Board to replace built-in driver board on old zCorp 310 ZPrinter?

I have a pretty ancient zCorp 310 3D powder printer.

All of the axes are in good working order, but something is causing a fault and not much I can do about it. So I would like to install a new board and control it with LinuxCNC and convert it from an inkjet binder 3D printer to a laser powder 3D printer and laser cutter.

I replaced one of the servos on the axis faulting and was crazy over priced because they are no longer made. This one of the servos:

www.servocomponents.com/Pittman-Brush-Mo...0-series/9233e511-r1

Other servos are similar (I think a bit smaller). I don't know anything about the servo more than what is shown above - it has an encoder but do not know the details.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Here is the machine working - works fine until it faults sometimes hours into a print:



By the way - it would be really awesome if LinuxCNC supported any kind of inkjet head?

From your reference to the motor, it's realy nothing clearified, there is no datasheet or other characteristics of it.
Make photos of your motors, define, how many cables and how many wires in each cable you have.
make photo of control cabinet, what drives control your motors.

Also the same for your laser head.

Thank you, that is a great suggestion. Will do after I have some time to take the machine apart.

There is very little I can find on the subject, but I did find someone that has apparently switch the controller to a Teensy 3.5. He seems unwilling to share very much more information than this:

I am using a Teensy 3.5. They are fast enough with plenty of resources and they are tolerant to 5V TTL level, which is what the Xaar head and all the motor drivers want.

I guess Xaar head support would be good but not a requirement for what I want to do with the machine.

I don't yet have a laser picked out for it - want motion control first. I'm thinking it will be a little 20W solid state with TTL.

Interesting, thanks Andy.

I found this on how to control a HP45 printhead:
ytec3d.com/hp45-inkjet-printhead/

Not sure if he is still selling them but he had some breakout boards for it. Downloadable models and schematics:
ytec3d.com/hp45-breakout/

Apparently the servo drivers run on 5V TTL. Anyone have suggestions on what to use to control them?

Really, I can't anderstand how such kind of printers make 3D. It's simple head from inkjet printer. But what it do with that powder?
Does that powder is plastic?

I saw 3d printers that use lasers to heat metal powder in such principle.

Thanks, I anderstand this. It could be used for molding, for example. Very convinient, I think.

andypugh wrote:

When you say "5V TTL" do you mean step-dir or PWM or something serial?

Unfortunately I am just going off what was posted by someone that switched the controller to a Teensy - I don't know much more than that. I'll post some pics of the controller when I get it opened up.

aleksamc wrote:

Thanks, I anderstand this. It could be used for molding, for example. Very convinient, I think.

Exactly what I want to print - molds for metal casting. It is possible to use a sand binder such as sodium silicate that binds sand for direct use for casting even molten steel. There are some large format sand printers on the market.

If I put a laser on it it would be possible to print plastic powders too (like Formlabs $10,000+ Fuse 1) - and in theory I could even print metal powders directly with a powerful enough laser.

Also with a laser a I could sinter ceramic molds from alumina and zirconia which is an even better mold than sand - eg zirconia molds can be used to cast titanium.

Same machine would double as a laser cutter too - very versatile.

Powder printers are really neat because they don't require any supports (the powder supports itself), and you can stack jobs one on top of the other so long as it fits in the volume.