Suggestions for driver for use with Servos and Closed loop steppers

Hello,

I am panning to start my first cnc project but have some questions about what driver board to choose. My goal is to use a Taig cnc ready lathe as the frame, replace the main motor with a DMM-Tech servo motor (so I could position it at specific angles for radial drilling holes and such) and use a closed loop servo motors and driver kit for the x and z. I would like to be able to add 2 more steppers for things like part changers and tool changers in the future.

I was looking at the mesa 7i95 but it appears to be out of stock and I'm not sure if I could access all of the functions of the servo motor. If I am reading this correctly manual for the servo correctly says that in positioning mode requires pulse dir and torque mode requires +-10v. So would that mean that I would need a drive that could do both on one connector if I wanted to use both modes?

The computer I plan to use has both ethernet and free pcie slots. It does not have a parallel port however.

I would like to use homing switches on my machine if possible. While I have not worked with a cnc before, I have worked with 3d printers.

In case my post is hard to read, I'll try to summarize it a bit better.
A board that can control DMM-Tech's DYN4 servo and 4 or so Encoded stepper drivers
An ethernet board or pcie based board
I would like to keep the price at or around $250 but if this isn't practical I can go higher.

I'm new to this so I appreciate any help given.
Thank you in advance.

7i76e.
5 stepper. Plus 0-10V. Plus full encoder for spindel.
Could be interesting to use normaly the spindel part and when switching to precise position using one of the stepper parts. Do you have something as an input on the driver that switches between step/dir and 0-10v?

Dyn 4 i think do step and direction so the 7i76e would be a good choice. If you need encoder inputs you could add the 7i85 and you should be in budget.

That gives you spindle control, 5 stepgens (4 with encoder feedback) 2 MPG inputs and 32 inputs asn16 outputs. You will be able to run redundant limit switches to your hearts content even

Doing it with ethernet and 0-10 volt servo control, you would need the 7i92 tor ethernet and a 7i77 and possibly some additional io cards

Mike_Eitel wrote:

7i76e.
5 stepper. Plus 0-10V. Plus full encoder for spindel.
Could be interesting to use normaly the spindel part and when switching to precise position using one of the stepper parts. Do you have something as an input on the driver that switches between step/dir and 0-10v?

I believe the DYN4 changes its mode via input on the RS232. It appears to use two different circuits for inputs from the motion controller so I might be able to spread it across two connectors. I'm still not sure of this though.

Also, is pulse/dir the same as step/dir?

rodw wrote:

Dyn 4 i think do step and direction so the 7i76e would be a good choice. If you need encoder inputs you could add the 7i85 and you should be in budget.

That gives you spindle control, 5 stepgens (4 with encoder feedback) 2 MPG inputs and 32 inputs asn16 outputs. You will be able to run redundant limit switches to your hearts content even

Doing it with ethernet and 0-10 volt servo control, you would need the 7i92 tor ethernet and a 7i77 and possibly some additional io cards

The DYN4 does pulse/dir. I don't know if that's the same as step/dir but I would assume it is.

I still would need to control my stepper motor drivers and I dont belive they can use 0-10v as an input so I don't think I can use the 7i77. Please correct me if I am wrong here.

Also, if I were to get the 7i85 with the 7i76e, would I be able to use a standard stepper drive and then feed the encoder to only the mesa board or do I need to get a stepper driver that has an encoder passthrough like the DYN4 has?

Thanks for the advice so far. It's been very helpful.

M wrote:

Hello,

I am panning to start my first cnc project but have some questions about what driver board to choose.

The computer I plan to use has both ethernet and free pcie slots. It does not have a parallel port however.

I would like to use homing switches on my machine if possible. While I have not worked with a cnc before, I have worked with 3d printers.

One option is the Pico Systems Universal Stepper Controller. It provides up to 4 axes of step/direction output, with individual axes able to use encoders for closed-loop operation. It also has 16 digital inputs, and place to mount up to 8 solid-state relays for digital output. It is connected via the parallel port, and we can provide a PCIe parallel port card that is known to work with our boards. The digital inputs can be used for home and limit switches.

(Full disclosure: I make these boards.)

Jon