That is great news!

Sorry for the noob question, already got that great list about the controller brands but I would like to know;

So lets say I want to use these drivers/motors that are on my current CNC and control them with a new controller. What specific hardware/accessories are required when I'm choosing what electronics to buy? For example on CNCdrive their USB and Ethernet controllers have very lengthy pin connectors, and yet my drivers only have 4 wires leaving them to connect to my current controller.

BOB have been mentioned as well, are these extensions of controllers?

Thanks in advance,

Joe P.

To my opinion getting a new BOB and / or Drives should be your last resort because your electronics have plugs instead of single wires and unless you are very familiar with electronics you are asking for a new headache. In addition fitting the new electronics inside the box may be impossible

I would suggest to disconnect all limits / drives except one drive and give it a try. If no success try to see if you get the right volts at the drive and also verify that all DIP switches are set properly. Do you have an English manual with your cnc? If not, perhaps you can Google the part numbers and you might get lucky.

Also noticed that your drives have a blank plug on the Enable terminals of each driver and perhaps this plug is a jumper. Try to remove it and see the results

Hi Nicolas,
the reason the OP is looking to replace the controller/BoB is that the Chinese piece of junk dosen't
work. Trying to get useful support...its not like they're in another country...more like another planet!

Have a look at the pics...any amount enuf room for a different board. If OP were to look at PMDX 414 or416
or if he wants potential expansion the 424...the terminals are all screw type...easy. Either powered by USB
or onboard 230V supply..easy. The controller and Bob are built in...easy. PMDX english speaking backup...best
in the business...easy.

Yes OP will have to rewire a bit, so what, welcome to DIY CNC. May yet be a hurdle or two to manage spindle
speed control depending on control requirements.

Craig

Sorry for late reply guys.

I'm fine with electrical, I'm a young controls engineer here, as long as their is documentation on the PMDX I will be fine.

so the PMDX is the controller and BOB in one?

Thanks,

Joe P.

You are right Craig, there is no support from Chinese products and I would not trust their electronics to control my cnc however last year I did buy from them a water cooled spindle and so far so good. The price difference was so big that I had to take my chance.

Joe P sound capable to do this work and it’s the right way to go. Nonetheless it is a good chunk of work to replace his electronics and he will have lots of config problems to iron out but at the end he will have a reliable system

PMDX also includes the BOB and you are more knowledgeable to advice which one to get because they have quite a few models. Somehow I though Warp9 is more simple?

Hi,
rewiring is not trivial but certainly doable and OP well able to handle it.

The PMDX products have buffered and filtered and/or optoisolated IO, screw terminals and on board supply. All in all PMDX have taken a
great deal of care to design and build devices which are immediately practical and easy to use.

The SmoothSteppers from Warp9 require a BoB. So you have two boards, the motion controller AND a BoB.
The USB connected version can derive power from the PC whereas the Ethernet connected one requires a separate 5V supply. Of course to achieve
galvanaic isolation a separate supply is a must. The BoB of your choice is what determines how the IO is handled which lends flexibility
but still requires another board and a sometimes power supply as well. Both SmoothSteppers have 3 'ports' worth of IO which means room
for considerable expansion. As can be seen the SmothSteppers are not quite as convenient as PMDX boards but are flexible and have room
for expansion.

For OP who is capable of rewiring, providing power supplies and so on then either will work fine. Both companies enjoy industry leading
reputation for backup and support.

Hi,
one thing which I have not really addressed in my recommendations to you regards external controllers to replace the existing one
is spindle speed control.

The real question is what spindle control you actually need. Your pics show a VFD and guess that you have a high speed spindle, maybe
24,000 rpm and 2kW output or thereabouts. Further I assume you will be doing routing with this machine. If you want to do metal milling,
and by metal I mean steel or tougher, then not only does the spindle lack the torque but the machine lacks the rigidity to contain the
cutting forces ie not suitable for it.

When I built my mill, and it is a mill, very small but rigid for metal cutting I bought a high speed spindle, 24,000 rpm 750W which I thought
would be plenty. I have used it extensively for routing, circuit boards in particular, but as a metal cutting spindle it sucks! It just doesn't have
the torque to spin reasonable diameter tools at modest speeds. So for my spindle I find that when I use it I just set it to max rpm and leave it,
after all the ONLY use it gets is routing with micro-endmills or engraving bits. Niether do I require clockwise/counter clockwise direction control,
do you have any LH cutting tools or drills or whatever? All I require is on/off.

I, like many other spent a lot of time shagging around trying to get spindle control just so, accurate speed and direction, accel and deccel etc.
In the event I was wasting my time, with the spindle I have and the work I do with it all I require is On/Off. If I want to spin a particular tool
more slowly I can manually adjust it and 99 times out of 100 leave it like that for the entire job.

My recommendation is, at least to start with, is just on/off control, the PMDX 416 for instance has a relay on board for just this purpose.

I have recently built a spindle for my mill, 3500 rpm, 1.8kW and 6.5Nm, for milling steel. Works a treat but find that I don't actually need much speed
control with it either. Unless I'm putting a large diameter facing tool or flycutter or similar I usually set it at max speed and leave it. Again without having
LH tools or drills not worried about direction control either. This spindle motor is an AC servo so I have quite a rich selection of speed control including
indexing for threading available by virtue of the servo drive but in actual use don't need any of them.

Until you get plenty of hours of actual use under your belt don't go overboard in terms of time of expense with spindle control. You may find as I did that
you don't really need all that refinement or what you really need is something entirely different.

Craig

You all are so helpful! I am considering PMDX at the moment for time saving.

Since this is not a personal project and one that was given to me at work, I really do not know the detailed applications they wish to use it for. They just said they wanted it for engraving on a few jobs. I am going to find out from them what materials they want to engrave and get back to you.

Also, we got an email from the seller of it who says they will be sending a zip file of "things they forgot to send in the shipment." Boss wants to wait and try that before we buy anything else.

Thank you guys again for all the great information, I appreciate it!

Joe P.

Ok, Big update.

We finally got an email from the seller with the manual and all the necessary files. The machine is now moving, however as expected, more problems. For now I'm stuck with this controller until my boss decides to give up on it and make the transition.

Our probe does not work. Manual says "Every time before applying the tool setting gauge, you should first touch the surface of the tool setting gauge through the clamp on the red cable, to check whether the indicator light on the tool setting interface is turned to red."

We plug in the probe, we clamp the bit, and we touch the probe with the bit. No light of any kind on the interface. It seems by the manual that the actual offset number should turn red to indicate.

Pics below. Manual is also in there. Page 2-5 is where I am having trouble.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B6gzpeTme6nONWZIdEhhSndqbUk?usp=sharing

Hi,
on the Input Signals page you have Estop port=1 pin=3 and Probe port=1 pin=4. That doesn't sound right to me.

When you manually trigger either input by taking input voltage high (or low) do the diagnostic LEDs operate? With these port
and pin numbers I suspect not.

Craig