Centroid CNC4

Im getting ready to try to run my old Centroid CNC 4 controller with EMC. Does else run a setup like this, maybe be willing to offer some help getting going?

I would be interested in this too, since I have a Centroid M40 controlling my mill. I would like to switch it over to emc2 sometime. The servo amps seem to have a proprietary connection.

Well I should have everything set up by the end of the week. I will let you know how it goes.

Found your post one cnczone. Decided this may be a better place to post.

I have a cnc4 control from around 1991. I too have been thinking of trying emc2. The control is controlled by serial. Not sure how to interface it with emc2. I suspect I'd need some type of control board to interface to the existing stepper drivers? Or so I replace the drivers with something more modern? Any details on your project?

I will get some photos up by the end of the day.

I was planning on using a USB to serial adapter to connect. Anyone had any luck using one of these?

andypugh wrote:

tpwjayson wrote:

I was planning on using a USB to serial adapter to connect. Anyone had any luck using one of these?

USB breaks realtime.

However, it _might_ not matter if what you are doing is sending a stream of motion commands, and the motion planning and control is done by the existing controller.

What do you intend sending on the serial line, in what format, to what part of the system?

tpwjayson, you understand that the cnc4 has a control system built in that you can access via serial terminal? You can use a usb to serial adapter and any serial terminal you wish. Default settings are 9600/8N1. You can drip feed commands line by line using option 4 on the control menu. I use gtkterm and did a 1.2 meg file yesterday using this method. If you choose to use gtkterm you'll need version 0.99.6 as 0.99.5-1 that comes bundled with ubuntu is broken.

Does emc2 have a serial dnc mode?

andypugh wrote:

If you can take photos of the motors and the drive board, power supplies etc, then we can probably hazard a guess.

Here is a photo of my cnc4 controller. The left most board has the connections for the serial terminal and the stepper encoders, I suspect this is the "computer". The center board is the i/o control board for all the m codes, it appears to have it's own power supply and such. The right three boards are the stepper drivers. The power supply is simple and appears suitably sized. The steppers are Centroid MAE 1350 (M.A.E. HY200-4270-710 A8) 1.8 degree, four wire. Not sure about the encoders, they connect via DB9 connecters at the control and I suspect they are some type of ttl logic. My manual is missing a few pages