Anyone ever retrofit a Servo II system?

[frontrange]

Hi - This is my first veture here as I have just purchased a Lagun FTV 2 fitted with ballscrews and a Servo II system on 3 axis, 3rd being the knee. It looks like a nice clean setup, but I didn't get a PC loaded with the CNC software, just a pendant for teach mode (apparently it will work standalone with just a pendant in manual mode).

So now I have to decide whether to invest into getting this system CNC capable using the remnents of old control platform and buying the pieces that are missing ($$$), or converting it to a step/direction based servo system with new motors and motor drives using Mach or EMC.

Is anyone using Servo II that can comment on its usefullness, or tried to do a conversion reusing the motors and maybe even motor drives? It looks like these motors are variable reluctance type and I've found no drives out there that will handle them yet, so it looks like a conversion will pretty much be from scratch.
TIA

[tedlarson]

I just picked up a used MHO mill with a Servo II controller on it. It came with a PC that was fried, and the software dongle. I was able to get the software from ServoSource. It is DOS based. I saw something in another thread on this forum that seemed to suggest they give the DOS version of the software away for free. They want like $2k for the windows version, so I thought I would just stick with DOS.

It uses an RS-232 cable to communicate with the controller. So, all you need is a serial cable, a PC loaded with DOS, and the software and you should be good to go.

Hope this helps,

-Ted

[murad]

I also purchased a CNC with Servo II and it cam up without the pc
can you tell me how to get the DOS software to test it

[frontrange]

There is a fairly low cost version of the DOS software (version 3.X) that runs with a key, if you have an enabled pendant I think it is $350, or $500 if you need to send in the pendant to be keyed. I went with the 4.X version that has more features for $1500 (ouch) which requires a dongle.

If you want to do a retrofit, you'll need new motors. These run off the mains at something like 300 volts and are VR type motors (a type of stepper if I understand correctly) which are very rare, I was never able to locate a motor driver that would handle them.

If you decide to do a retrofit, LMK if you want to sell one of your motors and driver cards. I could always use spare parts now that I have invested this much into the system.

I'm now pretty well up to speed on the system if you want to PM any questions.

[tedlarson]

I faced a similar dilemma with my machine. The PC with the software was fried, the DAC02 board which controls the spindle was fried, and the Y-axis board in the Servo II controller was fried. I think the machine took power surge from a lightning strike. My choice was to either fix the machine, or just convert it over to steppers and go with Mach-3. Conversion seemed like a larger, more expensive task, so I went for fixing it.

ServoSource still services the Servo II controller:
http://www.servosource.com

I sent the broken Y-axis board in. Cost me $150 to fix it. I sent the blown DAC02 board to MCC to repair it, it cost $160, and they completely replaced it. Found a cheapie DOS capable PC from a friend that he was going to throw away, and voila! I was ready to cut parts.

The final problem I ran into was a CAM package with a postprocessor. Mastercam and a couple of other quite expensive ones were the only ones I could find that had a tested post. I had been using Cut2D from Vectric, which is inexpensive and works great for 2D work. Anyway, with some help from Vectric, I wrote a post for the machine, and now it is all working great.

Hope this helps,

-Ted

[Jturner]

I dont know if anyone still needs it but i found a man in CA. that E-mailed me a copy of both millwrite & fontloader. he all so has a NEW software that will run on XP for $400.00.
I'm getting a copy for my-self and will let you know how it works.

[teknasutra]

Can you post contact information for the fellow you?

[keyindustrial]

I purchased a Servo ll CNC 4 axis system (xyz on the mill table and z on a rotary table) in 1991 and still use it in my shop today. I saw various posts that others are in need of the CadCam software, compiler and utilities for this system. I have a complete package and currently run the system on a late model computer using Windows XP. It runs great but I did have to add a serial card to communicate with the system. The serial card must comply with the 8550 uart standard, the serial card that came with the PC didn't handle communications correctly and was a real headache to find where the problem was. As far as the CadCam software goes, I really like it. It is called ServoCam. If anyone else has this product, we need to know each other since these systems are getting old and parts might become a problem one day.