any sign of the 2000 drives yet

[Stevie]

Don't know just how much longer i can wait

[rutexus]

The first run of the R2010 drives is back from the factory, and are in final test this week. Every drive will be fully tested. The web site is being updated. ( I worked on it today). I expect to have some on hand by May 23, if all goes well.

It has been a long wait, but we are almost there.

Vladimir says, when they get them in their hands and see what they can do, they will forget how long it took to get them.

Since I'm one of the ones waiting too, I'm hanging on those words.

Tom Eldredge
Rutex LLC

[Stevie]

Thanks Tom

I need the Brushless; when will they be?

[HillBilly]

Any plans to have a +/-10V version of the 2000 drives?
No rush just curious.

Darek

[ynneb]

Vladimir says, when they get them in their hands and see what they can do, they will forget how long it took to get them.

I am very curious, what more can a servo drive do than drive servos?
The drives I have of yours already preform well. How can they preform better? Surley you are either driving a servo correctly or you are not?

What are some of the great things these new drivers will do?

EDIT: Ok so I just read all these features on your web site.
Could you please explain what the features and benifits are from this list.
Preferably in laymans terms.
What is the likely cost of these drives?
Thanks

Highlights (preliminary):

Servo Motor Drives for brush or brush-less servo motors up to 200V/40A.
Step&Dir or SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) motion command.
Advanced SPI motion with up to 255 points 32-bit fractional interpolation and 8 x 32-bit FIFO buffer.
Up to 7 axes can be controlled from single printer port via SPI at theoretical speed up to 80Mpps.
SPI DLL (XP/W2K) available for software developers.
Build-in true real time 32-bit DRO.
Build-in safe Limit Switches input.
Encoder "tap" output - raw A/B/I and decoded clock Up/Down.
Output for optional external braking resistor.
Encoder Index offset counter.
Enhanced 32-bit PID filter - quieter, up to 40% faster setting time than standard PID.
Following Error Trip adjustable from +/- 2 to +/-32766.
Encoder fault detection - no motor runaway with faulty encoder.
Stall rotor detection.
Real time monitoring of the motor current, voltage and following error via SPI.
Flashing status LED - different flashing sequence for different errors.
"Soft motion" error recovery.
Low cost and opto-isolated motherboards with build in DC/DC converter.
RJ45 style cable (standard network cable) can be used for encoder.
Interface to single ended (TTL) or differential (RS422 line driver) encoders.
Available for sale - Early 2005.

[ynneb]

Do you have a preliminary photo of these drives?

EDIT: I should have looked b4 I asked http://www.rutex.com/home/R2000.htm

[rutexus]

Gentlemen,

Please take a look at the preliminary info on the 2000 series on the Rutex.com web site. The web site is being updated presently, but the info that has been there for a month or so is still the best there is right now for users.

There are pictures of the drives on the site.

Many of the new features are listed in the introduction.

Tom Eldredge
Rutex LLC

[ynneb]

Tom, I think you might have read my responce from the email and not the edited post in this section.
Do you want to give us a laymans explanation of what these things are and what they mean. Obviously some are self explanitry but some are also Greek. For example what does "Encoder "tap" output - raw A/B/I and decoded clock Up/Down. " mean ?
What will that enable us to do? ETC

If you are hestant to post too much because you think it might look like and advertisment in this forum, in essence you are just answering my questions.

Thanks agian.

[rutexus]

What are some of the great things these new drivers will do?

EDIT: Ok so I just read all these features on your web site.
Could you please explain what the features and benifits are from this list.
Preferably in laymans terms.
What is the likely cost of these drives?
Thanks

At this point, Vladimir says the target price of the drives is about the same as the R9xx series, but we may introduce them just a little higher to give folks an incentive to buy out our R9xx inventory.

Highlights (preliminary):

Servo Motor Drives for brush or brush-less servo motors up to 200V/40A.
This means there will be equivalent drives to the R9x series drives.

Step&Dir or SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) motion command.
Advanced SPI motion with up to 255 points 32-bit fractional interpolation and 8 x 32-bit FIFO buffer.
The spi functions will be implimented by using a DLL. The drive will buffer the commands if they come from the control faster than they can be implimented. This will provide for smooth motion.
Up to 7 axes can be controlled from single printer port via SPI at theoretical speed up to 80Mpps.
SPI DLL (XP/W2K) available for software developers.
Build-in true real time 32-bit DRO.
I think this means you can read the position register in the drive through the spi communications at any time, including while the drive is being run with step and direction control.

Build-in safe Limit Switches input.
Encoder "tap" output - raw A/B/I and decoded clock Up/Down.
I think this means that you will have acess to the encoder signals through hardware pins at the mother board.

