Clueless in Indy- questions about Allen Bradley servo setup

[snapman]

Hi there,

I recently purchased a machine at auction for a song on the chance that it was a diamond in the rough...I am very pleased with the iron itself but confused as to the servo motion control system.

The machine was listed as a modified lathe- converted to some sort of winding machines for manufacturing a type of stent. In reality it was a modified Light Machines Prolight series mill with thier 4th axis present, spindle head assembly missing in action. I am in love with this machine. I want to sleep in the garage next to it. Only one problem...

I have no idea about the servos, drives, or control. I was planning on installing my current Flashcut stepper system and ebaying the stuff that is on the machine currently.

My questions are:

- What do I have here, exactly? I spent time on the Allen Bradley site and found some info but nothing much I understood...I am not a rocket scientist, nor an electrical engineer.

-What software would run this, if any?

-How hard would it be to convert to something I can actually run- say like...Flashcut. I currently have the stepper setup but I know they have a servo version...

-And lastly- and most importantly- if I could not use something like Flashcut- would I still be able to use it with CAD/CAM software? I use OneCNC and would rather blow up the mill and electronics into little pieces than give up my beloved OneCNC...No, I dont work for them. I do think that Hu and WMS are gods though...

Thanks a bunch for any help!

Ryan

[snapman]

To simplify my ramblings from above- in the opinions of the CNC Zone experts on this subject- is it worth it for a non-electrical type to go to the trouble of getting this running as is or should I just retrofit a setup like Flashcut or Mach 3?

Thanks again.

[paulC]

Can you provide details of the Alen Bradley units.
It looks like they may be drives. If this is the case you may get away with a parallel interface and a PC being all you need for the conversion.

[snapman]

Thanks for the response!

Yes, here are the details:

there are 4 individual 2KW axis modules, one 1394 Digital servo control (GMC turbo?), and those connect to the Panelview 600 keypad on the front of the box.

THanks again.
Ryan

[snapman]

Oh, and the servos are Reliance Electric electrocraft servo motors and show they have 6lbs of stall torque...

So maybe I can uses the drives and the servos with a PC based software like Mach?

[Al_The_Man]

You have some pretty expensive hardware there, but I believe that the system was probabally run from a PLC although, I don't see one in the Picture.
If PLC driven, it means that it most likely would not have been capable of interpolated motion. I believe the AB drives you have there operate on a Sercos network system for communication.
It was probabally designed to run as a stand alone dedicated function with limited input through the PanelView MMI.
Although beautifull equipment, it would probabally take a great deal of cost and effort to turn in to CNC.
Without more info that would be my take on it.
BTW AB owns Electro-Craft.
Al.

[paulC]

Can you find a part number on the axis modules.
It looks like this has a controller that can be programmed for specific operations. Not exactly what you want to do. This would be proberbly be set to manufacture one part and thats it.
But if we can figure out the inputs to the drives you may be able to get it moving using Mach or the likes, depends on the interface.

Paul

[Al_The_Man]

My manuals don't extend to the 1394 but here is the manual site in PDF
http://literature.rockwellautomation...m000_-en-p.pdf
Al.

[paulC]

Bugger. Al is right.
The 1394 controller does indead use a serial bus and it would proberbly cost a fortune to get things running.
Those big Servos appear to be AC.
So you will have to replace everything electrical.
Paul

[snapman]

Al & Paul,

I can't thank you enough for the help. I think I am going to order the stock motor mounts, pullies, and belts from Intelitek and use my NEMA 23s and flashcut setup. Sounds like a much cheaper and more importantly, a much SAFER alternative than me trying to mess with what is on there now.

Thanks again!

Best,
Ryan

[Ron22]

I just got done doing a conversion using the Allen Bradly 1394 drive set up. Can you find the part number on the servo controller (large on on the right). This is the most critical one. Depending on what you have it may be easy to interface. Like Al_The_Man said it could be for Sercos network or it could be for analog out.

[snapman]

Ron22,

Here are the catalog (part?) numbers as well as the manual number for both the servo control and the servo drive directly next to it. I will go google these but wanted to post before I lost the paper they are written on...

Catalog number for control 1394-SJT05-T
Catalog number for Instruction manual 1394-5.0
Other info: Bulletin 1394 5KW system, single phase, 7.5 amps and I can't read my fathers writing but I think it says IMC-S (5?) Turbo. Also, there are two connectors on that side of the box that say SLC

On the servo drive: 1394-AM03 Series B.

I hope that is what you were wanting to know? If not let me know and I can see if I can locate the info.

Greatly appreciate the assist- if nothing else it will help me to sell it more accurately- I am sure this is good stuff for its intended purpose.

Ryan