Acroloop 8000

[MrWild]

The price was very right so I took the leap and nailed an old 1982 BP Series I ridgid ram mill. It has an Acroloop 8000 for the control card and as a whole did all the motions properly without glitching upon inspection. Also included was a frequency drive for the head. I have a few questions about the control card and the frequency drive.

1. Is software supposed to come with this? I recieved several manuals and after researching Acroloop, I came across a thread that said the control software was, $1,000 (2004 thread). Is the control software part of the control card as firm ware, or should I make sure to get several floppies (has floppy drive).

2. Should I mirror the hard drive in case of a crash?

3. The frequency drive is a three phase. I have capaciiter pseudo three phase. Can I run a three phase frequency drive on 220v house current? Will it give about the same power as what I get now? (Now is a 1.5hp three phase on 220v house.) What legs of the freq drive would i attach house to?

Thanks!

[Al_The_Man]

I have two Excello's I retrofitted with the Acroloop 8000.
If you test ran the machine, then it should have the software on it. Is it the DOS version or NT?
The Software used to be available, but since Acroloop was taken over by Parker they supply Win XP MotionMax s/w for alot higher price.
You can usually get the s/w onto one floppy if it is DOS, I can tell you the directory to back up if so.
I would be interested in what version you have and would like to see if that version has the couple of bugs that mine has.
If it is fitted with a VFD then most will run on 220 1ph or off a 3PH RPC.
Make sure the 2 main legs of the supply feeds the 220v control transformer side.
Al.

[MrWild]

I only have the manuals right now. I still need to get the iron home. The only version I see is ACR2000 Hardware Manual Version 1.03. If the software has a version, I'll see that on the disp[lay I imagine, right?

Thanks for the fast reply.

If I could walk, I'd be dancing

[Al_The_Man]

The ACR2000 was the later version motion card. Virtually the same as ACR8000 but smaller.
The initial screen usually has the version# at the top, there was AcroMill and AcroCut for Plasma/Gas.
The Acromill was a modified version of the Cut and has some of the features left over, such as the canned shapes are from the Plasma M/C.
The later ver. of the software added canned cycles like G83 peck drilling etc etc. Which is handy.
I am sorry they merged and dropped the DOS ver. as I was about to convince them to come up with a Lathe ver.
The software was nice as it was a one-time buy and could be used on several of their cards.
I have the manuals zipped if you don't get them with the m/c.
Al.