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Third party software and hardware support forums. / Yet another drive compatibility thread. Maxon 4-Q-EC DES 50/5
« on: July 09, 2015, 03:08:32 AM »
Hi all!
I recently acquired (for free) some lab equipment that makes use of some very nice Maxon BLDC servos and controllers. 5 sets of controllers and motors with which I would like to build a small Mach3/4 CNC mill. I have built a Mach3 controlled milling machine before, but it had stepper motors and Kelling drives which were very easy to set up. After using that machine to make hundreds of the same part, I decided I wanted to build another, but with servos instead. My reason for this is that during that run of parts, I continually fought with lost steps due to resonance. I tried everything possible to avoid those missed steps and my motors were more than suitably sized for the application, trust me! I found that accelerating past the resonant range (as suggested in the wiki) ALWAYS resulted in lost steps and so I was limited to a max rapid feedrate of <30ipm. But that is not what this post is about.... just know that I refuse to ever use a non-closed-loop method of motion control ever again after spending 20+ hours troubleshooting the resonance problem.
Anyway, the drives are Maxon DES-50/5 which can be controlled via RS232 or CANbus. But from reading the very confusing manual for the drives, I am thinking they cannot be controlled by Mach3's step/dir output. I would just like someone here who is smarter than I am to confirm/deny this before I go and spend a bunch of $ on other drives. If the drives are not directly controllable from Mach, the manual mentions the use of a CANbus controller. Perhaps the right CAN controller is compatible with step/dir control?
BTW, all the motors have hall sensors, encoder and zero-backlash planetary gear reduction. Each one (drive and servo with options) is worth close to a thousand bucks, so it would be a shame to not be able to use them!
The specs and manuals for the Maxon 4-Q-EC DES 50/5 can be found here: http://www.maxonmotorusa.com/maxon/view/product/control/4-Q-EC-Servoverstaerker/205679
I recently acquired (for free) some lab equipment that makes use of some very nice Maxon BLDC servos and controllers. 5 sets of controllers and motors with which I would like to build a small Mach3/4 CNC mill. I have built a Mach3 controlled milling machine before, but it had stepper motors and Kelling drives which were very easy to set up. After using that machine to make hundreds of the same part, I decided I wanted to build another, but with servos instead. My reason for this is that during that run of parts, I continually fought with lost steps due to resonance. I tried everything possible to avoid those missed steps and my motors were more than suitably sized for the application, trust me! I found that accelerating past the resonant range (as suggested in the wiki) ALWAYS resulted in lost steps and so I was limited to a max rapid feedrate of <30ipm. But that is not what this post is about.... just know that I refuse to ever use a non-closed-loop method of motion control ever again after spending 20+ hours troubleshooting the resonance problem.
Anyway, the drives are Maxon DES-50/5 which can be controlled via RS232 or CANbus. But from reading the very confusing manual for the drives, I am thinking they cannot be controlled by Mach3's step/dir output. I would just like someone here who is smarter than I am to confirm/deny this before I go and spend a bunch of $ on other drives. If the drives are not directly controllable from Mach, the manual mentions the use of a CANbus controller. Perhaps the right CAN controller is compatible with step/dir control?
BTW, all the motors have hall sensors, encoder and zero-backlash planetary gear reduction. Each one (drive and servo with options) is worth close to a thousand bucks, so it would be a shame to not be able to use them!
The specs and manuals for the Maxon 4-Q-EC DES 50/5 can be found here: http://www.maxonmotorusa.com/maxon/view/product/control/4-Q-EC-Servoverstaerker/205679