A860-0346-T041 Serial Coder

[Bruce Griffing]

Ok - I have a an alpha 2/3000 servo motor with this encoder. My control will handle serial pulse coders, so I am considering using it. But I cannot find the resolution of this encoder. I am also unclear on how serial coders work - but that is not important if the resolution is not good enough. If it is, I will want to understand the basics. From the signal names, I am guessing that the encoder reports position on the basis of a request from the controller, sending the data in serial form. But that may be complete BS.

All of this will attach to an 8" rotary table so I can add a 4th axis to my Kitamura Mycenter 1. Ideally the encoder will have at least 4000 counts/revolution. That would give me the 0.001 degree resolution that the machine seems to want. The machine was delivered originally "4th axis ready". I have checked the supplied ladder (on paper) as well as the code in the machine and it appears to have the code needed for the 4th already in place.

Added - the pulse coder is also marked as serial pulse coder A.

[Al_The_Man]

Are you sure the Fanuc serial encoder will be compatible?
They have 1 pair of lines for transmit and 1 pair for return.
I do not have any info on the resolution though.
Al.

[Bruce Griffing]

Al-
Thanks for getting on this thread. To answer your question, no I am not certain that it will work. I am a Fanuc rookie so please start with that as a calibration point. I have several Fanuc manuals, with more back ordered at this point. I looked in the Fanuc 0M Connection Manual - Hardware. There it describes the connections between the axis board and various pulse coders. It says that you must have connectors marked in the 100's on your axis board to accept serial pulse coders. The example shown on p 203 of my book shows a serial pulse coder connected to M185 on an axis board. The various wire names are delineated. My axis board has similar numbering and I have seen elsewhere in the Fanuc manuals that it will take serial pulse coders. It also mentions that this pulse coder is absolute (my understanding is that it has a battery back up to keep position). The only difference in connection mentioned is the extra wires for battery backup. It specifically says that the cables used for the serial pulse coders will work for the standard pulse coders, but not the other way around. The only difference in the cable is the two battery back up wires used for a 6V lithium battery.

[Bruce Griffing]

OK, I just read that this encoder is a 1,000,000 count per revolution encoder. I am not sure I believe it, but that is what the book says. When I get around to setting this up and testing, I will report success or lack thereof.