# Need help !!  I want to convert Anilam Crusader M to Linux CNC



## Harry The Big Dog (Nov 28, 2014)

I Need help converting my 1989 bridgeport with a Anilam Crusader M 3 axis control to Linux CNC.  I hired a guy 2 years ago to perform this retrofit. After a lot of money shelled out, I have  nothing to show for it other than a dead machine and a box of electronic parts. The guy is no where to be found. In the box is a MESA 7I76 and a 6I25 , small power supply, The mini itx I paid for is missing(have empty bag),  Vfd is missing (have empty bag) , Ribbon connectors and a few stands. I am a machinist not an electronics guy.  Any body help me ??My son and I have played with machine since 1996 when I acquired it.


----------



## JimDawson (Nov 28, 2014)

Let's start by figuring out with motors you have on the axis drives.  This is important, in that Mesa board is a stepper motor controller.  As far as I can tell, it will not run an analog drive, like a DC servo motor drive.  With the Anilam Crusader M controller, I suspect you have DC servo motors, probably Baldor.


Do your motors look like mine?



And does the inside of the panel look kind of like this?


----------



## Harry The Big Dog (Nov 29, 2014)

Thanks for getting back to me.The drives are SEM type MT 30M4-59 DC servos.. Looks like the inside of my cabinet.


----------



## JimDawson (Nov 29, 2014)

Well, there is a bit of a problem here, The Mesa board won't run the DC drives.

There are a couple of ways around this; Install stepper motors and drives, or use a motion controller that will output an analog signal to the drives.

I would say that just about any ITX would run the system, I'll look up the part number of the last one I used.

Take a quick read through what I did
http://www.dawsoncontrols.com/millupgrade.html


----------



## sdmuleman (Nov 29, 2014)

It's similar than you think. I did 3 BP Boss mills with Mach3 and it's conceptually quite simple even without much electronics knowledge. Big thing is all the little details, and being careful with the wires and static sensitive stuff. 

Fundamentally what you need is a motor controller for each axis (mine is steppers, so a Gecko drive or similar) with a power supply either for each axis or one common on, (may or may not be able to reuse the original supply) and then a system to interface the motor controllers with the PC. (break out board (BOB) or motion controller) If you break it down and look at it systematically it's not near as daunting. 

I'd also suggest checking out the cnczone forums, they have lots of good info on cnc conversions.


----------



## JimDawson (Nov 29, 2014)

sdmuleman said:


> ....Fundamentally what you need is a motor controller for each axis (*mine is steppers*, so a Gecko drive or similar)......




And therein lies the problem with this conversion.  This mill has DC servos, with Fenner drives, so unfortunately a Gecko stepper drive won't work.  The drives and the power supply already exists in this system.  The controller is the issue here, and the Mesa controller won't talk to the drives.  These drives need a +/- 10 VDC signal to tell them what to do.  A K-Flop with the analog daughter board might work.  There are other options also.


----------



## dracozny (Nov 29, 2014)

if you need analog control you need to use the 7i77, it supports up to 6 axis. 
On my build I am using AMC Analog PWM Brushless drives witha Mesa 6i25-7i77 combo.


----------



## DMS (Nov 30, 2014)

Another option would be the Geckon 320x (the servo driver), and a mesa 7i76. This is what I am running. More cost up front for the extra electroncs. You would also need to be sure that the encoders are compatible with the 7i76. That is assuming there are encoders on the motors, rather than resolvers or something else.

If you can get the existing electronics working with a 7i77, than that will likely be the best performance and lowest price for you, I am just throwing out some backup options.

I just looked at the 7I77 again, and it does look like a nice fit for your. It seems like you should be able to do spindle control with one of the analog outputs as well.


----------



## Harry The Big Dog (Dec 7, 2014)

JimDawson said:


> Well, there is a bit of a problem here, The Mesa board won't run the DC drives.
> 
> There are a couple of ways around this; Install stepper motors and drives, or use a motion controller that will output an analog signal to the drives.
> 
> ...



Thanks Jim, So you think I can use the Mesa boards I have If I buy  Geckon 320x drives ?  I assume  I would need 3 of them ,1 for each axis.All this would work with my analog drives and glass scales ?.  My Anilam power supply is dead. What size Atx power supply would be correct for this application?  Any idea what size ITX would work best with my system ? Sorry for all the questions.    Harry


----------



## Harry The Big Dog (Dec 7, 2014)

DMS said:


> Another option would be the Geckon 320x (the servo driver), and a mesa 7i76. This is what I am running. More cost up front for the extra electroncs. You would also need to be sure that the encoders are compatible with the 7i76. That is assuming there are encoders on the motors, rather than resolvers or something else.
> 
> If you can get the existing electronics working with a 7i77, than that will likely be the best performance and lowest price for you, I am just throwing out some backup options.
> 
> I just looked at the 7I77 again, and it does look like a nice fit for your. It seems like you should be able to do spindle control with one of the analog outputs as well.




