Looking for some guidance

[AMathis424]

I'm Austin,

I'm a mechanical engineer and new to this forum, and am in need of some guidance.

I am looking to build a CNC machine (Mill/Router). Normally when designing something I would figure out the specs that I want and design accordingly, BUT I came across some free Kollmorgen servo motors and matching drives (pictures attached).

I would like to use these for something DIY if possible as they are high quality, closed loop(not sure if necessary or useful), and were the right price ????


My thoughts are as follows:

1. CNC wood router 4' x 8' capacity with maybe a rotary axis (this is what I'm leaning towards)
2. CNC mill 2' x 2' or similar
3. CNC plasma cutter 4' x 4' or larger
4. Sell the motors and get some nice steppers
5. Really cool electric merry-go-round ????

I know starting with the motors and working backwards is far from usual, and that these motor are really heavy.

I'm looking for the thoughts of you guys as to what direction I should go with this. I have a shop with a mill, lathe, MIG welder, and plasma torch already, so fabricating parts is no problem.

Here are some more questions I have.

1. Does anyone know how to control these motors with Mach3? They don't really take a step and direction as they are servos, so I assume some sort of PLC between the drives and PC. I have figured out how to make them move from the drive software.
2. Would a rack and pinion drive system be the best bet for the long axis on a router table?


I really appreciate any insight you guys might have as I am woefully ignorant of these things.

Thanks,
Austin!

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[awerby]

Those motors would have plenty of power for any of the machines you list above, with the possible exception of the merry-go-round (depending on how many horses it's got). Servos tend to run best at high speeds, so some kind of reduction would probably be appropriate, especially if you go with rack and pinion drive. Mach3 doesn't support closing the servo loop in software, so LinuxCNC would be a better bet for control software. If you want to be able to mill light metals as well as wood, plastics, etc. make your machine as rigid as possible, using profile rails and trucks rather than the round ones.

[ger21]

1. Does anyone know how to control these motors with Mach3? They don't really take a step and direction as they are servos, so I assume some sort of PLC between the drives and PC. I have figured out how to make them move from the drive software.

Do they accept analog control? There are a few Mach3 controllers that can run analog servos but they aren't cheap. Linux CNC can control analog servos as well.

I don't think there's any other way to get them to work with Mach3 or any other step/dir controls.

Selling them may be the best option, but I don't know what you could get for them.