Brother tc-215 retrofit advice

I will get the machine hopefully next week and I will se for myself if it has quadrature outputs by poking at wires with oscilloscope (if it doesn't have quadrature outputs, I'm probably buying Mesa resolver interface board)

The Mesa 7i49 works well, both my mill and lathe use one.

But the 7i49 does need to be generating the excitation AFAIK.

(It might be possible to configure it differently, the A to D hardware onboard is probably capable, but that is a question for Mesa)

So if the drive outputs quadrature feedback, I would certainly aim to use that instead of the 7i49.

Hello,

Thank You all for replies, unfortunately my Brother TC-215 purchase didn't go well. I ended up getting something a bit bigger - MAHO MH600C with Philips 432 control. Control is 3D capable (it even does helical interpolation). Currently I don't see any benefit from retrofitting it (maybe apart from new LCD and potential rigid tapping, but I have no idea if this machine is capable of doing it - damn manual is in german, that makes it hard to read) 

The resolver thing is a red herring. it's just quadrature as far as linuxcnc is concerned. Shame you didnt manage to get it, the maho 600c is... uh, a much more involved project. (i had a maho hc5hs whihc is basically a horizontal variation of the same machine).

I'd need to know what year the maho is and the control version (502, 703 etc), but the words phillips suggests its before 1990. (they were rebranded heidenhain in 1991).

As for benifits of linuxcnc... speed and memory and easy of use (networking etc). The maho w/432 can certainly do a 3d path or hsm path, but it will do it extremely slowly, pausing every few lines of code. You need to drip feed larger programs which may require additional and expensive software and hardware.

Maho parts are brutally expensive used. so perhaps a strategy is - if it fits your needs as is - wait til something breaks on it, then retrofit.

For the sake of information, a retrofit would involve:

New servos (the stock ones don't have encoders) OR new linear scales (the philips ones are not readable by linuxcnc - later heidenhain ones can be).

Many io - like a hundred - for various pumps, solenoids, motors, gear changing, sensors etc. Mahos rely heavily on hydraulics.

Not an impossible project by any stretch, but in a different league than xyzs and a few switches on a brother.

ihavenofish wrote:

(...)
Maho parts are brutally expensive used. so perhaps a strategy is - if it fits your needs as is - wait til something breaks on it, then retrofit.
(...)

 

That is exactly what I have in mind for this machine.

Though, I must admit - retrofitting it looks daunting. I assumed I can forget about HSM toolpaths. I need it to do mostly simple stuff.

It has Indramat servos and spindle, plus philips linear scales (the bad type not readable by Linuxcnc). Spindle is of newer type - not round induction motor, but this black square servo-looking thing (With matching and rather huge Indramat driver electronics box mounted in the rear cabinet). It looks like it has some sort of position feedback - according to the manual it can do oriented spindle stop, though I did not try it yet.

Control version seems to be one generation older than last Philips generation before it was sold as Heidenhain (I think it was designated as 432/9, but I may be wrong here. I thought that 432/9 cannot do 3d paths and is 2.5D not 3D because of weak CPU, but seller claimed that it does and It happily does helical paths and 3D lines). Software inside was definitely upgraded by someone - version numbers do not match these in manual, but control panel is of older type without top row of soft buttons (maybe controller broke and was replaced before? It's hard to know now - I cannot take a look in control cabinet right now as it's almost flat against a wall until we repair the floor and move it to it's final spot. We dragged it across the floor on the rollers, but this thing is so heavy that it busted few holes in the ceramic tiles on the floor.

I know that it works (for now at least) and I hope it will continue to work until I recover my money (with jobs I bought it for). Then if it breaks I will try to do a retrofit.

spindle is field wound dc with a tachometer. i assume with trk6 drive.
the encode for the spindle is on the spindle itself. orientation is mechanical with sensors.

432/9 is useful enough, the main meaningful differrnces were graphics, and memory if i remember. the /9 isnt an intel 8088, the /10 was a 286 i think.

the software version is more important. v703, v603, then v502. 703 being the newest.