Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3


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    Default Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3

    I thought I would share a project I recently completed on converting a Shopbot BT32 to Mach3 controls using a Dynomotion KFlop motion control board. When I originally looked in to doing this, I didn't find much information. Hopefully this will help others who are interested in doing the same.

    We recently purchased our BT32, and upon it's arrival, were very impressed with the design and build of the machine. It is very solid and well built. The only two problems we had were


    1. The X and Y axis seemed out of place. I would prefer to have the X-axis along the gantry as opposed to the table movement direction
    2. The software. I realize SB3 was written for users who are new to computers, software, electronics, machines, etc. However, I am not new to any of those and prefer controls which give me complete control and visibility in to what the machine is doing. I also prefer to work in G code (I realize SB3 allows you to run G code, but it is not native).


    I already knew I wanted to use Mach3 for the control software since I had experience with it on another CNC router. After some research I settled on the KFlop motion control board from Dynomotion (Dynomotion Motion Control Boards for CNC Manufacturing and Robotics Applications). I am sure other motion control boards would work just fine, but the KFlop gave me the flexibility both in functionality and hardware.

    My goal was to make the modification without permanently altering the Shopbot. The designers at Shopbot have come up with a very clean design of the electronics in the control cabinet. When opening the cabinet, on the right side you see the face of their 'breakout board'. This board spans the front of the 3 Oriental Motor stepper drivers. It also provides input and output terminal blocks along the bottom edge. The Shopbot motion control board is connected on the back left side via a D-Sub 37 connector.

    Below is a picture of the control board removed from the cabinet


    This photo shows the back of the breakout board with the Shopbot motion controller attached


    I found that the Shopbot breakout board is fairly simple and it was easy to trace the connections from the motion control connector (DB37) out to the motor drive connectors and the I/O buffers. I found that all I needed was a single cable that would connect the KFlop JP7 connector to the breakout board DB37 connector. This allowed me to only need the KFlop board itself and not require any additional breakout boards. Simple!

    I should point out that there are two other ribbon cables that connect the Shopbot motion control board to the breakout board. I called these "Left Header" and "Right Header". "Left Header" contains all of the breakout board output terminal control signals. If you want to drive outputs, you would also need to interface with this header. A second cable would be required between the KFlop Auxillary port and this header. The "Right Header" contains signals from the Input 9 through Input 12 buffers. Again, another cable between this header and the KFlop would be required to use these signals.

    See the attachment "Shopbot Breakout Board Pinout.txt" for details of these three connectors.

    Below is a picture of the custom cable attached to the breakout board DB37 connector in place of the Shopbot motion control board


    Here are the parts needed for this cable:


    See the attached "Shopbot Breakout Custom Cable.txt" for the wiring details

    There are two signals that do not originally appear in the DB37 connector that are needed. Those are the Spindle 1 and 2 relay controls and the Master Spindle relay control. Those three signals appear on the Left Header. To keep from having to make up a second cable to handle those, I decided to install semi-permanent jumpers on the breakout board that would connect two unused DB37 pins to these signals. This was the only modification needed to the existing Shopbot hardware and can easily be removed to revert back to factory conditions. The jumpers are made of 30AWG wire and are soldered to the back side of the DB37 footprint and connect to two vias as shown below. Since I only have one spindle, I only wired out the Master Spindle and Spindle 1 relay controls. If you needed Spindle 2 also, you would need to add a second cable from the KFlop to the breakout board. All of the connection so far have used up all of the I/O on the JP7 connector of the KFlop.


    Once the modifications to the control board were completed, it was time to put it all back together. The breakout board connects to the front of the stepper motor drivers and is secured with screws. I placed the KFlop board in the floor of the cabinet to the right as shown below. In the future I plan to cut a mounting plate that will make use of the right two stepper driver mounting studs (which are unused) and hang the KFlop on that plate. For now, this works fine and the KFlop stays in place. The cable from the breakout board to the KFlop routes over the top of the motor drivers.


    This completes the hardware phase of the modification. In the next post I will cover the software and setup requirements that are specific to working with the Shopbot as well as covering control of the VFD (I purchased a spindle with my Shopbot).

