Brush vs. Brushless drive for 4th

[JasonR]

Hello,
I have an older HRT-210 indexer. Brush style.



Recently purchased a 2000 VF-3 and was told it was pre-wired for the 4th axis, which it is but was told it was for the brush style indexers. Was told this by the seller and by Haas when I called them to verify the options prior to the sale. Now I am looking in the control cabinet and it looks like the 4th axis might be set up for the brush-less style indexers. I am in no means an expert so I have come to ask you Haas guru's to set me straight.



Let me know if I am misunderstanding this. In the end I want to run my 210 on the VF-3. Am I going to need to reconfigure something?

Jason

[ToyMaker94566]

I'm in the same boat, I have a couple of model year 2000 mills. I was told I have a brush type rotary table and indexer but my drive board is the same as yours. The best way to know what you have is to look at your plug end on your rotary. If you have a single large connection, then you have a brush type rotary. If you have two smaller connections, then you have a brushless type rotary. I have both types in my shop and the brushless uses two cables instead of one large single connection. Hope that helps.

I was looking at the HAAS website and it appears that there is an even newer third generation high speed drive available.

[JasonR]

Originally Posted by ToyMaker94566 I'm in the same boat, I have a couple of model year 2000 mills. I was told I have a brush type rotary table and indexer but my drive board is the same as yours. I just the best way to know is to look at your plug end on your rotary. If you have a single large connection, then you have a brush type servo. If you have two smaller connections, then you have a brushless type rotary. I was looking at the HAAS website and it appears that there is an even new third generation high speed drive available. Hope that helps.

So if I understand what your saying. If I have the big single connection and I am physically able to connect my brush style indexer to the cabinet then I am good to go? I hope so because I do believe that is what connection is on the cabinet. I'll have to check when I get back to the shop tomorrow.

[ToyMaker94566]

Originally Posted by JasonR So if I understand what your saying. If I have the big single connection and I am physically able to connect my brush style indexer to the cabinet then I am good to go? I hope so because I do believe that is what connection is on the cabinet. I'll have to check when I get back to the shop tomorrow.

I edit my previous post to be a little more clear but to answer your Q, Yes. If it connects it's correct.

[JasonR]

Originally Posted by ToyMaker94566 I edit my previous post to be a little more clear but to answer your Q, Yes. If it connects it's correct.

Thanks!

[JasonR]

Looks like it should be good to go with the brush style indexer.

Thanks again for the replies.

[ToyMaker94566]

Yep, that's the brush type connection...

This is what the high speed brushless type connection looks like.
There are two cables in this case to communicate with the rotary.

[rawen2]

So does anyone know why the 4th servo driver in the picture says "brushless" on the metal case? Pretty confusing...

Ralph

[Donkey Hotey]

Originally Posted by rawen2 So does anyone know why the 4th servo driver in the picture says "brushless" on the metal case? Pretty confusing...

Haas can convert the signal to 'brush-type' by installing a proper cable / wire harness and a transformer. That's probably just out of view, on the bottom of the cabinet.

[Machineit]

Originally Posted by rawen2 So does anyone know why the 4th servo driver in the picture says "brushless" on the metal case? Pretty confusing... Ralph

What is on the metal case does not necessarily indicate what is inside. My 96 is also a brushless mill, but the 4th axis servo is brush or brushless and the machine is wired for brush type rotary's. If you have the 17 pin amp connector you should be ready to go for a brush rotary.

I read somewhere that the only difference between brush and brushless servos is one resister that must be added or removed. It is the rest of the machines wiring that really makes the difference.

Mike

[rawen2]

Donkey and Machineit,
Thanks for the information. I don't have a Haas (or any other CNC) but have been reading this forum for a several years trying to learn all I can so I can make an informed decision when I'm finally ready to get one for my garage/shop.
I had always assumed that there would be quite a difference between the brush and brushless amps because the brush type are DC motors and the brushless are AC motors. Or am I mistaken about that?
Thanks,
Ralph

[gizmo_454]

I am certainly no expert, but we just got in a 2002 VF2SS and had a similar question. It was sold as prewired for brushless 4th axis, however, it has the same single plug pictured above. We too have the brushless amp for the 4th. Hence my confusion. I did notice, though, in the bottom of the cabinet, on the left side, in front of the I/O board, there is a board that says Brush Induction Motor on it. The wires that come off of it, tie in to the plug along with the wires from the amp.

You may have something similar. I was told by my local HFO that I can make mine brushless by changing the cable and plug. Cost of roughly $200 for the cable. Ouch!

Oh well. I don't know if it will help or not, but that is what I have seen.

Good luck!

Mike