The servos have tachs on them.  Thanks  Harry


----------



## JimDawson (Dec 7, 2014)

Let's start out with the Anilam power supply.  Is this the computer supply that is dead?  Maybe the 5V supply?  I powered mine up for a while with a 300 watt ATX supply.  That is the computer supply over on the bottom left of my panel (that's falling off the wall, I should have used Gorilla tape), with the big ball of red and black wires wire-nutted together.  I just fed this to the original computer supply 5 V terminals.  It got me back up and running until the encoders went south.

Your original servo drives probably are OK.  Is the 100 volt servo power supply still working?

Just a note, the encoders are inside the belt housings, driven by a small, really oddball, timing belt driven off of the lead screw.  I don't remember what the PPR is on them.  The tachs on the motor are feedback to the drives so they can figure out how fast the motor is turning, and have nothing to do with positioning.

The 7i77 Mesa card will run your existing drives.  They take a +/- 10 volt command signal.  If you have glass scales, you may be able to feed that directly to the 7i77 card for positioning, assuming they have a standard 5 volt quadrature output.


EDIT:  I don't know what your budget is, but if you want to set up exactly like mine, I'll give you the software.


----------



## countryguy (Dec 18, 2014)

*Mag Scale DRO?  !!  I want to convert Anilam Crusader M to Linux CNC*

Good Morning Jim,  quick item.  On your page for millupgrade, the Mag scales link is broke, but I did find them here: http://www.renishaw.com/en/lm10-linear-magnetic-encoder-system--9226    eBay has them pretty cheap as well.     Since the 30taper Mill I purchased did not have a DRO, when I do elect to put one in, could you offer how your output from the magnetic scale system connects to a DRO device to display the 3 axis outputs? 


Seems 



JimDawson said:


> Well, there is a bit of a problem here, The Mesa board won't run the DC drives.
> 
> There are a couple of ways around this; Install stepper motors and drives, or use a motion controller that will output an analog signal to the drives.
> 
> ...


----------



## JimDawson (Dec 18, 2014)

Thank you for the heads up on the broken link on my site.  Looks like Renishaw updated their site.  I got my mag readers and tape on ebay also.  I think the readers were about $80 or so.

The mag readers output a differential quadrature signal, which is the same signal that most glass scales, and encoders output.  This is pretty much an industry standard output.  The output is: A, -A, B, -B and looks like the diagram below when viewed on a scope.


----------



## countryguy (Dec 18, 2014)

Thanks Jim, so then you simple make up cables and send that into a DRO device that is expecting the diff quad signal? 




JimDawson said:


> Thank you for the heads up on the broken link on my site.  Looks like Renishaw updated their site.  I got my mag readers and tape on ebay also.  I think the readers were about $80 or so.
> 
> The mag readers output a differential quadrature signal, which is the same signal that most glass scales, and encoders output.  This is pretty much an industry standard output.  The output is: A, -A, B, -B and looks like the diagram below when viewed on a scope.


----------



## JimDawson (Dec 18, 2014)

countryguy said:


> Thanks Jim, so then you simple make up cables and send that into a DRO device that is expecting the diff quad signal?



That's all there is to it. One other thing is that you need to be able to scale the output of the mag scale in the DRO.  The ones I am using are 25,400 pulses per inch (1 micron, 1 million pulses per meter, 1000 pulses/ mm), I have also seen 10 micron mag readers on ebay.  You would need to make sure the DRO will allow you to adjust the scaling.  These are pretty standard output values for any scale.


----------



## Harry The Big Dog (Dec 25, 2014)

Merry Christmas and Happy holidays to all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  Would anybody have a schematic for a 3 axis Anilam Crusader M ? I am not sure if my power suppy is dead or a relay died.  When I turn power on the only thing with power is computer fan . Anybody see this before ?
  Thanks  Harry
bigdog440@hotmail.comanic:


----------



## JimDawson (Dec 25, 2014)

Yup, same thing happened to mine, it was the 5V supply.  I looked through my archives and don't have a picture of the terminal strip.

As crazy as this is about to sound, take the screws out of the hinged cover of the power supply and open it up flat.  Leave it set that way for about 5 minutes, then turn on the power.  It may work.

You can check the power supply at the terminals on the right hand side, top of the computer rack on the door.  I replaced my supply with a 300 watt ATX supply.


----------