    Similar Threads:
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3-20150429_152457-jpg   Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3-20150429_152510-jpg   Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3-20150429_172743-jpg   Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3-20150429_173610-jpg  

    Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3-20150501_163017-jpg  
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    Default Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3

    Setting up the software obviously starts with installing Mach3 and KMotion (with the KMotion Mach3 plugin). Installation procedures for those two programs can be found on their support sites. A third helpful program (if using the Yaskawa V1000 VFD) is DriveWizard Industrial (https://www.yaskawa.com/pycprd/produ...ard-industrial). It helps in saving the default VFD configuration from Shopbot and then modifying the few parameters needed for this modification.

    Once KMotion is up and running, there are a four C programs that need to be created and compiled which will be used by the KMotion Mach3 pluggin (see the KMotion Mach3 setup guide). KMotion comes with example C programs which can be modified. I have included the four programs needed for the BT32 conversion.

    InitShopbot3Axis.c

    This file configures the input and output channels of the KMotion board. In this file, 3 axes channels are configured for the X-axis (ch0), Y-axis (ch1), and Z-axis (ch2). These axes labels refer to the original Shopbot axes with the gantry being the Y-axis, table being the X-axis and of course the spindle on the Z-axis. These channels also correspond to the cable wiring and pinout between the KFlop board and the Shopbot breakout board. In other words, no swapping of the axes has been done at this point.

    Towards the bottom of this file, there is a line that defines the coordinate system...

    DefineCoordSystem(1,0,2,-1);

    .This tells the plugin which output drive channel corresponds to which Mach3 axis. The syntax for this command is DefineCoordSystem(X-axis channel, Y-axis channel, Z-axis channel, A-axis channel). The number entered into each of these fields in the KFlop stepper output channel number. A -1 means the axis is not used. Most users would use (0, 1, 2, -1). However, since I wanted to swap X and Y axis on the machine, I define X-axis to use ch1 which is Shopbots old Y-Axis...the gantry.

    Two more lines were added to this file to configure an output pin that will control the Spindle 1 relay on the Shopbot breakout board...

    ClearBit(45);
    SetBitDirection(45, 1);


    The output bit is first cleared, then the bit direction is configured as an output.


    SpindleMach3.c

    Whenever a spindle start, stop, direction change, or speed change command is issued in Mach3, this program is called. For the most part, this file is the same as the default file provided with KMotion with the addition of controlling the output bit for the Spindle 1 relay control (IO45).


    HomeShopbot3Axis.c

    This file provides a homing routine for the shopbot. Mach3 calls this program when any home action command is issued. The routine for each axis is...

    1. Disable soft limits
    2. Move the axis towards zero (lower left corner) at a slow rate until the limit switch is activated
    3. Move back in the positive direction 0.25" off the sensor
    4. Zero the axis
    5. Restore the soft limits for the axis


    At the time of this writing I did not have the Z-axis limit switches installed yet so the routine for the Z-axis is commented out.

    NotifyMach3.c

    Mach3 calls this program for a number of reasons. You can configure Mach3 to notify the plugin for custom requirements. One common use for this program is the probe function. The file can be used the way it comes with KMotion. The only change I made was to change the active state of the probe in the definition line...

    #define PROBE_ACTIVE_STATE 0


    This is what the KMotion plugin configuration screen looks like...


    The "Offline" box is configured to drive IO44 when Mach3 is set to "Offline" mode. This turns off the motor drivers and allows the stepper motors to free spin. Of course when you go back to online mode you will need to re-home the machine.

    The next step is configuring Mach3 Ports & Pins. Attached are screen shots of the necessary tabs...






    Next came Motor Tuning. The Shopbot website provides information about each axis in the "Units and Values' datasheet (Google search). Here are the settings I used for each axis. These settings seem to work pretty well, but may be tweaked in the future...