Output for optional external braking resistor.
Encoder Index offset counter.
I'm not sure.
Enhanced 32-bit PID filter - quieter, up to 40% faster setting time than standard PID.
I am very pleased with the PID of the R9xx series, but I take it from this that Vladimir has made it even better.

Following Error Trip adjustable from +/- 2 to +/-32766.
The R9xx drives have one pin dedicated to indicating whether the following error is more than 1000 steps. (difference between where the motor is and where it should be at any point in time while the servo motion drives it to its destination) The following error trip point can be set to any tolerance you want, any time you want through the spi. While machining, you can keep it low, while doing rapid moves you can change it if you like. The drive will keep on servoing (It won't fault) at the trip point. It will just give you a hardware signal telling you that the following error trip point has been reached. The control can respond appropriately. In step and direction mode, this error signal is handy. It would be set to your desired point during tuning, then it will trip at the preset following error. I use it in my own custom control (not for sale). If my following error is too great, I slow my step pulses down to allow the servo to catch up. If it doesn't catch up in a preset time, I report to the operator that the following error is excessive. If still not corrected, the control stops sending step pulses to the drive.

Encoder fault detection - no motor runaway with faulty encoder.
Stall rotor detection.
Real time monitoring of the motor current, voltage and following error via SPI.
Flashing status LED - different flashing sequence for different errors.
"Soft motion" error recovery.
Low cost and opto-isolated motherboards with build in DC/DC converter.
RJ45 style cable (standard network cable) can be used for encoder.
Interface to single ended (TTL) or differential (RS422 line driver) encoders.
Available for sale - Early 2005.

I talked to Vladimir last evening. He is preparing the first shipment of 2010 drives and mother boards for me along with a good number of R90H (40 Amp) drives. These R90H drives are great sellers lately and I have a hard time keeping inventory in stock on them.

I am looking forward to reading and editing the documentation myself. I learned last night that it is not done yet. We are getting closer though. Soon I'll have them in my hands, along with the DLL.

We will have to wait until we have them and the documentation before I can make many more comments. Vladimir and I have talked about these and other features, but until I see them, I prefer not to comment, lest I spread rumors.

The drives will have flash memory. Most of the hardware in the drives has been proven by the R9xx series, although some has been improved. Faster CPU's have made the PC based cnc control viable, and this added speed and power is also enhancing the servo drives. If new software features are added, I expect to be able to download the updates into the drives for users.
There will be no potentiometers on the boards. All setup and tuning will be done in the windows 2000 and xp environment.

Tom Eldredge
Rutex LLC

__________________

[ViperTX]

Let me see if I understand this....I've waited 5 months for the 2000 controllers to be available at the same price as the 900's...now, I'll have to wait X months until you clear out the 900's inventory so I can get the 2000 controllers at the same price as the 900's......hmmmmmmmm.....I kinda remember speculating about this "series of events" months ago....shouldn't be a surprise ya say........

[DSL PWR]

I think they would be better off discounting the existing drives, and keep the same prices on the new ones.

[ynneb]

Thanks Tom for taking the time to post the explanations. Sounds good.

Step&Dir or SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) motion command.
Advanced SPI motion with up to 255 points 32-bit fractional interpolation and 8 x 32-bit FIFO buffer.
The spi functions will be implimented by using a DLL. The drive will buffer the commands if they come from the control faster than they can be implimented. This will provide for smooth motion.

I like the sound of this feature. I have a current problem, if I use the exact stop mode in mach2 it will cut circles with jumpy jerky motion. If I use the constant motion mode instead it will cut off the corners on a square. Will the new feature help to slove this issue? Sounds like it should. In essence, mach2 will give the driver cards the steps and the cards will store the steps until they are carried out. Yes? If you have truely solved this problem then I expect there will be a lot of happy customers out there.
EDIT: Upon thinking about it, the mother board will store the code and not the driver cards, otherwise how could the gcode be co-ordinated to drive all the axis at the same time. Yes?

Encoder fault detection - no motor runaway with faulty encoder.

I am glad to see this feature. I have seen this problem first hand.

I dont suppose you take trade ins of the old cards, Or even better swap overs

Maybe I could do a review of your new cards as a swap (3 axis setup)

EDIT: Hey ViperTX from the sound of it, it may just be worth the extra wait, maybe Vlad/Tom might do a one off deal for you?

EDIT: Tom, I know this guy who is also about to launch some new drives too.
He disputes the high current claims that Rutex makes. He says the green conection plugs are ony rated at 12 Amps. What do you say about that?
Also I would prefere to see screw terminals instead of the plugs ( Just on the high current sections)