss

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Re: mill retro HELP
« Reply #8 on: May 26, 2008, 05:30:54 PM »
One other thing you could try is email CNCTeknix and see if they would sell the top board of their Tek10 drive seperately. The top board can be used as a Step/Dir to analogue converter and so could be used with your original drives. I think I remember seeing in the pdf for your drive specs that they could be set for current or torque modes so I am sure they would work.
 When I was first starting my lathe retrofit I tried lots of things and ended up with two blown Tek10 drives (Entirely my fault as I was trying to drive huge DC motors) I then picked up some AC motors and drives but they were analogue output drives. I tried the Tek10 Top boards and although never  actually powered a motor with them I hooked up an encoder and watched the output voltage change as I moved the  encoder one way and the other so it looked like they would work perfectly. I however picked up some better AC Drives that accepted Step/Dir so went no furher down that road.

Hood
Re: mill retro HELP
« Reply #9 on: May 29, 2008, 01:56:44 AM »
Hood,   Stiil waiting for e-mail replys from Gecko and cncteknix. have you had any experiance  or heard anything good about EMC2?
Ed VanEss.
 P.S. I'm a 68 year old retired machinest/tool and diemaker/engineer. I've been in this business since the early 60s. no DROs no dial calipers. used a lot of note pads .
Don't know much about electronics. But I did did a retroft using Ajax, which works fine , but doesn't have all  the options. I have 2 engine lathes , a 18" x 70" and a 15" x 50",
3 verticle mills, one is cnc, and 1 old 1918 model Kempsmith horizontal mill , plus lots of tooling.
Ed VanEss