Old RS 232 CNC controller, Centroid. Can it be converted to Mach 3?

I remember the name, cardinal engineering, from the very early days of PC CNC controls. My quick web search only got one hit
http://neme-s.org/CNC_Workshop/CNC_Workshop_1.htm

Try to contact them. But my best guess is they went out of business.

The early stuff did not work well by today's standards.
 
In my searching it seems like Cardinal is still around but doing different things like selling abrasive discs. Used same logo and name.

I agree the old stuff is not as good. But thought there must be a controller for the stepper or servo in the box and if I could use a parallel port breakout board to connect it I might be able to do it.
 
All the old stuff used the same idea, send full steps to a step motor driver. It was slow a quirky by today's standards. At the time, mach 3 took over this market and pretty much killed everything else. Have not looked on a LONG time, but I think you can still get Mach 3 for free or nearly so.
 
I'm familiar with Mach 3, I own it and have 2 CNC machines with retrofits so know that side of it. Question is what is in the Centroid box. Should there be 3 drivers?

It might be worth it just for the motors and mounting to the Bridgeport and for power feeds. Don't need to CNC the Bridgeport, just wondering.
 
Thanks for the quick help Karl_T. Going to look at it this morning.

I'll bring along a screwdriver and see if he will let me have a look before buying..
 
my best guess is it will have drivers for those itsy bitsy steppers sitting on top the control box.

My two cents, it would only be worth 1/2 the asking price. You are still buying a pig 'n' poke.
 
I bought it. It was a quality piece of equipment. Bolted on to my Bridgeport X and Y. Z takes more work to setup. Works as it should for jogging and I think ok just for that because I didn't have power feed.

I'll pull it open sometime and see what is there for possible transition to parallel port or USB mach 3 or 4.
 
You may want to consult Jim Dawson. He's offered to help many of us upgrade our old CNC set ups to a modern one. Start with a Galil motion controller, add Jim's software and away you go! Of course, probably not quite that easy. My BP has a circa 1985 Anilam Crusader II controller which is fine for simple jobs, which is all I can handle anyhow with conversational-only programming and 2-axis control. Jim told me he helped someone convert their old Anilam to a Galil-controlled machine over the phone.

My plan is to add the Z-axis (Jim has a nice thread detailing how he did it on his mill) for starters. Then if I'm understanding things correctly, add a couple more controls to switch on the air for a mist cooler and power to the mill. That way I can start a job, have the air and motor kick on under program control, then walk away as the mill does its thing. Putter on another project and when things get quiet, go back to the mill.

The Galil 4, 6, 8 axis controls are plentiful on eBay for under $500. I don't know too many details after that point as I haven't gotten to the point where I call Jim and tie him up on the phone with questions for many hours (LOL)!

Bruce
 
I gutted out an old Randtronix control on my KMB1. For motion control all I saved was the motors and the VFD. I could have saved one of the encoders, but the other two fell apart when touched.
 
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