LPKF ProtoMat S62 Retrofit Advice

Hi, I picked up an LPKF ProtoMat S62 and am hoping to get it back up and running using LinuxCNC. I've done a bit of reading but think I need a push in the right direction. I’ve listed some information below but my hope is to run in with a Raspberry Pi and a Mesa 7c81. I’m not sure if I can interface directly with the original controller or if I’ll have to add in new drivers etc.

Can anyone suggest a good way to go about this?
Details below:

The original controller (LPKF SMCU II) drives the X and Y axis, receives input from the X and Y limit switches as well as the main door safety switch. It also has outputs which are designed to control a dust extractor.

There’s also a connector that goes to a DAC1005 (I think runs the spindle, Z axis and ATC motor) labelled LOCAL COM and pinouts:
CAN-H
CAN-L
GND
SYNC-H
SYNC-L
GND
PE/EARTH

Image of the controller

I’m not at all familiar with CAN bus but I think that’s the communication protocol it uses.
Similarly the SMCUII has an RJ45 connector (labelled CAN-A/CAN-B/RS232) with pinouts:

CAN-H
CAN-L
GND
NC / (RS232 TxD)
NC / (RS232 RxD)
GND
GND
NC


As a quick background:
The machine was designed to cut prototype circuit boards and has an automatic tool changer setup with 10 slots for tools, vacuum hold-down/extraction combination, 62K rpm spindle, fiducial recognition camera, all in a sound proof (maybe) box.

The original setup:
Brochure

X-axis and Y-axis
Schneider Electric BRS366HS0005

Z axis - Vexta 2-phase (model c9641-9212KGM) driven through a gearbox - 2.8V, 1A, 0.25deg/step
Driven via a DAC 1005 ?using RS232

ATC/Clamping motor
Maxon 114954 (24V DC) again controlled via the DAC1005

Camera
uEye UI 2410se-m-gl with a USB interface info

Controller
LPKF SMCU II

Thanks for the advice! I thought that might be the case but didn't want to throw away the existing controllers in case I could interface with them directly. Guess it's time to figure out how to communicate with the spindle and ATC motor!

andypugh wrote:

How much of a project to you want?

Let's put it this way... I was expecting to have to completely gut the machine, replace the spindle, drivers, leadscrews... so if I can keep everything and just communicate with the existing controller that's be great!

andypugh wrote:

PCI and PCIe CAN interfaces exist, but are definitely not cheap.

Probably cheaper than my original plan! Do you have any suggestions/recommendations?
It looks like controltech.uk.com/collections/peak-syst...nterfacesControlTech UK has taken on most of the Computer Solutions products (or similar enough stuff)



I think my current barrier in the project is not understanding how the communication is going to work. I'm hoping that's just ignorance about the CAN protocol. Is there a standard way in which 'actions' are sent like in g-code or will I have to reverse engineer everything?

andypugh wrote:

Do you have the drive documentation?

Unfortunately not. The X and Y are controlled from the manufacturers proprietary controller (SMCU II) and don't have separate stepper drivers. The SMCU II also communicates with another box - DAC1005. There is some documentation about this ( www.microsys-e.com.tw/webfiles/66b0614f-...0e-6f6bec4d1231.pdfl ) but I'm not sure if that's enough.

I have managed to get it moving using the LPKF BoardMaster software (albeit only just!). Since there are two RJ45 ports on both the SMCU II and the DAC1005 I wonder if there's a way to send commands from the boardmaster software and monitor what's happening via the other port? I guess once I've got the IDs for each component then that's a step in the right direction.

In case it helps anyone (future me included) the DAC 1005 uses CANopen (CiA 402) between 125 kBit/s and 1 MBit/s with 1MBit/s being the factory setting. LocalCOM is a proprietary protocol.

(as per www.microsys-e.com.tw/webfiles/66b0614f-...30e-6f6bec4d1231.pdf)

It s very long ago when I tried to do can-open via can. <99...
If I remember right you had to have a startup phase in which you had to define what values you want to address and where they are.. Everything is and has to be configured.
That was no fun. And we used nice driver cards, not cheepo, from Hilscher.
Beeing you i would not try that road.
m5c
Mike