    X-Axis and Y-Axis
    Steps per: 1833.465
    Velocity: 400
    Acceleration: 30

    Z-Axis
    Steps per: 2291.831
    Velocity: 100
    Acceleration: 20

    At this point, Mach3 can now move each axis and is ready to go. I have attached the four C programs and my Mach3 XML setup file.

    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3-kmotion-plugin-config-jpg   Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3-portsetupandaxisselection-jpg   Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3-motoroutputs-jpg   Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3-inputsignals-jpg  

    Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3-spindlesetup-jpg  
    Attached Files Attached Files
    Last edited by kirilian; 05-04-2015 at 08:56 AM. Reason: Add Attachments


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    Default Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3

    My Shopbot came with a Yaskawa V1000 VFD for the spindle drive. Mach3 is able to control the spindle via Modbus. There are a few settings in the V1000 that need to be changed for this to work.

    To make these changes easy, I downloaded a free utility called DriveWizard Industrial from Yaskawa. It allows you to connect to the drive, download the parameters and save them to a file. This way if something happens, I can revert back to the original settings from Shopbot, or the default settings from Yaskawa.

    The parameters that need to change in the V1000 are...

    • B1-01 Reference Selection - Must be 2 (Memobus communication)
    • H5-02 Communication Speed - Changed mine to 6 (57600), but this is not absolutely necessary
    • H5-05 CE Detection Selection - Set to 0 (disabled). The CE error kept being generated when Mach3 was in control. Need to investigate this further.
    • O1-11 Frequency Reference Setting/Decimal Display - Set to 0. This allows Mach3 to send the RPM value directly to the V1000.


    With the VFD properly configured, Mach3 can now be configured to send and receive messages to it. With the Modbus function activated in the "Ports and Pins" dialog box, the ModBus Configuration screen can be opened from FunctionCfg's -> Setup Serial Modbus Control. This is what this screen should look like...

    Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3-modbusconfiguration-jpg

    At the top, my USB-RS485 converter is on COM3 and the rate setup in the V1000 is 57600. I have 3 configurations enabled...

    • VFD Speed Readback - Reads back the V1000 Output Frequency (Modbus variable address 36)
    • VFD Speed Setting - Sets the V1000 Reference Frequency (Modbus variable address 2)
    • VFD Current Readback - (Reads back the V1000 Output Current (Modbus variable address 38)


    Each of these values are transferred 10 times a second (100ms refresh).

    Once the Modbus packets are moving back and forth, we need a Brain to handle them...

    Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3-vfdbrain-jpg

    The first rung takes in the Spindle RPM desired speed, actually the Override speed so that override works. No operation is needed to this input and it is passed directly out to Modbus Configuration #1 (VFD Speed Setting).
    The second rung takes in the VFD Speed Readback (Modbus Configuration #0), performs no operation on it, and passes it to a custom OEMDRO 1152. This is a RPM readout on my custom Mach3 panel. For some reason you cannot update the stock Mach3 spindle RPM DRO so a custom one has to be used.
    The third rung is similar to the second with the exception that a simple math formula has to be done to divide the incoming data from the V1000 by 10. The result is then passed to a custom DRO for current readout.

    At this point, Mach3 can now control the VFD. The speed is set through the Modbus while the On/Off is controlled through the KFlop board via IO bit 45.

    A zip file is attached that includes the Yaskawa drive parameters, the VFDSpeed brain, and my Mach3 screen set.

    Attached Files Attached Files


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    Default Re: Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3

    Kirilian,

    Firstly, thank you so much for the detailed write up! Very clean change over and I especially like that it's reversible. I'm planning on changing over a BT48. In reading it appears that Mach3 interfaces with KMotion. Looking at the KMotionCNC interface it appears to have everything I'd need without Mach3. Any real advantage of using Mach3 over just KMotionCNC?

    It's been a few months, how has the change over been working? Still happy?

    Thanks

    Last edited by forhire; 10-30-2015 at 06:09 PM. Reason: Changed KMotion to KMotionCNC


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    Default Re: Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3

    Hi! Glad to hear someone found the write up useful.

    I looked at KMotionCNC briefly, but had already gotten used to Mach3. I have installed a really nice screenset for Mach3 that really gives me the functionality and look that I am after in a CNC control.

