but the machine doesn't need the worlds biggest servos, its not like it will take massive heavy billets. are there no small decent servos?

the table doesn't need to move at 1000mph.

Quote Originally Posted by m_c View Post
Your budget is the limit!
However, the problem with a Triac, is you're limited on space to mount servos, unless you start doing some major rejigging of motor mounts. As part of my retrofit, I measured things to see how much room is available for upgrading at some point. X would need the motor flipped and mounted in front/behind the table other wise it'll hit the enclosure. Y would either need the motor flipped and sticking out the rear, or the ballscrew extended to give enough room. I think Z is the only one with plenty room to keep the existing mounting position.

However, ignoring fitting issues. Drive upgrade will give a noticeable speed improvement. I've got Leadshine EMs fitted, and I'm no where near pushing them to the limit. I still need to see just how fast I can push the original motors, but not got that far yet, as I'm still fixing/finishing other things.
Modern motors would also give a boost, but I'd rather spend money on servos.


I've got Kinco servos (400 and 700W) on my lathe, and they work well. I'm running them using +/-10V using a KFlop+kanalog, and they tuned up well.
I know DaveK fitted some cheaper Chinese servos to his Bridgeport, but the lack of separate logic power supply (means if you kill power to the drive, you lose position - better drives use a separate 24V power for logic, so the encoder works even when drive power is lost), and I know he had some issues tuning them. I am tempted to get one to try, but I've yet to find a suitable use for one.