robot arm help

[magicruss]

hey guys and gals,
i just got a minimover 5 robot arm (found in trash) macanics are good just need more info on the software and were to get it the arm is dated 1980 and has a intact printer port connection would like to restore it .any help wil be great
russ

[whiteriver]

Good luck on it. I almost bought one off ebay this week for $100. That one they took apart and sold the arm in two auctions.It all depends on the motors. and if the drives are with them If there dc brushed servo or steppers then you can use gecko drives and Linux EMC to control it.

Donny

www.whiterivermfg.com

[Evodyne]

Magicruss,
Bored and poking around, so I read your post and did a little Googling. Apparently Microbot, who made the MiniMover, also made a model called a TeachMover. Meant for schools, etc. It has six stepping motors in the base and uses cables to mover the different parts of the arm. It had a handheld pendant for control, but could also be hooked to a PC via a serial (not parallel) port.

Might this be what you have? I found nothing for the Minimover, but I did find the attached document on the TeachMover. It gives the serial port pinout and wiring, configuration, and the command formats for PC control. With any good Windows programming software (Borland Delphi) , or even crappy Windows programming software (Visual Basic) you can do serial port programming and thus control the TeachMover.

This might (and I stress might) apply to the minimover as well-I don't know.

[magicruss]

hey ,
thanks for the replys it is a minimover 5 with 6 stepper motors they have a sticker on them denoting the use here are their markings motor 1 base motor (makes it turn side to side )
motor 2 shoulder (first joint) motor 3 elbow (2nd joint ) motor 4 right wrist (turns gripper) motor 5 left wrist (same as motor 4) motor 6 hand (opens and closes)
has no manual control box .
has sepret power (12 vdc@ 4 amps)
looks like a old printer port connection (maybe lpt )
any help is great thanks for the info
russ

ps .is it possible to use the parts (motors and interface it's a mim 5399 interface board ) to construct a small cnc foam cutter?
thanks
russ

[Evodyne]

Your Welcome. Remember that the old printer ports were usually 25 pin and would look like a parallel port.

As far as your foam cutter goes the simple answer is "probably"-the steppers can be made to work-but the interface? Who knows. And do the steppers have the ratings you want/need (enought torque)? So if your wanting to part it out, why not sell it on eBay and use the earnings to buy some typical small steppers (5V, 1A, 200 steps/rev, etc.) with known ratings. NEMA 23s are a dime a dozen. There are many drivers, kits, and modules available to drive them. You can control these straight from a PC via the parallel port, and software is available from several sources.

Good luck!

[CAMME]

I had one many years ago. It had a teach pendant, an RS232 port, 6 axis of motion, and was cable driven. I also programed it with an Osborne Z80 computer with Mbasic.(real old) I think I purchased the robot from Briggs Weaver. I beleave that Black and Decker used the Microbots for small tool assembly back then.(so I was told by the guy that sold me it) I used it to remove a 35mm slide from a projector tray, duplicate it, put it back in the tray, and move to the next position until it was done. The microbot also had some I/O channels.

a little history from the past,
camme