'Living document' will be revised and expanded occationally but link will remain the same, so just hit it again for lastest updates.

This is only a documentation of my experiences with the products and is not an endorsment or 'buying giude'.  Comments welcome.

http://www.thecubestudio.com/ServoDriveReview.htm

Thanks for the post. Good comparative info I must say. I know it took you time and $ and sharing is
appreciated.
RICH

Thanks for the write up.  I have used Geckos past with smaller servos motors and just purchased a Viper 200 to test on some larger 100V DC Servos. 

I'll post my testing on the Viper 200 when I can.

That's a good read. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience.

Thanks for the write up.  I have used Geckos past with smaller servos motors and just purchased a Viper 200 to test on some larger 100V DC Servos.  

I'll post my testing on the Viper 200 when I can.

The choices that I am aware of in that price range are:
Viper 200         170V   20A   $240 +$25 ship
Granite VSD-E  160v    14A   $280 + ??  (ships from Finland or New Zealand)
Rutex 2020       200v    20A   $230 + $12 ship
CNCdrives        180v    40A   $170 + $22 (ships from Hungary)
It would be great to have reviews available for these products.

I'm satisfied with the Rutex 2010 from a performance standpoint for my 4th axis project, but I am still in the hunt for an inexpensive servo drive that meets all of my wish list items to use on the X,Y,Z axis. I'm using my little X2 as a test bed to find the servos and drives I want to use on my upcoming X3 project.

So I have added a CNCdrives model called Whale3 to the lineup and ordered the drive. I've started adding some info on the drive to the review.

FYI, Gecko on Friday announced the new 320X. They provided me some early specs which were not very impressive, but the final released version is much better. Most of the problem areas have been fixed, but unfortunately, the drive will still bounce between encoder counts while not moving. Gecko refers to this as 'singing'. I have a different word for it. The encoder section of the manual is still incomplete.

CNC drives also has a brand new 160V 35A drive coming out called 'Dugong'.  No word yet on whether this will replace their current 180v 'Mammut' model  (where do they get these names?  )

First off thanks for taking the time and expense  for this test.

My experiences with Gecko 340 and Rutex drives is exactly the same. The 340's with 500 count encoders would fault unless I used the slowest of accelerations and even then It was just unworkable. I suffered with this for over a year and finally replaced them with 4 990 drives. It was a night and day difference. The machine just ran like a champ. I did find this link about tuning that helped me get my arms around it a bit better. http://www.eaglemotion.com/home/R9xHbdi/pg5.htm  Although I'm still not sure if it's as good as it can be. The new drives are great in that you can set the PID values with the software.

My only real complaint with Rutex is availability. Tom at Rutex US has great customer support and has helped me many times.


Derek

Good link, thanks!

A couple things about the Rutex I don't like are having to run thru a full time 1 ohm resistor which carves 20V off my top end, and the fact that there is no protection from BEFM.

Both Rutex and Viper have the reputation of burning out from BEFM. The more expensive Granite drive does have a protective resistor feature. Rutex warns against setting the drive's amp limit to its full spec.  I have it set to its full rating anyway, but I'm not particularly confident in it not only because of the warnings, but because I have read so many stories about burnt out drives. I have not tested the 4th axis at full speed with a heavy chuck and workpiece yet because I am worried that with a serious 'flywheel' being decelerated from 3,000+ motor RPM, I may get smoke. Larken obviously expects this to happen since they have the Viper's power components socketed for 'easy replacement' and they advertise their drives as 'repairable'.

Mo' better, methinks, to not have them burn up in the first place, which brings me back to the Dugong model from CNCdrives.

I have been talking to CNCdrives quite a bit and found out that the Dugong model does replace the old Mammut model. It has a ton of nice features, including automatic tuning, but what I am really interested in is the automatic brake resistor feature (above a set limit, it bleeds off excess voltage to the resistor ). That would protect the drive and the motor against getting burnt up. The Dugong looks looks like it may be the ideal drive for the 4th axis, so I went ahead and bought one along with the Whale3. With the Dugong watching over itself and the motor, I should be able to 'put the boots to it' and get back to breaking stuff  

The CNCdrives ship to me in the next couple days . . from Hungary . . so no telling how long till they get here.

Added review of two more drives, both from CNCdrive. Same link.

The Whale3 and the Dugong    . . . NEW WINNERS!!

Anyone contemplating buying servo drives will want to read this.

The Dugong looks like it might be what people have been waiting for, a decent drive capable of running the DC motors present on the 80's CNC Knee mills 
 I looked at the specs of the older drive (Mammut) and it seems that the continuous current is 40Amps but there is no mention of peak, so I presume that is both continuous and peak? Does the drive just fault if the 40Amp is reached? Is this the same for the Dugong albeit 35Amps?

Hood