Will a Bandit live again ??

[nelZ]

I've embarked on a retro of a Bandit with servos. I've been advised I can use the existing servos and drives, as well as the PS for them. I still have some more items to purchase, but for now I have enough "stuff" to form questions, answer them if possible using the vendor's advice and develop a plan.

I am using Camsoft plus with a 3 axis Galil DMC-1832 PCI card and the breakout box. I have an Opto-22 16 relay card and its PCI card.

I don't need to turn it into a 2008 megabuck splinter maker - I don't even need interpolation to keep the company happy. It's for a loss leader product which is why I have to work on the cheap.

The machine has tachs on the motors which drive the ballscrews with a timing belt. On the ballscrews are located "resolvers". I've been told to lose the resolvers and encoders, and replace them with differential quadrature encoders.

Question Do I put them on ballscrew or motor?

Any thoughts or etymologies regarding your suggestion will be appreciated and not made fun of...

Thanks!
Nelson

[Al_The_Man]

You can probabally put the encoders on the motors, or B.S. if it is easier, the Excello's and some B.P.s used encoders on the motors.
The drives you have are velocity style, the modern replacement is Current or Torque mode amps, with these you could do away with the tach.
Do you really need a high end control if it is a simple repetitive program?
I have achieved similar to this with a Galil and a 2 line display/keypad for operator interface, just to enter data into a data base for e.g.
But I guess you have everything now?
Al.

[nelZ]

Thanks, Al

Yes I've got everything except for the pendant and encoders. If this works I could certainly use the mahine for other things - it's idle about 50% of the time.

The machine has a toolchanger we need which makes replacing the machine more pricey.



I'm keeping the drives and motors - you say they're velocity control?

Does that mean a tach is required unless one has the newer drive you mentioned. I was told I could lose the tachs.

Thanks for your help.
Nelson

[Al_The_Man]

You can only lose the tach's with modern drives. The existing drives use them.
Are they Westamp or Glentek?
Al.

[nelZ]

Al,

The control is on a Shizuoka AN-1 large knee mill with the big quickdraw changer.

The driver boards are Summit. Glentek sounds familiar. How would I know? The motor nameplates are clean enough to eat off of, but too clean to read...

Thanks for the help!

Nelson

[Al_The_Man]

Did you do a search here for Shizuoka? There are a few previous post here Like this one:
Shizuoka cnc mill retrofit
Al.

[nelZ]

Oh, yes.

I've a stack of printouts from this group.

How many trees does it take to retrofit a mill? - a lot

Here's me on the left (I hope not)

Nelson

[Karl_T]

I've embarked on a retro of a Bandit with servos. I've been advised I can use the existing servos and drives, as well as the PS for them.
...
I've been told to lose the resolvers and encoders, and replace them with differential quadrature encoders.

Question Do I put them on ballscrew or motor?

Reusing your drives is possible but not advisable. Read this thread http://cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59297 This fella just went through the excersize you're doing now.

I've got machines with encoders on the ballscrew and others on the motor. Both work.

P.S. Nice mill. I watched for one for a long time before settling on an excello (not as nice)

Karl

[nelZ]

Hey Thanks Karl,

Yeah I brought a printout of that whole thread home in a stack of with everything I found thus far.

Are there any other resources for this info you've seen on the web? (I haven't checked newsgroups yet.)

Nelson

[Karl_T]

manual for your card:
http://www.galilmc.com/support/manuals/man18x2.pdf

You should have got four books from Camsoft. I'd read all four cover to cover TWICE before starting your project. Learning Camsoft is confusing at first. because its so powerful, there's just a lot to learn.

karl

[nelZ]

Karl, I got 2 large manuals. I have the Plus level of software. Hopefully I have all I'm supposed to have (Camsoft also moderates this board so perhaps can confirm this?). I hear you on the reading part. My challenge is getting to the point where I have something working on which to learn to use the Camsoft software I bought.

I got a disk with the Galil card so I'm good there.

Keep 'em Flying!
Nelson

[Karl_T]

Karl, I got 2 large manuals. I have the Plus level of software. Hopefully I have all I'm supposed to have Nelson

Sounds right. Should be two major sections in each manual. Concentrate on the installation section and the Q&A section.

learn to use "Search for Solutions" in the CNC Setup. Its just the manuals in electronic form. If you're read the manual enough "to know I seen it", you can use this to find the spot quickly. There's also a few more sections that aren't in your printed copy.

Karl