Bandit CNC Upgrade or repair

[dday92296]

Hi,
I have just bought (six months ago) a XLO milling machine with bandit controller. The controller is broken. The machine has all the servo motors on it and i have a spare set of motors and controller. I would like to switch to windows based controller.

Thanks for any input

J. Sven

[ErnieD]

Check out Artsoft and their Mach 3 software. I think you can download a copy of the manual for free and you will see what it entails to make it work. The software itself is about $160.00. I am not an expert so take this with a grain of salt.

ErnieD

[dday92296]

Thanks ErnieD

I think I need sometype of controller for the drives then the sofware and hopefully can use the exsiting servos or at least the motor mounts.
Still lost on this issue also how come this does not appear on todays posts
am I asking in the right place this is my first post

Thanks
j. sven

[dday92296]

Is ther anyone out-there that can help
Thanks J. Sven

[HuFlungDung]

Have you searched cnczone with 'bandit' in the search query? There's lot of hits, and it comes to my mind that Chris64 is the current 'bandit abortionist' and he might have some tips on what needs doing, when he gets his retrofit done.

[ErnieD]

Hi,

Again I must say that I know very little about the subject. Does your machine have a the bandit control and an electrical panel? If so, in the electrical panel there should be drivers for each axis that was controled. If you find these drivers then you will probably need a break out board, a computer and the Mach 3 software. Down load the Mach 3 manual ( it is free ) and you will find an entire chapter on how to hook every thing up. Take all this with a grain of salt but get the manual and start there.

Good luck,

ErnieD

[123CNC]

I think dday92296 has the best plan in mind, forget about the controller/drives side of the bandit. If your steppers/servos (Bandits were buitl both ways) are in good shape and salvageable you will be in good shape. If steppers you will probably be in better shape, like will be usable with a multitide of available drives. If servos, its probable it has an anlalog resolver, which will require some surgery to update to rotary quadrature encoders. You might luck out if your spares or you find suitable servos with premounted encoders that will be suitable to your mount, power/torque requirements, and controller (whichever you decide) encoder requirements.

You should be able to salvage the DC power supply out of the Bandit(s) as well.

Enjoy the zone, read, read, and if you have more time read. Two popular hobby/DIY paths are MACH3 and EMC2. Again, read, read, and read. Of course questions here help too. Oh, and aside from reading have fun.

[ErnieD]

J. Sven,

Use the search button and type in,replace bandit control, and you will find a discussion about replacing the bandit control on a Wells Index mill which is similar to a XLO. You might get some insight as what to do or correspond with the guy who did the retrofit.

ErnieD

[dday92296]

Thanks for your input guys. I am just learning the ways of the site as well as CNC of the present. I will try the search "DUH" never crossed my mind.
Thanks again
j. sven

[DennisCNC]

sven,

Is this what your motors look like:?
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/8751/dcservo2mb4.jpg

If so, they are 110volt dc motors. You can see my thread here about the Bridgeport mill i'm retrofitting little by little. I'm using Viper servo drives from Larken:
http://www.larkencnc.com/viper/index.shtml
BP BTC II Retro

You can also use Gecko 320 servo drives they are less money:
http://geckodrive.com/product.cfm?pid=13

and for a break out board you can use one of these:
http://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/inde...aec19fcf8f5f3e

this board gives a easy way to connect the drives and other inputs/outputs to the PC parallel port when using Mach3 cnc. And if you read some were that the parallel port is getting obsolete for cnc just forget that! it is a great way to start with cnc machinery I have been running a bridgeport mill and router through the Pport for two years and no mistakes or downtime from the machine controller side.

[dday92296]

Dennis Thank you for your response, The motors look like that except they have male plug conn. on them. they are balcor servo motors.

What is the chain of componants and software in an upgrade I have been trying to do my homework but still confused. I know we start with a computer and end at the sevo motors. I am not sure what is in the middle or in what order. Is there a book or web site that could give me insight

Thanks j. sven

[DennisCNC]

Not sure if there a book or site I did it the hard way...reading a lot!

Here is the list in order:

1. PC--Min. 1.5Ghz 256ram, Video card PCI or AGP no onboard video
(i have AMD chips in my pc's)
2. Software...Mach3 cnc
3. Breakout board the link above^
4. Servo drives the links above^
5. Your motors and encoder connect to the servo drives
6. I think the old power supply from the Bandit will work for the motors
7. Connect it all the start cutting

First make sure that lube is getting every were it needs to go on the mill ie.. screws, bearings, ways, spindle...
Because when you get it running will forget about it.

I think you should start with the Gecko drives as they are easier to setup, they will not give you full rapid speed but it will be plenty for the beginning. Then latter if you need more speed you can get other more expensive drives and sell the geckos for almost the same money you paid for them. All gecko products have very high resale value. Or you can just get the Viper drives right away.
So just decide what you want to spend and buy three drives and a breakout board and thats pretty much it for you to get started. Then if you need spindle speed control you can get a VFD and so on...

You mentioned you had a extra set of motor, you can get some very good money on ebay for them, they might even pay for three new viper drives. Also you can sell the old control for a good amount!

That is how I funded a few projects, sold the old brain on ebay and bought all new stuff.