On Wed, 8 Jun 2011, Evan Foss wrote: > Date: Wed, 8 Jun 2011 09:07:48 -0500 > From: Evan Foss <[email protected]> > Reply-To: "Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC)" > <[email protected]> > To: "Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC)" <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Emc-users] EMCO PC MILL 50 > > Yea I remember that thread. The end result is that the architecture of > the EMCO PC Mill 50 is fundamentally incompatible with the > architecture of EMC. EMC needs to be in direct control of the motors > and etc. The EMCO has electronics inside it that already implement all > that with closed loop control, you just pass it commands via RS-485. > So, to plug it into EMC you would have to strip out ether a lot of > EMC's code or a lot of the EMCO hardware. Removing the EMCO hardware > is a fast solution but a bad one as their control systems are better > than what you can do with EMC IMHO. Rewriting EMC will be more > involved and the protocol for the EMCO mills commands is proprietary > so some one would have to find a legal way to reverse engineer it.
AFAICT the EMCO 50 is not closed loop but just a standard step motor mill. Its a little strange in that it uses 3 phase step motors, but it does look like the drives take standard step+dir signals (though differential). This means that if you wished you could retain the drives and it should be fairly easy to retrofit to a more modern and reliable control system. Its also possible to ditch the three phase step drives and motors and replace them with more modern microstepping drives for better performance. (the rapids are a dismal 30 ipm with the original 24V drives) > > On Tue, Jun 7, 2011 at 12:33 PM, Randy Petersen > <[email protected]> wrote: >> I found this message: >> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg19677.html >> and am very interested on what happened. >> >> I am in a similar predicament, I purchased a EMCO PC MILL 50 without the >> EMCO proprietary RS485 board and would love to get this thing working. I am >> trying to locate a used board or somehow circumvent that requirement. I have >> a standard RS485 board. >> >> Is there a way to search this message list? >> >> If anyone figured out a way to get this mill going without the proprietary >> RS485 board, or changing out the controller board and motors, then I would >> LOVE to hear it! Also, I would love to help if there are some people with >> the same situation. >> >> Thanks! >> RandEE >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> EditLive Enterprise is the world's most technically advanced content >> authoring tool. Experience the power of Track Changes, Inline Image >> Editing and ensure content is compliant with Accessibility Checking. >> http://p.sf.net/sfu/ephox-dev2dev >> _______________________________________________ >> Emc-users mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users >> > > > > -- > http://evanfoss.googlepages.com/ > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > EditLive Enterprise is the world's most technically advanced content > authoring tool. Experience the power of Track Changes, Inline Image > Editing and ensure content is compliant with Accessibility Checking. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/ephox-dev2dev > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > Peter Wallace Mesa Electronics (\__/) (='.'=) This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your (")_(") signature to help him gain world domination. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ EditLive Enterprise is the world's most technically advanced content authoring tool. Experience the power of Track Changes, Inline Image Editing and ensure content is compliant with Accessibility Checking. http://p.sf.net/sfu/ephox-dev2dev _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
