Step/Direction pins should be Step FWD and Step BACK

Hello to all and thanks for the help (in advance),

I am retrofitting an EMCO Compact 6 lathe. Also will be retrofitting an EMCO Turn 120P. Both currently have the original 5-phase stepper motors. I found some very nice amplifiers, but the problem is that they need some odd controlls. They do not take the normal step / direction signals. The amplifier asks for two inputs... 1) step forward 2) step reverse. I know this is also the scenario for some Super Vexta drives. I have been treating this drive as if it were a UDX5128 Super Vexta drive. The connections are near exactly the same. My problem is that my drive does not have a switch setting to convert it to step direction from 2-pulse system.

Does Mach3 have a configuration setting to allow it to control the step-FWD and step-REV drive logic as I have?

Does anyone have a "good" suggestion for how I can resolve the problem.?

My amplifier is a PACK DRIVER AK-BX550P. I know some other people have had some problems using the "PACK DRIVER" products from ASAHI Engineering (Japan), but I got mine to work fine (so long as they take the intended command signals).

Thank You,

Ray Scott

I have heard of this Drive system before, unfortunately i do not know any controller software that supports this directly.
I could think of two ways to accomplish this tho.
1) Earlier releases of Turbocnc support a Phase drive system a modefication of this should be relative easy because the source code for this is included with the purchase of this Software.
2) Design of a electronic gadet to convert the step and direction signal to a Left and right Pin output depending on the current setting of the direction Pin.
I am not a electronics guy but for some of the wizards here this should be rather easy to rig up with some logic gates.
Maybe there is a product for this allready out there?
Good Luck

Here is about the simplest circuit that will do the job...

Its the lower diagram, the upper one goes from step up/down to step/dir.

These assume logic levels, e.g. off the parallel port or a non-opto BOB. If your inputs/outputs are opto-isolated you'll need something different. Let me know if so...

Hello to all,

I made my own solution to the problem. I used ONE chip for the board. I designed a circuit board.. prototyped the PCB. Installed it onto my machine. I am now using a PACK Driver AK-BX550P (5 Phase stepper motor driver) to control my EMCO Turn120 p and Compact 6 lathes. The setup requires one interpreter board for each amplifier that is used. The amplifier acts the same as the Super Vexta 5128 amplifier. I send the new board a Step and Direction signal.. and then it sends the proper Reverse and Forward pulses. I chose the chip based on the single chip design, pin arrangement, and the inherent ability to be high or low acting logic level.

I did my best to document the entire process of making the circuit board. One odd thing is that I didn't like the circuit prototyping methods I used before.. So .. I used my laser engraver to engrave the copper board (removed the unwanted masking). It worked better than my previous methods of photo etching.. It was much faster and had more accurate results. I still used the Ferric Chloride to dissolve the copper. I have placed the design files and pictures into the following directory. Free for anyone to use them.

http://www.scottware.net\workarea\cu...jects\StepDir\

The design needs: NTE4099B (16 pin DIP IC), (4) 100K ohn resistors, (1) 10k ohm resistor, (3) LEDs, (1) 0.1uf Capacitor, (1) 100uf Capacitor.

The only REQUIRED parts are the IC, 0.1uf capacitor, and two 100k resistors. The other resistors and LEDs are to show power and indicate the pulse commands. The extra capacitor is just for better power stabilization.

The schematic is a hand schetch, but works fine for me. I scanned into my computer as a PDF. I will add more pictures later.. Anyone is welcome to email me for the results or help to getting their drive working.

If you don't have the 4099B IC, then I also have schematics for how to use the 74LS259 or 74LS153 IC.

Thank You all for the help.

emc2's stepgen does this

http://linuxcnc.org/docs/2.3/html/ma...stepgen.9.html

type 1: up/down

sam

I am NOT a LINUX man. Most people aren't for linux either. I am using MACH3 and already own a license for it.. and many other people are using MACH3. I emailed with Art Flenerty and Mach does not currently support Reverse/Forward pulse commands. It is an old technology ( my stepper motors and amplifiers are OLD). I needed a way to enable MACH3 to use the amplifiers that I already own.

My Lathe now supports an automatic turret tool with 8 locations, Analog continuous speeds on spindle, 5 phase stepper motors, MPG on the hand pendant, index pulse on the spindle for threading, coolant pump, multiple buttons, air blasts... and whatever macros I can program.

I have two of these lathes. I will get this one done and I will start rebuilding the second lathe. The Compact 6 will go for sale when the Turn120 is finished.

Ray Scott

I am sorry. I was reading through this thread and noticed someone mentioning turbocnc. I didn't notice that this thread was in the mach forum.

Sam

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rayscott

I am NOT a LINUX man. Most people aren't for linux either. I am using MACH3 and already own a license for it.. and many other people are using MACH3. I emailed with Art Flenerty and Mach does not currently support Reverse/Forward pulse commands. It is an old technology ( my stepper motors and amplifiers are OLD). I needed a way to enable MACH3 to use the amplifiers that I already own.

My Lathe now supports an automatic turret tool with 8 locations, Analog continuous speeds on spindle, 5 phase stepper motors, MPG on the hand pendant, index pulse on the spindle for threading, coolant pump, multiple buttons, air blasts... and whatever macros I can program.

I have two of these lathes. I will get this one done and I will start rebuilding the second lathe. The Compact 6 will go for sale when the Turn120 is finished.

Ray Scott

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