Sodick wire EDM machine retrofit

Here is another rather sucessfull retrofit with LinuxCNC:
www.cnc.info.pl/elektrodrazarka-drutowa-na-linuxcnc-t67931.html

And on youtube here:

He is also using the method of just stopping when there is a short, and continuing when it's fixed.

I like the convenience of the cooling only being trickled on like normal cooling like when milling. He's even using regular cooling fluid. Would it be possible to put this on as an attachment on a regular mill? It looks like that would be possible.

Can you post your wiring diagrams? I have a Sodick A280 that I would like to retrofit. It’s that or spend another 42000 for a replacement old computer

I didnt really make wiring diagrams for the changes i made to retrofit the machine. But you can find the original wiring diagrams for my machine here.

Sodick A320

The main problem still is the spark generator and its control. There is no info in the above on that part.

Henk

Tntmold, do you need a pc9801uv that works? I imported a couple for reasonable money from aledo auctions a while back, far far less than the scalpers on ebay etc are asking. I think your A280 has that same japanese pc98 base. They were a general office pc but are now sold as part of office cleanouts and collectors parts. You can use a japanese proxy buying service to bid/buy them as most japanese aledo sellers wont deal outside of japan. I used buyjapan. Shipping is expensive in comparison to the cost of the pc itself... eg www.fromjapan.co.jp/en/yahoo-auctions/se...uv/-/lgk-yauc_search

For the others, the original control had a open frame computer for motion/spark control, and a PC98 (which is a japanese market only computer, not compatible at all with PC's as the rest of the world knows them) to handle display. gcode is loaded in via floppy drives, but even these are non standard, having 1Mb capacity in a 1.44 drive, but spinning at a different speed. The second drive in the pc98 can read 750k ibm format to get gcode on though. I've not had any luck at all getting a gotek or hxc floppy emulator to work on these, though HxC claim it works, it needs a add on vfo board that nobody seems to supply as the vfo signal from the motherboard is missing to use a regular floppy emu.
I got mine to boot, have spares but the above still makes it painful to use and its all so proprietory which is why I'm following this topic...
Even if the comms between the pc98 and the open frame computer (parallel cable connected) could be dumped/reversed then that might make replacement with linuxcnc possible but possibly keep the open frame as a motion control card...
Its on my todo list to do but I have a lot of things on that list to get through and its been several years in the backlog already...

if you pop the door open on your A320 machine cabinet open, it should be fairly obvious if its a standard pc9801, and if its the same as mine, the only sodick part inside the gui control pc itself is a io cbus card that the software has to detect at boot up to bring the machine up correctly...
I did a lcd monitor replacement too, there are caveats behind that also because you have to find a lcd panel that works on a really low frequency signal (from memory 15khz, which is cga era monitor specs), but I used one I had knocking about from a rack mounted monitor drawer which was designed to cope with lots of odd display modes for console use.
Finally the sodick software is totally contained on the boot floppy, nothing is in rom at all, nor did my machine have any hard disks etc.The original boot floppy does have all the parameters and screw compensations etc for that exact machine, so making sure you have backups of the backups is a really really good thing.

Who quoted you 42000 for a replacement pc98 out of interest? I think there's two extra zeros on that number if you look what a pc98 off aledo costs to get home...

Yes there was an extra zero, 4200 was for an upgraded computer direct from Sodick, not a replacement. From the description it isn’t much of an upgrade.

As the weak link on this machine is the pc, has anyone considered reverse engineering a standard pc to communicate with the machine via RS233?

J Mullen on cnczone I think knew of someone trying to use a pc98 emulator and sniffing the communications of the original, having a peek with a sniffer to see if it sends anything resembling gcode down to the main open frame control computer. Doing so is also on my todo list, but in reality I have so many projects unfinished its several years down the list and currently I know my edm works as factory when powered.
Note I think it uses the parallel port to communicate rather than a rs232 serial link, its been so long I could have it muddled up, but odds are its quite proprietary also. You would probably be best using a device inline with 2 physical parports, and connecting the two and dumping the conversation from this. Linux would make it easier...

Or, reverse engineer the signals between the open frame computer and the power controller, dump the entire original fragile computer setups and just replace it with linuxcnc hooked up to same and the servopacks (that'd be a awesome option!)

Great thought on reverse engineering the signals to the power controller, but where would you start?