Hermes Vanguard 1219 to run on PC ?

[RiverGeek]

Ive got a Hermes Vanguard 1219 with the old controller box, with font cartridges, and hooked up to a 486 pc to load the data to controller, Im trying to figure out how to by pass the old controller, and run the whole thing from a XP or Linux computer.
Ive checked into upgrading it from a couple sources 1500 and up .. looking to do it my self for a whole lot less .. any one here done this ? also looking for open source engraving software that will run on linux or XP

Thanx in Advance
Sean aka North River Geek aka Fish

[graver1]

I'll be watching to see what you find out about this. I have the same situation with an H Square engraving table. Bad controller. There has to be a way to do this I'm sure. 2000.00 is what they want for mine. Good luck. LL

[randyray]

I have a Hermes 1219 bed (no electronics) that I am refurbing to run on a PC. I have other cnc machines so the adaptation is pretty easy. Although I'm doing it myself, I have found a company on the web (q1engravers.com) that sell parts and upgrades for the 1219. You can email me at vendor@randyray.com if you want to exchange info about the adaptation. I should have it engravinf by the end of the week. I am using mach3 (artsoftcontrols.com) to run my plasma, engraver, mill, lathe and router.
Randy Ray

[randyray]

I've been engraving control panels for over a month with the New Hermes 1219 running on Mach3. It works very well. I have been buying parts (cutters, vacuum nose, etc.) from q1engravers. Fred (of Q1) has been a wealth of information on the 1219 and engraving in general.
Randy

[samco]

THis is using some parker drives off of ebay. I would think maybe a 3 axis Xylotex or similar drive would work just fine..
my steppers where only 1.5a. I also only ran 1/2 windings.
http://www.electronicsam.com/images/engraver/

I never actually used the ep module as I didn't have any software to run it. I sold the engraver on ebay.

using emc2 http://www.linuxcnc.org/
"http://youtube.com/watch?v=dKz81fY1OjY"]YouTube - emc2 running hermes engraver 3 axis
"http://youtube.com/watch?v=Og6V-nS2dig"]YouTube - EMC2 running Hermes engraver making PCB
"http://youtube.com/watch?v=a_OUNLruaVQ"]YouTube - EMC2 running hermes 450ipm 50in/s/s doublefreq
"http://youtube.com/watch?v=Hdhn_j6PrCw"]YouTube - emc2 dry run of the 3d_chips test program (linuxcnc penguin)