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

[JimDawson]

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]

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

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

 

[JimDawson]

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]

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

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]

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]

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]

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.