Re-Retrofit Fadal VMC20 from Numatix to LinuxCNC 7i77D/5i25???

Hello, I am new here but I have been reading and tinkering with LinuxCNC for a short while.

I have a very nice Fadal VMC20 that came from a school and barely has a scratch on the paint. It seems to be of very low use, perhaps because of the problematic retrofit that it already has on it. It has a Numatix control.

Needless to say it is time to look into a cost effective alternative to what is on the machine. The current motion control is a Delta Tau PMAC PC with Windoze 98 as the OS.

The mill did not have a spindle drive when I got it, so I had a Yaskawa V1000 20hp I installed and got to work sort of alright to do a tool change.

It has 3 axis amps that are analog Glentek AMP 0008 if memory serves me.

I am looking for a recommendation on the Mesa pieces I will need to do the conversion, the resolvers have already been changed to encoders on the original DC motors. (7i77d/5i25)?

I also want to retain use of the umbrella tool changer, do I need more than the Mesa for this?

I currently develop and manufacture common rail Diesel testing equipment, so I am acquainted with controls, programming and wiring.

Any help is greatly appreciated, Thanks!

msrdiesel wrote: I have a very nice Fadal VMC20

I have to agree, very nice indeed.

msrdiesel wrote: The current motion control is a Delta Tau PMAC PC with Windoze 98 as the OS.

I would have yanked that out long ago, have to many "windoze" traumas for about 4 life times.

msrdiesel wrote: I am looking for a recommendation on the Mesa pieces I will need to do the conversion, the resolvers have already been changed to encoders on the original DC motors. (7i77d/5i25)?

I stick to 5i25 or 6i25 or 7i92 and a 7i77 then add 7i84 for more IO, or 7i74 and 7i70 and 7i71 for even more IO when required.

msrdiesel wrote: I also want to retain use of the umbrella tool changer, do I need more than the Mesa for this?

We would need more info on this and more pictures, but most similar machines have a separate board for controlling the tool changer, so it should not be hard to figure out.

msrdiesel wrote: I currently develop and manufacture common rail Diesel testing equipment, so I am acquainted with controls, programming and wiring.

Nice, thought of doing the same thing here, but the sales forecast would be about 1 to 10 of them sold per year, soooo ....

Thank you for the response, I am considering this: Product Code: 7I77D-5I25 PNG KIT, looking for a reality check before I pull the trigger since I know nothing...Really (yet)

You should check the signalling before ordering that, like sourcing or sinking inputs and outputs.

So to show I am not wasting anyone's time, this is the state of the machine today. I am seriously going to follow through with this.

According to the Delta Tau jumpers, it was all setup to sink the IO's .

What should I keep? I would like to keep the panel but it uses a Vectra Systems converter to dual PS2, back to dual USB, for all the axis buttons (dual DB9 connectors at the panel). The keyboard and the mouse all tie into it. Its like a triple 'Y' arrangement. The other panel buttons are a ribbon cable, may be easy enough to just pull something low with a button press? Like the coolant, not sure how the spindle speed change output works, resistor?

I have 3 IO boards with ribbon cables, that I would think I can reuse.

*MESA has I/O cards that connect directedly to opto22 cards. Check with mesa for part number. It looks like you are going to put those opto22 cards back into the panel and rewire them as before (hopefully you have the wiring diagram).
*Linuxcnc does have USB driver for pendants and like.
*For the hard-wired panel, you might need a mesa 7i73 i/o module, it can connect to 4 MPG's and 8x8 keypad.