    After all this time, the conversion is still working great! In the beginning I had some trouble when switching off the contactor for the VFD power (the flyback from the contactor coil would reset the KMotion board). That was fixed by adding a flyback suppression diode across the coil. Of course, there are the nuances with the delay between Mach3 and the motion controller (delay after feedhold). I know there are workarounds for this, but it hasn't bothered me enough to do anything about it.



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    Default Re: Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3

    Quote Originally Posted by kirilian View Post
    In the beginning I had some trouble when switching off the contactor for the VFD power (the flyback from the contactor coil would reset the KMotion board). That was fixed by adding a flyback suppression diode across the coil.
    I haven't measured the coil. What diode did you use? Something like a 1N4007?



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    Default Re: Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3

    I believe I used a 1N4001, but the 1N4007 would work just as well.



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    Default Re: Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3

    kirilian, I've had this shopbot2kflop conversion on the back burner for a few months because it was the middle of our robotics build season. I just installed my board today and I have XYZ working. Thanks again your your right up. It has been invaluable.

    Our machine is an AlphaPRS so it's a little different than your machine but the breakout is the same. I'm planning on handling the RS485 directly from the kflop because I'm using kmotioncnc. As it turns out the only IO ports that can have the UART enables is IO44 and IO45. In your cable these are "Spindle 1 Enable" and "All Windings Off". I'd like to move these to JP4 or JP6 but most of these are all digital io with pull down resistors. Can I move these?

    I have the TTL to RS485 working. I can send and receive just fine. I'm still working on the modbus commands. I ended up using a small daughter board and it looks as if it will work.
    Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3-img_2458-1-jpg

    I have a prototype board in the machine now but I've been working on a final board in eagle. The goal is to be able to modify the machine without making an permanent changes.
    Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3-shopbot2kflop-png



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    Default Re: Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3

    I have the spindle bit resolved. I can now run code and turn the spindle on and off. I still need to sort the speed control of course. All I can say it I can't be more pleased. It runs so much faster the the original SB controller. In my testing today it has worked flawlessly. I suspect I'll have a few more hours sorting all the little stuff.

    I have a few more questions:
    IO44 All Windings Off, what is it's function? I assume this toggles the contactors? Or does it turn off the axis windings? I don't see that you've used this.

    My machine has a remote Reset and Start button. I have to press the Reset to activate the contactors and also press the Start button before I can start the spindle. If I forget the Reset, the kflop runs but nothing moves. If I forget the Start, everything runs but the spindle doesn't start. Does your machine have a remote? Are you using it?

    When I was looking at the Yaskawa configuration I noticed CCW rotation was disabled. I assume this is because the SB is relay started. We do have the USB-RS485 dongle that can change speed via modbus but it appears it doesn't issue a direction then setting the speed. Do you have CCW enabled on yours? I plan on using modbus to set/read spindle speed and direction. Interestingly, the SB software tended to lockup if we left the RPM window open while jogging the machine. It took me a while to realize I had to open the window for it to honor the TR command... and even longer to realize it was the cause of my crashes.

    I'm sure I may have more questions as I move forward. I still need to sort the homing function, height probe and a few other small things but these are largely kmotioncnc related.



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    Default Re: Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3

    Sorry for the late response. Yes, the All Windings Off and Spindle 1 Enable can be moved to JP4 or JP6. The only reason I put those where I did was to minimize wiring. If I ever add anything else to the controls, that is where I will be going next.

    All Windings Off is a discrete signal to the stepper motor controllers. It is an enable signal to the drives rather than a power contactor (the drives remain powered, but in a idle state). My current Mach 3 screen set does not have a button to control this line, so I don't really use it anymore. In the past, I would use it to turn the motors off if I needed to manually move the machine (i.e. get it closer to home position to speed up the homing process). You probably wouldn't miss it if you didn't have it.

    My machine only has a remote E-Stop button. Is the "Start" button stock with the Alpha machine?

    I do have CCW disabled for now. I don't do anything that requires CCW rotation. If I ever do, I would add control via modbus since this doesn't require any hard-wiring of the controls.

