Replacement Controller for CAMTech RMII

[dpenley]

Hi Everyone,

I have a CAMTech Router Master II (RMII) circa 1994 that has the original controller box and pendant. The machine runs well mechanically, but the electronics are obsolete. The controller / driver box hooks up to the host computer via an ISA card (yes, that's right!). I believe that it is a standard RS422 or RS485 port ISA card, but have no way to verify this.

In any case, I would like to move away from this setup as any problems with this communications card renders my RMII dead. Since the three stepper motors are all "standard" 6-wire type, is there a simple way to substitute in a new driver box and just control the machine directly from a laptop?

Thanks!

[DennisCNC]

Here is my write up of the RM router that I have:
http://cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40870

Buy three stepper drives and power supply from these guys:
http://www.kelinginc.net/KLDriver.html

Buy a breakout board here:
http://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/prod...products_id=49

If you have a VFD for the spindle buy a controller board here to control the spindle with Mach3 cnc:
http://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/prod...products_id=58

And a 2Ghz computer (with out on board video) and you are set.

I don't remember what is the faster rapid speed my setup will do but it is around ~175IPM I will never be cutting anything even close to that speed. A few days a go I was cutting some aluminum plate and with a .05" depth of cut the thing was screaming.

[dpenley]

Dennis,

Many thanks for the links. As I'm not afraid of wiring and computer innards, I'll give this a try. It seems like I can get a new setup running for several hundred dollars rather than the thousands that I have been quoted by others.

I was wondering if it is better to look at a USB breakout card rather than the Serial/Parallel port type breakout card? I have this nagging concern about having the "standard" ports disappearing the way that the ISA and RS-422 combo disappeared from the current system.

But I guess that the catch with USB is what software will interface with it to drive the router.

-David

[DennisCNC]

David,

I can help you along the way with the setup. For now stay with Pport as it is simple and works very well. There are USB options but with a lot of bugs and it will take some time before they are solid like the Pport is in Mach3.

People run Mach3 in industrial environments and it's holding up well. I had a bridgeport mill that ran Mach3 for 2 years almost. Now i'm working on another Bridgeport and will be using Mach3 again.


Dennis

[dpenley]

Hi Dennis,

It's been years since you posted your reply to my query. You may have thought I dropped off the face of the earth. In a way I did... a three year divorce and legal battle to get my house, workshop, and tools back from my ex-wife. Very nasty! But in the end, I got almost everything back and finally placed an order with Keling for their stepper controller box (rather than the individual parts - driver, power supply, pPort breakout). I also dug up an "old" PC with XP and bought and loaded a copy of Mach3 on it.

Got the cables made up and was able to get one of the motors turning last night (at about 1am!) then went to bed. The others should be up and running soon and I've got to add a few limit switches to the machine as it only came with a Z-home switch.

Mach3 was easy to set up and Keling had Mach3 config docs and sample files for their box which made sure it was a short process.

Thanks for your past help. I wanted to be sure you knew that your advice was followed... it just took a while

Next is to decide on the CAD/CAM package, but that is a task for another day and another forum.

-David

[SOSx]

Hi David or Dennis (or anyone elsew for that matter),

I am looking to do the same upgrade on my machine and need help.

[dpenley]

Just let me know what kind of help you need...

-David

[SOSx]

Hi, if we could continue this on the other thread I started as there are the pictures of the machine to refer to which I think would be benificial.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/commer...ch_system.html

Kindest Regards

Tim