HI MACH team;

I would like to swith from home written controller (SW) to mach. Machine is AC SERVO driven with encoders (see photo)
Drivers are analog, all from INDRAMAT. System work in closed loop, all works very good but does not satisfy my milling needs!
I would like to change only the interface from MACH (PWM and direction) to analog (+/- 10 V) input to drivers. Since I a not sure o that help me with some tips how to appoach the project, what to buy...
THX and rgs from Slovenia, EU

http://picasaweb.google.com/bostjan681/AlbumBrezNaslova

You will need to swap more than just the signal to the drives, things like limits etc must also be connected. The problem you have is the analogue input as Mach only puts out Step and direction signals for axis control. There are several products you can use but dont have any experience of any of them.
 Rutex do a converter  www.rutex.com
 Dynomotion do an interface called KMotion  www.dynomotion.com
 Galil DMC have a plugin for Mach  www.galil.com
DSPMC/IP Motion Controller has a plugin www.vitalsystem.com/

Also the top board from Tek10 drives may do what you want, I half tested it and it seemed to work but got different drives that accepted Step/Dir before I could test properly on a motor through Mach. www.cncteknix.com

Hood

I started using DSPmc as Pixie is no more in production and Rutex was not able to ship in one month delivery time as I needed.

In startup we needed to tweak many details with Vital Systems but the support was good. Now we have done hundreds of hours working without any problems.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36wVkDoE9AQ

Br. Arto

Nice vid and good to see a machine that is using the DSPmc

Hood

Thanks!
Starting with DSPmc took some effort as the firmware was not complete but it has now all I need with this laser application. Naturally there are new needs in future..
We're planning EU type breakout boards too as most peripherals here need source type outputs and positive high inputs (valve blocks, inductive switches etc.).

After those are ready, I'm going to keep a small stock here.

Looks like it might be a nice option for guys with analogue drives. Keep us informed how things go.
Hood

Looks promising AlfaAlfa,

please keep us informed regrding progress;
I still have not decided what to do! So, those plugins from Vital do not work properly and you need to do some modifications or where those mod. based on your servo drives?

Regards

Hi Bostjan,

Both plugin and DSPmc firmware was adjusted during our run-up. Our problems were mainly speed and  dynamic behaviour related issues. If I used it with mill I never found those problems.

Servo control itself did not need anything special. Speed loop PID setting was done normally in servo driver and the position loop PID setting in DSPmc. The setup program is also much more easier to use now.

BR. Arto