Messages

21

General Mach Discussion / Re: Hello 1st post, need advice on controller, board, drivers

« on: April 06, 2008, 09:15:09 PM »

Hey Jim, no I'm not converted, I appreciate all of ythe input you guys have given. I'm no expert, just have some cnc machine experience. I'm finally starting to get how the whole cnc thing works, it's pretty involved, more than I thought. I put my name on the list for a "Smooth Stepper" and I have purchased the Lic for Mach 3, so I guess I'm on the way. I'm not having much luck finding info on the motors that I have and even if I do, I still have to wire them to the new system and I don't have any wiring diagram. Also the circuit board that is in the motor end cap, I have no clue what it is and it was installed by the company that provided the retrofit kit, (it has their logo on it). I think it would be best, especially if  my system will be slow with the servos to replace them and the rest of the drivers, boards, ect. Does anybody have a suggestion for stepper motor size, oz, voltage, amps, ect? They will have to be fairly large to run a bridgeport I would think.

Scott

22

General Mach Discussion / Re: Hello 1st post, need advice on controller, board, drivers

« on: April 05, 2008, 07:58:10 AM »

Thanks, I will check with the motor manufacturer for the exact specs and repost them. In the meentime, on the fisrt page of this thread, last picture, this seems to be one the coordinate sensors, there is one on each axis, do these look like glass scales or something different? If so, are glass scales the best to use or should I be considering something else? Do the "Stepper Motors" have a position sensor on them?

Scott

23

General Mach Discussion / Re: Hello 1st post, need advice on controller, board, drivers

« on: April 04, 2008, 11:38:22 PM »

And finally, picture of my sensors

24

General Mach Discussion / Re: Hello 1st post, need advice on controller, board, drivers

« on: April 04, 2008, 11:37:18 PM »

Ahhh, I got it now, this is a picture of inside my control panel, it's an older Prototrak MX3 setup

25

General Mach Discussion / Re: Hello 1st post, need advice on controller, board, drivers

« on: April 04, 2008, 11:35:06 PM »

Sorry for the large pictures guys, I'm new to this forum and still learning. I removed the old ones, try these, let me know what you think of these motors, would these be servo motors?

26

General Mach Discussion / Re: Hello 1st post, need advice on controller, board, drivers

« on: April 04, 2008, 09:32:34 PM »

Thanks for the input Jim, I want my machine to run as fast as possible and I'm not afraid to spend some money on the upgrade. I have glass sensors on the machine for inputs and motors on the machine to make ot move, I just need a better way to move the motors. If it would be better to replace my motors with stepper motors, I would do that, the cost is not as important as the outcome, I want to do this one time and do it as best that can be done. I think Mach is the way for me, I have purchased the software licence already and have been working with the software to get farmiliar with it. I'm not new to cnc at all, in fact I run my machine everyday creating lots of different stuff. I have been reading on the "Smooth Stepper", I guess this is the way to go, if it is USB driven, does that meen that the connections will be easier? I would think that I would be quite a bit faster processing as well. How soon will these be available? weeks, months

Scott

27

General Mach Discussion / Re: Hello 1st post, need advice on controller, board, drivers

« on: April 03, 2008, 10:29:17 PM »

Shoot, the pictures are probably too large, does anybody know how to center the pictures or make them smaller?

28

General Mach Discussion / Re: Hello 1st post, need advice on controller, board, drivers

« on: April 03, 2008, 10:21:47 PM »

OK, my motors are Magnetek model # 4020d-155, they say 1/3 HP, 2200RPM, V arm- 160, A arm- 2.97, I'm going top try to post a picture of inside of the motor end cap, it has a circuit board in there with alot of wires, maybe this board can be removed and wired directly? I'm not even sure of which parts are the drivers, there is a ton of stuff in the system, it looks very complicated, too complicated for my electronic knowledge to deal with honestly. I will try to post some pictures of the rest of the system as well, maybe someone can make some sense of it. If I have to buy new motors and drivers as well, I will, I just don't want to unless I have to.

29

General Mach Discussion / Hello 1st post, need advice on controller, board, drivers

« on: March 30, 2008, 08:01:00 PM »

Hello all, this is my first post! I have an older Bridgeport that is running with a Prototrak MX# 3 axis CNC setup. Works pretty well for how out of date it is, performs simple tasks easily. Problem is I have to program every event and it's eating time like nobody's business! I need the ability to import G code from V-carve pro or other tool path makers.  I have been successful so far with the demo versions of both Mach 3 and V-carve.  I'm looking to upgrade the system to a new up to date system. I'm thinking after much research that I will be using Mach 3 on my PC to control it, I downloaded the demo and I'm very impressed. Mach 3 does way more than I will probable ever use but it's nice that it's all there. I need to know what else I will need to complete the transformation, I have all the motors and such, they are fairly new and work well. I'm reading allot about motor drivers, boards, controllers etc, it all is new to me and I'm a little confused. I must have a motor driver or drivers now to run what I have, could these possibly still work with Mach 3? Thanks in advance for the help!