Replacing steppers for servos

[TT350]

I have a 14x40 lathe that I’d like to covert to cnc
so I was thing of replacing me steppers on my
Tormach with servos and using the leftovers for
my lathe. Can some on tell me what’s involved
in doing this. Can replace the motors and the drives
and reconfigure Mach 3 or

[Willyb]

Hi TT350

Well other than swapping out the Stepper Drives for Servo units, you would likely need to also install a Belt Drive between your Servo Motors and the Ball Screws? Most of the Servo installations I have seen (non Tormach) are DC Brushed Servos with a Belt Drive reduction. This could depend on the type of Servo Motor you plan to use. The higher end machines that are using Brushless A/C Motors tend to be direct drive. The Power Supply would also likely need replacing to match the voltage of your new Servo Motors? Hope this has been some help.

Willy

[307startup]

There are several companies that offer servo swaps for stepper machines, using servodrivers that accept step/direction commands. SureServo comes to mind. Power supply is going to be different, although you'll probably want to add a new one specifically for the AC servos (SureServo) as you'll still need your old power supply for the other existing components. My thought would be to buy a GREX 101 from Gecko, as you can send step/direction commands to the SureServo drivers from it and also accept inputs from the encoders. Direct drive would be your best bet, but you'll have to put "speed" limits on your servos so you don't get ballscrew whip, as one end of all the ballscrews are floating on the Tormach. Unless you feel like maching some end mounts for your ballscrews and installing them before you do the servo swap. Or...if you are just looking at using the Tormach motors for your lathe, Tormach offers them as machine components for sale separately. Just some FYI.