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Author Topic: Stripped down Biesse Rover retrofit  (Read 3318 times)

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Offline SPH

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Stripped down Biesse Rover retrofit
« on: July 24, 2019, 07:44:39 AM »
Hi everyone, I'm Sam from Australia.

I built a Joes style machine about 5 years ago running Mach3 and have been using it ever since but that's not the topic for today.

I recently won a Biesse Rover 23 at auction. It's massive and it was quite a task to shift but it's parked now and I'm doing a lot of reading getting ready to do a retrofit (sort of).
The machine has Yaskawa analogue servos so a CSMIO/IP-A will be the go. Very encouraging to see that CS Labs even have a wiring diagram for these very drives on the site (SGDB).

I've seen some really impressive retrofits of these machines with every one of the hundreds of I/O functioning. I decided early on that I simply didn't need most of the features this machine has. It's a pod and rail machine, aimed at furniture production and I really need a flat bed so with that in mind I've already disassembled the vacuum system and all the associated I/O. I'll build a vacuum table up off the sliding rails, much like the flat bed versions of the Rover.

The second major component to go was the boring head. This might cause some eye rolling but I just don't need it. The machine has a 10hp iso30 ATC spindle and 7 tool changer so when I need to drill holes I'll just fit a drill bit in a tool holder. With all that bulk and mass removed from the Z axis the guarding, shrouds and curtain setup were all redundant too. All gone now. Shed a tear, old machine lovers. The dust extraction all that steel and alloy provided was only a 'best effort' deal anyway, the cubic meter of sawdust I removed from the machine proved that. I'll make a pneumatic dust shoe from the remains of the curtain setup.

I still have all the parts, of course. Not junk until the job is done.

So, that's the basics of where I am at the moment. Maybe less a retrofit and more a case of 'Building a flatbed router from a Biesse Rover' but we'll see. The machine isn't powered on yet and I'm still working through the control cabinet, removing the redundant elements, which there are a lot of. The level of redundancy and safety built in is seriously impressive to see and something I'll try and take forward into the rebuild.

It's a long way from my flimsy (relative) little 4x8 machine with it's tiny stepper motors and 4 limit switches. If anyone's wondering why someone might buy a machine like this just to remove all the features, the whole machine including about 20kg's worth of cutters, vacuum pump, 15 tool holders and a whole spare spindle cost less than the parts for my super budget 4x8 machine. It was close to scrap value.

I'll attach some images because everyone likes pictures.

Offline SPH

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Re: Stripped down Biesse Rover retrofit
« Reply #1 on: July 24, 2019, 07:48:10 AM »
Didn't seem to like my photo's...
« Last Edit: July 24, 2019, 07:49:49 AM by SPH »

Offline Tweakie.CNC

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Re: Stripped down Biesse Rover retrofit
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2019, 01:15:57 AM »
Wow !  ;)
PEACE
Re: Stripped down Biesse Rover retrofit
« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2019, 06:33:49 AM »
Hi well done on the purchase of the Biesse you must be in Mowbury Tas !
Not a huge project to retrofit there are several options to control the analog servos . CSMIO /A or buy step/dir to analog cards which are available similar to the old Rutex R2000 card . Personally I like the motion control of Linux EMC and the programming . Biesse use field bus to communicate with the all the modules and sensors EMC can make it easy to streamline the internal components so you would not have to strip down the CNC just intergrate it ,
Re: Stripped down Biesse Rover retrofit
« Reply #4 on: August 02, 2019, 10:28:40 PM »
Hi Sam I was interested in the Biesse when it went up on Grays , did you consider just using opperting it rather than retro fitting Biesse works is ok as a program and it would have saved you the headache of the upgrading . I have a copy of Biesse works and a dongle if you are interested . I would leave the pods rather than a nesting table , the vacuum pump on the Biesse will be too small to cope with the table , also the 23 has a 100mm z travel so if you put a thick table you will loose z height .