Denford Triac Euro Card, 2.1 Eprom or USB Rack card

[Chaz]

The ATC isn't that much of a problem. At the basic level, it's just 4 inputs and 3 outputs.
The far bigger problem are the home sensors, as for most controllers you need to change them to newer NPN/PNP type, but I'm sure if you know a bit electronics, you could make up an interface board to convert the NAMUR signal to something more usable.
Plus you need a controller capable of handling the 24V logic, unless you want to drop all the controls to 5V (I really wouldn't recommend that option!).
And just for good measure the carousel index sensor is 5V (I swapped mine to a 24V version).

My contacts are all normal mechanical ones, I wonder why they are different.

For my ATC, I dont count anything. I worked out that 1 revolution of the wheel takes exactly 1 second, so I just pulse as long as is needed. Not perfect but its never let me down.

[Sooty]

i am not quite that far into my learning but i gather you are talking about proximity sensors and not the microswitches the atc is currently using? Is the servo and Stepper version different? i have the stepper version.

I havent looked into the carousel system, does that use an inductive style switch?

[Chaz]

i am not quite that far into my learning but i gather you are talking about proximity sensors and not the microswitches the atc is currently using? Is the servo and Stepper version different? i have the stepper version.

I havent looked into the carousel system, does that use an inductive style switch?

Sorry, yes, my limit switches for X Y Z are all mechnical type. The same for the ATC movement in and out. What is inductive (ive not been able to get it to work) is the counting element of the ATC carousel itself.

[m_c]

The limits are mechanical, but all the home sensors are a NAMUR type. The current Denford guys have no idea why NAMUR output sensors were used. They would of made sense to somebody at the time, but they also used a very compact size, which are expensive to replace.

Chaz, what sensors do you use to home your machine?

[Chaz]

The limits are mechanical, but all the home sensors are a NAMUR type. The current Denford guys have no idea why NAMUR output sensors were used. They would of made sense to somebody at the time, but they also used a very compact size, which are expensive to replace.

Chaz, what sensors do you use to home your machine?

Mine has normal plunge type mechanical ones. Normal electrical contacts, NC etc. Nothing fancy.

[Sooty]

looks like i have the same mechanical switches. possibly the difference in year of manufacture?

[m_c]

I'm going to guess that because Chaz's is a (later?) servo machine, with what would of been a pretty much totally different controller, they used different switches.

Sooty, are you sure there's not proximity sensors?
On the X, you have to either remove the front panel of the table, or unbolt the switch mounting panel from the cross slide, and the home sensor is at the right hand end of the panel.
On the Y, you have to move the table pretty much fully back, and if you lift the bellows, the prox sensor is at near the front right corner pointing straight up.
On the Z, you have to fully lower the head/spindle, and with the motor cover removed, the prox sensor is mounted inwards of the right dovetail, and should be visible just above the head/spindle casting.

The carousel has a single inductive sensor that pulses on each rotation of the Geneva mechanism, which has to rotate twice to move between tools. This is probably the most problematic part of the ATC, as you need some form of verification that the correct tool position is set on initial power up, and if the tool is currently in the spindle or not. Mach does have the option of persistent DROs, but I've got an absolute encoder which I'm going to add so I don't need to manually check tool numbers.