Larken vs Gecko

[wcarrothers1]

Saw the add/logo swing by for the viper drives and have to ask the question.. Since I'm in collection mode for building my 3rd machine had to ask Larken vs Gecko...

Right now I've been running 2 machines with 3 gecko 320's (servo) switching between them.

Next machine will be (at least for a while) on the other side of the room from current machines so will need a new drive controler/power supply. Becides it's an opertunity to build a nice clean control box

The 2 machines use pretty similar servos so can also use common gain and damp settings. The next machine may have one axis with one of those disk servos from Kollmorgen, That servo both uses lower voltage and way different damp and gain settings to be happy. Thus will need a dedicated power source.

So..

Going to be a big machine. 5'x10'. With the excpetion of the Kollmorgen servo motor on Z going to have 1100 oz motors on each axis..

and wondering if I should just go Gecko again or switch it up?

The Geckos I have been running have been in since Oct 2006 and never let me down so that should be a convincing argument to stick with them but hay perhaps Larken is better some how?

Machine would probably be driven through parallel port but I also some times use a smooth stepper to control as well. Still tend to run mach in parallel port more though..

b.

[TSJ]

I was going through some posts yesterday and this link was included in one of them. I read the review carefully as I have been looking at either the Viper or Granite Controls contrproducts.

I have not considered the Gecko controllers as the Fanuc motors I have are rated at 150 volts.

Anyway, hope this helps...

http://www.thecubestudio.com/ServoDriveReview.htm

[wcarrothers1]

hehe that was a good read for sure.. very interesting. Propbably points to what I already knew. I've been happy with my geckos for 4 years now and probably would be = happy with their updated products.

Perhaps will take a quick peek at the couple other drives mentioned in the piece before making a decision..

Thanks.

b.

[jsheerin]

Thanks for the link. I've been planning on buying the Granite Device drives for a few upcoming projects using AC servos, so it's good to hear they compare so well to other drives.