???I am stil trying to use mach3 in my t20 thinkpad 700mhz.pentium3 it works or looks like it works fine,I have not been able to get communication to the mills bandit control.can anybody point me in the right direction?.I would like to keep the same servos and drivers but I don't know where to put computer signals in to make servos move.I don't know anything about the servos(brand or specs,only that they worked fine before the control stopped working(I burned a 21408404c regulator board from the bandit,if I could get another one could be back in business for a little longer).
I want to eventually change everything to parts that I knowI can find replacements for.
As I was saying need to be able to get computer signal to servo drivers .do I need a board in between the servo driver and the computer?if I have mach 3?l

I'd bet your original servo drives only take 0-10v analogue velocity commands.  Do they have tacho's and encoders?

There are several step/dir > analogue converters out there, by far the best value for money is the skyko ones at http://www.skyko.com/

Never used them thoug, but I have heard good reports.

Whatever, you MUST get as much information about your machines original circuits as possible.   It's not fun having several hundred wires to buzz out and work out what they do!  Been there and done it!

You can make it work, it just takes some research..

Wayne....

Come to think of it...   I've worked on a few old Bandit controls many years ago and they were all Stepper based.   Are you sure you have servo's?

Do the motors have name plates with specs on them?  If so let us know what they say..

Wayne....

the only reason I think they are servos is because they are strong and smooth when moving,other than that I have no clue as to what they are,I have not taken them apart.I will take one apart ,and I should be able to tell what they are just by looking at the construction( think) it has been a while since I oppened one up ,maybe technology will fool me.I opened one and the only thing I could see after the first cover was a terminal board with 6 wires all of them the same gauge.no thin wires so I can only think there is no encoder so they must be stepper motors ?.

NO.... dont take the motors apart!    Do they have brushholders or none?

Take a digital photo of the motors and post in here.

You say six wires?  Possibly steppers...

Wayne...

I don't have a camera ,but I will bring one tomorrow.no brushholders on motor body,so it could be a brushless stepper motor.As it is the machine was capable of locating very precisely.It makes me think that the way it has to position is by counting pulses inputed in the direction it needs to go by the controller.In order to use the same motors wold I have to put an encoder on the shaft , or could it be done by inputting a number of pulses to position or move to a location?

Please do try to take some pictures so we can be sure of what you have.

The Bandit is a fairly old control so is more likely to be stepper based, but I like to be sure before giving any advise.

Let us know....

thanks for your interest in helping me I will go away today ,tomorrow I will have pictures for all the parts in the machine control and motors.maybe someone out there wil recognize them and sell me an old regulator board to get back in business.allowing me some more time to do my conversion a setep at a time.
thank you again.
Vale.

well good morning everybody.I got some pictures now I just need to find out how to attach them to this message.some of the pictures did not come up as good  as I would like but they show the motor.maybe you can tell what it is by looking at them.

Thats almost certainly a stepper motor.

Looks like you may be in luck if you can interface to your drives.

Any change of seeing whats in the drive cabinet?   At least see if you can read off any makers names and model numbers off the drives.

Wayne....