Developing Retrofit Plan for Mori Seiki SL2

I sell Mesa boards and although they are very good, nothing can overlap a good assistance. Since you talked with Jon from Pico systems and he is being helpfull, my recommendation is to stick with Pico hardware, especially if you are not totally friendly with the electronics involved (note that I do not sell Pico hardware).
I would also stick with the DC motors IF you open them and check the bushings - if they are like the rest of the machine (it looks new) then they are the best solution (no couplings are needed, no adaptions ...). They were installed on that machine and were running on it. You will have a solid machine even without changing them for AC motors - by the way those old DC motors are normally better build than all new china stuff ...

I'll throw this out.... If you bought this machine to make money, the longer it
sits the less you are making. In the end you have to replace the spindle drive. The drive used is prob about $1500, you bolt it in, level it up and start making $$$. Alternatively , you can a buy a new vfd and motor, you will spend at least $1500. Interfacing a new vfd with the 6t should be relatively easy. It uses 3 or 4 signals. You will have a bunch of fabbing to do. You make some $$ and plan your lcnc retrofit . If you go original drive,You can always sell the dc drive to some one else later on. You make money with old machines because they cost nothing to own, retofitting to an ac motor really won't get you anything, it won't be faster or more accurate, same for changing the drives. I love old machines, but sadly there is nothing you can do to them to make them competitive with new ones. Even if you put red cap ac servos and drives, compared to a new Mazak, it's slow.....


If you take the whole machine apart, you will be starting from scratch and chances are it will be months before you cut a chip. Keep the Fanuc drives, run an analog voltage back from your hardware to simulate the tach. The black cap drives are scr and do not have a Dc supply, if you switch them to Amc( which are great), you will need a supply. In addition, you will have all the machine logic to write and you still have the spindle drive issue to deal with.


I have no great love of Fanuc and the lcnc is an incredible tool. The folks that make the interface hardware are awesome. Seeing this solely from a business point of view, it makes sense to get it running and profitable. If you bought it as a project, by all means go for it. As Forrest Gump one said, that's all I have to say about that....

Dang so many options. If I could get an AC motor installed and run it with a Vfd and still use the Fanuc I'd have to consider it. At least for the time being while I can sort through planning a full retrofit and sourcing all the parts. I've installed a Vfd on my milling machine but how do I learn how to get it to communicate with the Fanuc controller? I'll look more into it. If anyone has some insight I would appreciate it. I already have a 10 hp 3 phase motor I could use so would just need a Vfd which aren't too expensive.