    Sounds like you are making good progress on the conversion. You will definitely be happy with the way the machine runs with the KMotion controller. Ours still runs great!



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    Default Re: Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3

    Quote Originally Posted by kirilian View Post
    Sorry for the late response.
    No problem. I was in St. Louis last week for the FRC completion, I didn't have a free moment. I sorted out my homing routines yesterday. I discovered when I made my break out board one of my nets wasn't connected... quick solder job and now the y-axis limit is working. I'm going to add a limit switch to my z-axis so I can home all three axis just like our other two mills. I have my post processor sorted and posting clean code. All I have left to sort out is the modbus stuff. I've been messing around with modpoll but it has been slow going. I can read registers fine but haven't been able to write them. Do you by chance have a working modpoll command for setting the frequency?



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    Default Re: Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3

    I ordered a z-axis proximity switch from SB, $87.50 – part number 14601. It works well. I made the bracket from some 1" angle. It was a bit of a guess but it came out real close. I may be able to massage out a little more height if I need it.

    I sorted the basic modbus stuff. Easier than I thought. I used modpoll to do most of my testing and was able to capture some valid messages to test the lvttl to rs485 communication. I can now control directly from the kflop using separate programs for M3, M4, M5, and S. It's a bit of a kludge but it's working. Switching over to modbus elimnated the weirdness the aux start button was giving me. Soon that button will be re-purposed to start the program.

    This is the modpoll syntax for setting speed. I did have to use PDU addressing addressing (-0). The last variable is the speed to be written.
    modpoll.exe -p none -1 -0 -r 640 -b 9600 com3 12000

    About the only thing really left to complete is the clean up of the modbus master so it operates in a single thread that monitors the vfd all the time. Figured that would be safer than separate programs/threads. Most of the framework is done. I'm very happy how well it's working. The SB control always had quite a delay.

    Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3-img_2494-1-jpg



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    Default Re: Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3

    Kirilian, here are a few photos of my adapter board. It turned out fantastic. The machine is working great. The rs-485 module on the adapter is great, the Kflop can monitor the VFD real time.

    Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3-img_2567-1-jpg Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3-img_2568-1-jpg Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3-img_2569-1-jpg

    Shopbot 2 Kflop Board.txt



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    Default Re: Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3

    Quote Originally Posted by kirilian View Post
    Hi! Glad to hear someone found the write up useful.

    I looked at KMotionCNC briefly, but had already gotten used to Mach3. I have installed a really nice screenset for Mach3 that really gives me the functionality and look that I am after in a CNC control.

    After all this time, the conversion is still working great! In the beginning I had some trouble when switching off the contactor for the VFD power (the flyback from the contactor coil would reset the KMotion board). That was fixed by adding a flyback suppression diode across the coil. Of course, there are the nuances with the delay between Mach3 and the motion controller (delay after feedhold). I know there are workarounds for this, but it hasn't bothered me enough to do anything about it.
    Kirilian,

    I'm new to this forum, and just came across and read your post about your conversion of your Shopbot to Kflop with Mach 3 with interest. I've owned at PRSAlpha BT48-12 4 axis Shopbot since 2016, and have been waiting to see if they were going to update their motion control board, either with a current board upgrade or the FabMo board, neither of which appear to be happening soon. Your solution looks really good, especially if all function is preserved for 4 axis, VFD/spindle control, native G-Code support, and post processor availability in VCarve Pro / Aspire. How has the conversion been working for you? Have you considered upgrading to Mach 4? Did you consider other motion boards such as from Centroid before settling on Kflop?

    I am a competent computer and CNC user, but not much of a programmer. Do you think I could attempt something like this on my tool with success, or might it be beyond me?

