The never-ending saga of the Hurco that's "ready to make parts"

That is helpful. The encoder on the x axis is a replacement unit and is capable of 5v - 24v. The other encoders are original and are labeled as 5v (even though I checked them at 12v).

The replacement one is rated at 1000 PPR but I have no idea what the originals were. Since the replacement one worked fine I figured I'd just go with it.


The replacement one has the following part number 260-N-T-10-S-1000-R-HV-1-S-SF-1-N which can be decoded on this page (http://www.encoder.com/literature/datasheet-260.pdf) - Pay no attention to the shaft size and through hole as I believe I'll be putting it back on a mount like the others.



Since I have 1/4" shafts coming out of the motors, looks like this one is the winner. http://www.automationdirect.com/adc...ft_Line_Driver_(TRDA-2E_Series)/TRDA-2E1000VD

Of course, if I'm way off base I can accept that.
 
Ding, Ding, Ding, I think we have a winner:winner:

You might want to confirm the encoder operating voltage on the machine. Based on the original encoders, I would guess it is 5 volts. You don't want to feed a 5 volt only encoder with 12 volts, it lets the magic smoke out.:))
 
I got the encoder replaced a few weeks ago and now I keep getting servo errors. Quirky thing is it's different every time I fire it up. Sometimes it's the Z, sometimes X and sometimes Y.

Sigh.

I hate to accept defeat but I think the 30 year old electronics are giving up the ghost. Bummer, it cut beautifully when it was working. Oh well, I guess it's time to start researching the upgrade. Once it's done I'll probably kick myself for not doing it sooner.
 
I cannot remember but did you do a visual check of the caps? They dry out over time. Look for stains that the oil leak would of left behind and swollen rubber plugs pushing out the bottoms or tops that are round instead of flat.

As you are chasing ghosts in the machine, bad caps can cause very similar issues, due to varing voltages and power spikes that they were supposed to remove.
 
Sorry to hear of the woes... I did enjoy following this long series and hearing of hopeful success! But I am also in the same boat so maybe I can share somethings I've found out for conversions myself. Wowza... Again, Hope you can make this thing go. Just some comments from my end.
  • Stepper (closed loop micro step or plain ol' open stepper) -vs- closed loop true Servo. Jim has some good notes on some aspects in a recent thread or two. I also posted a few links and vids. Which do you think ya want to go with? There are a lot of YouTube vids on closed stepper setups.
  • Capacitors do go dry! especially the 85'C rated ones. We put in 105 C rated caps in closed case supply situations often. A ESR type meter will very swiftly tell you if good or bad. You can google for alternative ways w/o an ESR meter. There are many! Amazon has a cap checker for $13 also.
  • For a DC supply put the meter on AC and check the readings. Bad supply's can put AC ripple on the DC. You can pick this up with that Oscope as you were thinking about getting one. But the regular ol AC volt meter will pick that up as well. usually set to a millV level and go up from there. I remember that Oscope post of yours. I put a few posts on there too for some import brand digi scopes if I recall? Or the same brand I know of was already posted. for $250 - $400... Very reasonable!
  • On a Servo CNC type conversion I'm sold on the AjaxCNC kits from the Company that does Centroid. you can run w/ Mach3 and/or Centroid. Since I want my Son to also learn Industry based controls, I'm leaning to the Centroid AjaxCNC kit as soon as this week!

I hope you can sort it all out! Keep us posted! Need to get that Mill going! :)
 
I wanted to also put a few dollar metrics to this tale of 'the upgrade patch'.
  • The Servo kit I note below with the Encoders, cables, and DC AIO (All in One) kit is near $4K. I've run this upgrade everywhich way. I cannot get around the cost best deal bundle deal of $4239 and you get the control pendant too. (see link: http://www.ajaxcnc.com/ajax-cnc-centroid-mill-kits/) and that is no motors what's so ever! The kit is well known and I've found their support to be really really good.
  • On the Closed Loop stepper for example: is a mere $1200 and that's motors and all! (http://www.automationtechnologiesin...op-stepper-motors-3-axis-cnc-kit-110vac220vac) (on sale too).... I honestly do not know how the feedback and closed loop on a possible stepper stall works with MAch 3 or 4? Or if there are plug INs? Or do you have a LinuxCNC setup ?

Just a few comments back as I pondered this today myself on the $$ hit that a Servo setup will take.


countryguy said:
Sorry to hear of the woes... I did enjoy following this long series and hearing of hopeful success! But I am also in the same boat so maybe I can share somethings I've found out for conversions myself. Wowza... Again, Hope you can make this thing go. Just some comments from my end.
  • Stepper (closed loop micro step or plain ol' open stepper) -vs- closed loop true Servo. Jim has some good notes on some aspects in a recent thread or two. I also posted a few links and vids. Which do you think ya want to go with? There are a lot of YouTube vids on closed stepper setups.
  • Capacitors do go dry! especially the 85'C rated ones. We put in 105 C rated caps in closed case supply situations often. A ESR type meter will very swiftly tell you if good or bad. You can google for alternative ways w/o an ESR meter. There are many! Amazon has a cap checker for $13 also.
  • For a DC supply put the meter on AC and check the readings. Bad supply's can put AC ripple on the DC. You can pick this up with that Oscope as you were thinking about getting one. But the regular ol AC volt meter will pick that up as well. usually set to a millV level and go up from there. I remember that Oscope post of yours. I put a few posts on there too for some import brand digi scopes if I recall? Or the same brand I know of was already posted. for $250 - $400... Very reasonable!
  • On a Servo CNC type conversion I'm sold on the AjaxCNC kits from the Company that does Centroid. you can run w/ Mach3 and/or Centroid. Since I want my Son to also learn Industry based controls, I'm leaning to the Centroid AjaxCNC kit as soon as this week!

I hope you can sort it all out! Keep us posted! Need to get that Mill going! :)
Click to expand...
 
countryguy said:
........I honestly do not know how the feedback and closed loop on a possible stepper stall works with MAch 3 or 4? Or if there are plug INs? Or do you have a LinuxCNC setup ?
Click to expand...

That is a really good question. I'm going to take a guess here and say that the steps from Mach3/4 are buffered in the motor processor. So it would depend on how big the buffer is. If the stepper really stalled, then it's time to shut down and start over anyway. If it's just a momentary glitch, then maybe the buffer will handle it and Mach3/4 will just be a few steps ahead of the motor(s) but I could see where this might fowl thing up unless the motor speeds up to catch up. The motor may realize that it's behind where it should be and try to compensate, a normal servo system does this.
 
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