Upgrade questions fro beaver mill VBRP Mk2 with Anilam Crusader II controls

[m_c]

Your plan is reasonable, however the one component you really need to check, are the encoders actually encoders?
Given the age of the machine, they could be resolvers (basically the analogue predecessor to digital encoders).
You can get converters, but fitting new encoders is cheaper. A KFlop/Kanalog combo can be rigged to read resolvers, but it's not recommended, as there are a lot of variables that affect the final accuracy.

Keeping the existing servos/drives should work well as long as they all still work. They would need a controller capable of analogue +/-10V.
Some suitable controllers are-
CS-Labs CSMIO-IP/A - Requires Mach 3 or 4.
Certain Galil - Not that common for hobby use, as they are more expensive (and a bit more involved to setup)
MESA boards - Main use is for LinuxCNC.
Dynomotion KFlop/Kanalog - Can be used with Mach 3, or Dynomotion's own KMotionCNC software.

I personally prefer Dynomotion, as it's the most adaptable, but that comes at the cost of needing to know a bit about C programming. I've also ditched Mach 3 on all but one of my machines, as I got fed up with it's glitches, but the built in wizards are very good if you want to do simple machining.

However, the first thing I'd advise you to do, is create a list of all the inputs and outputs you'll require, as that will help comparing controller options.
Also think about things you may like to do, as again it's easier to plan now, than retrofit later.

[JAZZCNC]

My advice is to dump the servo's for AC brushless with Step/Dir drives and go with Centroid Acorn Controller.

The Centroid control Software is built proof tried tested over many years and comes with built-in conversational Cam.
The Controller is 4 Axis with Spindle encoder input and 0-10V analog Output for speed control. With more than enough I/O for Mill.
http://www.centroidcnc.com/centroid_...ontroller.html

You can buy AC Servo's cheap enough from China which will work fine. This combo will give you great machine with strong control that won't cost a fortune.

[Clive S]

Bloody hell Dean.: Welcome back from the dead

[mekanik]

Bloody hell Dean.: Welcome back from the dead
+1

[Breg90]

Thought I would stick up a few pictures:















Thanks to those that commented. I'll knock up an I/O list and post next.

Adrian

[Breg90]

Hi,

Few things in life got in the way of this. However eventfully I have knocked up a I/O/functionality list. See attached file.

I find my self ending up looking at centroid solutions. What am I missing by not looking at others? Note this is a hobby, but I'd rather build something that is reliable and hopefully more saleable if I ever look to part with the mill in the future. I feel that the centroid solutions are more 'industrial' than the various MACH 3 (or 4) solutions.

Any comments welcome.

Adrian

[battwell]

id do as dean says- motors are small enough to replace with ac servos- ran in position mode.
closed loop isnt required- as the loop is then closed in the drives (full closed loop systems are pretty expensive to set up)
then choose a control capable of what you want/need. (governed by i/o number and working functions)
personally id go with either uccnc - due to ease of setup and working features, or kflop as i know these both can be expanded to do exactly what you want reliably. (i dont know how much i/o upgrade etc can be done with acorn re modbus capability and so on- but this sort of thing is a must if you want perfect control over spindle/ mpg etc etc.