Re-Use Existing Servo Motors? 2001 Techno Isel CNC Router.

I am curious how practical it would be to re-use much of an existing CNC Router. The problem is that it used software that seems unobtainable.

I'm assuming this means that the existing motor control will be trashed. Maybe I can use the power supply.

Would I be able to adapt the existing motors to new driver boards and run LinuxCNC?

I just hate throwing out good components.

So even the drives can be re-used?

That would be my preference. I sure hate to waste the good electronics. It's the software that's the missing piece which is where I was hoping LinxCNC could pickup. I'm already a Linux user which this would also be a perk in my book.

If the drives are some really off-brand proprietary type, then it could be difficult. If they are a common brand where the documentation can be turned up, then they can often be reused. First, you need to determine what type of signals control the drives. The common schemes are analog velocity control (sometimes called +/- 10 V), step and direction, and PWM. Do the encoders feed back directly to the drives? Do the drives then send a copy of the encoder signals to the CNC control? Are there tachometers on the motors? Are there even encoders on the motors? If no encoders, then clearly the motors are steppers. If so, then there are literally hundreds of stepper drives out there that can likely drive those motors. If there are encoders, then you need to determine if the motors are DC brush type or brushless.
Give us make and part number, or even just photos of the motor nameplates and we can help.
Jon

I would think they are proprietary. Techno seemed to make their own hardware if I remember correctly.

What I was hoping for was to go:
Linux PC >> Parallel Port Break out Board >> Existing Driver/Amp Boards >> Existing Cables and Servos.

So basically change the BoB to a LinuxCNC talking board and proceed as if nothing ever happened to the rest of the machine.

I have no idea how practical this is. I will get some pictures.

AFAIK with parallel port breakout, you will be able to do only step/dir signals - if those servodrives do accept step/dir then you definitely can reuse them. The problem will be the parallel port. It is slow and limits your I/O and also has become ancient relic in PCs. That is why most of folks are using Mesa boards. But for that we need to know more about the drives

viesturs.lacis wrote:

AFAIK with parallel port breakout, you will be able to do only step/dir signals - if those servodrives do accept step/dir then you definitely can reuse them. The problem will be the parallel port. It is slow and limits your I/O and also has become ancient relic in PCs. That is why most of folks are using Mesa boards. But for that we need to know more about the drivesaa
 

The parallel port is not slow, but generating steps by software on the main CPU IS slow.  It is possible to generate roughly 20,000 steps/second on good CPUs, far less on some that don't have good real time performance.  There are various external hardware step generators available.  Mesa and Pico Systems (that's me) can provide these.  Our Universal Stepper Controller can easily do 300,000 steps/second with very good step timing.
Jon