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Using Different Servo Drive Brand
- Thread starter luthau
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- Thread starter
- #3
OK.
It can be done but it's pretty dang risky. It is NOT a straight swap. The stumbling points are that the CNC controlling computer or PLC (master) will be very tightly bound to the drive. This means any tiny issue will usually be detected by the master control system and flagged as a fault bringing the whole machine to a stop. If you're talking spindle and all the machine does is spin it you can have the best success. If the machine synchronizes to the spindle because it does tapping and similar functions then it gets very hard again.
If you're talking an axis then there are always signals that must be present and generated as expected by the master control system. There can be signals like "Lock" which confirms the drive is on target or within a few pulses of the target. The master will be watching for this signal and will fault if it's missing or not correct.
If you want any chance of this 'substitution' to work it will require you to understand every single signal that is passed between the master and servo drive. Only then will you be able to assess if the alternative drive can provide that signal as needed or that you may be able to jumper that signal with a fixed value that will successfully spoof the master control.
You will likely need the service manuals for the machine and they need to be functionally useful not like some of the crap manuals that look like someone shoved all the notes into binder and tidied it up.
Keith Cress
kcress -
It can be done but it's pretty dang risky. It is NOT a straight swap. The stumbling points are that the CNC controlling computer or PLC (master) will be very tightly bound to the drive. This means any tiny issue will usually be detected by the master control system and flagged as a fault bringing the whole machine to a stop. If you're talking spindle and all the machine does is spin it you can have the best success. If the machine synchronizes to the spindle because it does tapping and similar functions then it gets very hard again.
If you're talking an axis then there are always signals that must be present and generated as expected by the master control system. There can be signals like "Lock" which confirms the drive is on target or within a few pulses of the target. The master will be watching for this signal and will fault if it's missing or not correct.
If you want any chance of this 'substitution' to work it will require you to understand every single signal that is passed between the master and servo drive. Only then will you be able to assess if the alternative drive can provide that signal as needed or that you may be able to jumper that signal with a fixed value that will successfully spoof the master control.
You will likely need the service manuals for the machine and they need to be functionally useful not like some of the crap manuals that look like someone shoved all the notes into binder and tidied it up.
Keith Cress
kcress -
Unless you intimately know the system, swapping servos could potentially damage your system. "Servo" implies some form of control loop, and the loop needs to be "tuned" so that the various loop control coefficients are correctly set. This requires intimate knowledge of what the target servo is supposed to do. There are automated Servo Tune programs that can automate the process, but you still have to know something about what the system is allowed to do, which might be substantially less than what a blind program might set the system to.
Let's say you replace the servo with something that can go 10 times faster. That could be really bad for tool wear, accuracy, etc.
TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list
Let's say you replace the servo with something that can go 10 times faster. That could be really bad for tool wear, accuracy, etc.
TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list
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