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Offline tc

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Help - making a start
« on: July 22, 2009, 07:14:53 PM »
Hi,

I've been waiting to take the plunge into cnc for a while and just been handed a load of random free kit. Wondering if Mach3 will be the answer - apologies for my lack of knowledge.

I got x2 Kollomorgen ServoStar CD drivers:



as well as corrisponding servo motors already attached to a usable router table and wired to the drivers.

My problem is connecting the the drivers to my computer...

Is mach3 the answer... I have been reading up and I beleave I can just break out of the parallel port pc end, and wire straight into the drivers... is this correct?

I looked up the manual for the drivers and i'm a little lost to say the least. Can anyone point me in the correct direction. There are several "communication ports'.... which is the one I should be wiring to. Can anyone explain how I wire them together. I understand you set up mach3s ports and pins within the software - but I don't know what pin does what on the driver side and therefore not sure how to physically link them... here's a shot from the manual showing all ports.



I found these manuals on the drivers:

http://www.heason.com/download/235/servostar-cd-series-hardware-installation.html

http://www.danahermotion.com/website/common/download/document/200601160938240.Servostar_CD_with_Kollmorgen_Motors_Catalog.pdf

Any help or pointers greatly appriciated.

Offline Hood

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Re: Help - making a start
« Reply #1 on: July 23, 2009, 03:19:13 AM »
Frpm the pic above it looks like C8 is the one that will take the Step/Dir signals from Mach. Will have a look at the manuals later and see if I can advise more.
Hood

Offline tc

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Re: Help - making a start
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2009, 05:33:09 AM »
many thanks.

Offline Hood

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Re: Help - making a start
« Reply #3 on: July 24, 2009, 04:56:30 AM »
Yes just had a look and C8 is where you would connect the Step/Dir signals to. The manual calls them Pulse/Dir but its the same thing. I didnt see any mention of single ended connections so if you do need differential it would be easy enough with a line driver, you can get them from US Digital and if I remember they are about $10.
 C3 is where you woul;d connect your I/O, things such as drive enable, fault reset, drive enabled etc. As is normal with industrial drives the I/O is 24v so you would need to convert to/from the 5v that the computer uses, this can be done easily enough, relays etc

Hood

Offline tc

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Re: Help - making a start
« Reply #4 on: July 24, 2009, 05:22:45 AM »
Thanks so much for taking the time to have a look for me. This was my last shot, at least this will get me started - then i'll have to follow through!

Could you elaborate on what you meen by single ended / differential connections. And the line driver.

Thanks again!



« Last Edit: July 24, 2009, 05:27:12 AM by tc »

Offline Hood

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Re: Help - making a start
« Reply #5 on: July 24, 2009, 06:41:01 AM »
Single ended in this case means you have a single connection for Step and a single for Dir
Differential means that you will have a Step + and Step- and Dir + Dir -
The line driver takes the sigle ended input and converts it to differential.

Your drives may be happy enough with single ended input, the ones I use are although I have chosen differential as it is less prone to noise.
Hood
« Last Edit: July 24, 2009, 06:43:16 AM by Hood »

Offline tc

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Re: Help - making a start
« Reply #6 on: July 24, 2009, 07:14:21 AM »
I see

Offline Hood

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Re: Help - making a start
« Reply #7 on: July 24, 2009, 07:35:34 AM »
Just looking further at the manual I see on page 102 (112 in pdf) that single ended input is fine for the step and dir signals.

Hood

Offline tc

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Re: Help - making a start
« Reply #8 on: July 24, 2009, 08:02:41 AM »
that makes things easier.

Tom