Hermes Vanguard 7200 Engraving machine

[jjackson]

Hi guys,

In my case I bought a NH1219 and the owner had junked the computer and all the electronics because it had stopped working and he could not find anyone who could look at it.

I traced the wiring for the DB25 connector, and connected it to a Rockcliff board (http://www.rockcliffmachine.com/electronics.htm) and added a 24 v power supply.

I have engraved a few signs with it but it is awkward and clumsy, not because of the new electronics, but because I have very little experience and the manuals are software manuals, not machine manuals.

I have about 25 cutters, some dull, many meant for huge letters. To try and find one size that can cut the fine letters yet still be useful on larger (1/2) letters is difficult. Setting zero is also difficult to get consistent results.

Using Mach 3 to control drives and several evals of software to create the g-code, which often has to be tweaked by hand.

John

[badger05]

Helo arnie


I'm begining to feel like a nusance but I found this message still on the forum and am wondering if you actually did what your last sentencd says? If you did could you please tell me what else would be required to make the machine operable again?

sandy

Originally Posted by aminear Stan, If you open up the machine and see what kind of controller boards you have you could be in luck if they are similar to the older ones. On mine I it consisted of a separate computer (an old dos machine) that ran the engraving software, it sends HPGL commands to the controller box (EP controller). The EP controller box consisted of a standalone motherboard (PC style) with a plugin motion controller board that recieves the HPGL commands from the computer over a parallel port. This motion controller then connects to a motor driver board through a 20pin ribbon cable. The motor driver board is a standalone board, not plugged into the motherboard. There is also a power supply board. Older computers were so slow they could not calculate motion control commands and output a motor control pulse stream while taking care of other tasks like video all at the same time so they had to pass off movement commands to a separate controller that was dedicated to coordinating motion among the axis. Today with faster computers, that is not a problem, they are fast enough to do all these tasks. On my machine (3400) the motherboard in the EP controller was toast. I tossed the mother board and the daughter board (motion controller). Take a look at your system internals and determine if this is the same or similar to what you have. If so I was able to trace the circuit out on the motor driver board, build a schematic, then rewire the 20pin ribbon cable connection to hook the motor driver directly to my parallel port on a newer faster XP machine. Now I am running Mach3 software on an 800mhz computer outputting on the parallel port connected to the engraver motor driver board, engraving & 3D machining (with other software). I can share what I have done, it is in Eagle's schematic format. I am considering offering a premade parallel breakout board with the appropriate connectors, pullups & current limiting resistors prewired. Arnie

[aminear]

Sandy,

Yes I do have a conversion I offer. It requires you to send me the EP controller. I charge $200 & return shipping cost.

I have done 4 of these so far.

Let me know if you are interested, aminear@wyomingwireless.com

Arnie

[signboy]

i would love to have that schematic, I have a new hermes vanguard 7000.....I moditied the spindle to accept a laminate router....would like to run g code but would rather cut directly from corel 12........I have no engraving software with machine....but I heard you could run it directly from corel for 2d cuts? is this sound reasonable?