    Appreciate your help in this

    Thanks,
    Tom



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    Default Re: Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3

    Quote Originally Posted by tkbot17 View Post
    I'm new to this forum, and just came across and read your post about your conversion of your Shopbot to Kflop with Mach 3 with interest. I've owned at PRSAlpha BT48-12 4 axis Shopbot since 2016, and have been waiting to see if they were going to update their motion control board, either with a current board upgrade or the FabMo board, neither of which appear to be happening soon. Your solution looks really good, especially if all function is preserved for 4 axis, VFD/spindle control, native G-Code support, and post processor availability in VCarve Pro / Aspire. How has the conversion been working for you? Have you considered upgrading to Mach 4? Did you consider other motion boards such as from Centroid before settling on Kflop?

    I am a competent computer and CNC user, but not much of a programmer. Do you think I could attempt something like this on my tool with success, or might it be beyond me?
    I used kirilian's example and notes to garner the courage to convert a Shopbot PRSalpha Buddy to Kflop running the include KmotionCNC software. It is so much better than the limited and strange shopbot interface. I had originally planned on using Mach3 with my conversion but the KmotionCNC has worked very well. If you decide to go Kflop I have a few extra adapter PCB boards.



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    Default Re: Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3

    Quote Originally Posted by forhire View Post
    I used kirilian's example and notes to garner the courage to convert a Shopbot PRSalpha Buddy to Kflop running the include KmotionCNC software. It is so much better than the limited and strange shopbot interface. I had originally planned on using Mach3 with my conversion but the KmotionCNC has worked very well. If you decide to go Kflop I have a few extra adapter PCB boards.
    forhire,
    Thanks for the reply. I also read your post. I have some questions - I'll PM you so as not to clog the thread.
    Tom



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    Default Re: Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3

    Quote Originally Posted by tkbot17 View Post
    Kirilian,

    I'm new to this forum, and just came across and read your post about your conversion of your Shopbot to Kflop with Mach 3 with interest. I've owned at PRSAlpha BT48-12 4 axis Shopbot since 2016, and have been waiting to see if they were going to update their motion control board, either with a current board upgrade or the FabMo board, neither of which appear to be happening soon. Your solution looks really good, especially if all function is preserved for 4 axis, VFD/spindle control, native G-Code support, and post processor availability in VCarve Pro / Aspire. How has the conversion been working for you? Have you considered upgrading to Mach 4? Did you consider other motion boards such as from Centroid before settling on Kflop?

    I am a competent computer and CNC user, but not much of a programmer. Do you think I could attempt something like this on my tool with success, or might it be beyond me?

    Appreciate your help in this

    Thanks,
    Tom
    Hi Tom,
    Sure, this is a fairly straightforward modification. Everything I did was documented at the beginning of this thread. The only 'programming' was setting up the Kflop hardware (notes included here) and configuring the modbus connection in Mach 3 (notes included here).

    The modification is still working great after all this time. I am still using Mach 3 since it does all that I need it to do. I am sure there are other motion control devices that would work just as well. The modification I list here could be adapted to any motion control board. The wiring harness that I show would just be changed to connect to a different control board. If you have a different board and would like some guidance, just let me know.

    -Patrick



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    Default Re: Shopbot BT32 Conversion to Mach3

    Quote Originally Posted by kirilian View Post
    Hi Tom,
    Sure, this is a fairly straightforward modification. Everything I did was documented at the beginning of this thread. The only 'programming' was setting up the Kflop hardware (notes included here) and configuring the modbus connection in Mach 3 (notes included here).

    The modification is still working great after all this time. I am still using Mach 3 since it does all that I need it to do. I am sure there are other motion control devices that would work just as well. The modification I list here could be adapted to any motion control board. The wiring harness that I show would just be changed to connect to a different control board. If you have a different board and would like some guidance, just let me know.

    -Patrick
    Hi Patrick,

    Not sure if it will be quite as simple for me. I have a 2016 PRS Alpha with the Oriental AR-A drives, and the Alpha motherboard is quite a bit different, so lot of homework would have to be done to map the circuits and see if a single cable could be made to interface. I've been in touch with forhire as well since his machine is the same vintage as mine. I've been trying to figure out the control connections to the drives because the Alpha board is not as easy to follow traces on.

    I also have looked at the Centroid Acorn because of the ethernet connection. However, you are correct, not too many souls have done controller changes to their SB's

    Tom



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