. .
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
  1. #1
    Ross77's Avatar
    Lives in Devon, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 2 Weeks Ago Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 759. Received thanks 27 times, giving thanks to others 52 times.
    Ive just bought a Boxford 250F that is running 3ph Fanuc OT system. I had planned to runn it off a converter but I understand that the OT system is quite old and cant handle large programmes.

    I could reto fit with steppers but it seems crazy to loss the fanuc servos for steppers.

    If I convert to 240v single phase I would like to retain the motors and run from linux cnc with mesa cards.

    Ive seen The pico system and granite devices do a compatable drives but the pico is standalone and the GD is pricey.

    Are there any other drives available or anyone done a similar project?

  2. #2
    m_c's Avatar
    Lives in East Lothian, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 3 Days Ago Forum Superstar, has done so much to help others, they deserve a medal. Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 2,908. Received thanks 360 times, giving thanks to others 8 times.
    If the existing servo drives work (technically they're Servo Amplifiers, and a search should turn up more options) , keep them. You'll just need to figure out what they are, and what signals they need to run (they'll be +/-10V analogue drives, but you'll need to find enable/fault signals).

    Other option is you convert to something like the CNC Drive DC servo drives, which will accept a step/dir signal, removing the need for an analogue controller.
    Avoiding the rubbish customer service from AluminiumWarehouse since July '13.

  3. #3
    Ross77's Avatar
    Lives in Devon, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 2 Weeks Ago Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 759. Received thanks 27 times, giving thanks to others 52 times.
    Unfortunally the lathe is at a freinds workshop at the moment so I cant check model numbers ect. I just assumed that the Fanuc drives cant be used as I couldnt find any examlples of people doing it. Also they are 3 phase so I would still need a rotary converter.

    in the documents it looks like the spindle VFD has already been changed for a Mitubishi 240v one, if so that takes care of the spindle so its only the servo drives that need to be changed to get it all on 240v.

    Can I use DC servo drives on an AC motor?

  4. #4
    m_c's Avatar
    Lives in East Lothian, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 3 Days Ago Forum Superstar, has done so much to help others, they deserve a medal. Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 2,908. Received thanks 360 times, giving thanks to others 8 times.
    Are you sure they're AC servos?

    From what I'm aware, most machines of that era used DC servos. The 3 phase will go through a transformer, before being rectified to provide DC for the amps.

    You really need to get model numbers of everything.
    Avoiding the rubbish customer service from AluminiumWarehouse since July '13.

  5. #5
    Ross77's Avatar
    Lives in Devon, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 2 Weeks Ago Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 759. Received thanks 27 times, giving thanks to others 52 times.
    Yes they are definatly red top AC servos and feed 3phase 415v Click image for larger version. 

Name:	s-l1600 (4).jpg 
Views:	295 
Size:	173.4 KB 
ID:	23703

    I will try and get the numbers tommorow, cheers

  6. #6
    m_c's Avatar
    Lives in East Lothian, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 3 Days Ago Forum Superstar, has done so much to help others, they deserve a medal. Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 2,908. Received thanks 360 times, giving thanks to others 8 times.
    Oh.
    Selling them and buying some new servos and drives is likely to be the far easier option, if you do want to change the control.

    Lack of program memory on a lathe isn't that big a problem, as most lathe programmes aren't that big anyway.
    But it all depends on where you want to spend time and money, between running the existing system, or fitting a new system.

    I'd be seeing how much a working Fanuc system is worth, and making a decision from there.
    Avoiding the rubbish customer service from AluminiumWarehouse since July '13.

  7. #7
    The mesa stuff is known to drive motors/servos well.
    Granite D. is actually cheap ..

    Getting any of the commercial/fanuc servos running well has been an adventure, in general, for others.

    It will be very cheap to try with a granite d. system, vs anything else ..
    and about 3x easier, imho.

    There are endless caveats, most are unlikely.
    So it might be it wont work .. but this is 5-10% probability.

    Using the granite d. stuff makes you 10x more likely to succeed - imho.

  8. #8
    Clive S's Avatar
    Lives in Marple Stockport, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 16 Hours Ago Forum Superstar, has done so much to help others, they deserve a medal. Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 3,333. Received thanks 618 times, giving thanks to others 78 times. Made a monetary donation to the upkeep of the community. Is a beta tester for Machinists Network features.
    Ross here is the link to the drives https://granitedevices.com/products/

    and a page that might be able to walk you through http://www.wiki.eusurplus.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

    as you know I am following this
    ..Clive
    The more you know, The better you know, How little you know

  9. #9
    Ross77's Avatar
    Lives in Devon, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 2 Weeks Ago Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 759. Received thanks 27 times, giving thanks to others 52 times.
    So a big plus for Granite devices then

    Not sure I class £420 a drive as cheap though, Would the IONI series be powerfully enough? Modular so I could build up the system as I need it.

    Thanks Clive, hadnt found that wiki but looks promising, I could even use my current mesa cards as the GD's accept step direction signals as well as 0-10v

  10. #10
    Ross77's Avatar
    Lives in Devon, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 2 Weeks Ago Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 759. Received thanks 27 times, giving thanks to others 52 times.
    Had a look today and the motors are Type 3-OS, A06B 0533-B001#7000 and dated 90 04 so guesing April 1990

    6 pole, 112v, 0.5Nm and 1 amp, google seems to indicate a 2000ppr incremental encoder.

    Are they worth saving or just replace with a all new drives.

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Fanuc OT - Fuses blowing
    By Cube3 in forum Machine Control Software
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 19-07-2017, 08:03 PM
  2. Fanuc w3 paramaters
    By Ismirko in forum Machine Discussion
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 03-02-2015, 08:29 PM
  3. NEW MEMBER: Fanuc Macro programming
    By curly3456 in forum New Member Introductions
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 02-02-2012, 10:20 PM
  4. Fanuc, any one know this well, need pointers/help
    By fastcarl in forum Machine Control Software
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 26-08-2011, 07:46 AM
  5. Leadwell/ Fanuc Om control manual
    By fastcarl in forum Machine Discussion
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 26-06-2011, 11:09 AM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •