Brother TC-211

I tried running a scope on cn8-13 and cn9-7 and manually turned the servo motor but got no readings. Does the machine have to be powered to get anything from it

Those outputs are standard quadrature (4096 counts/turn) so are easy to interface
(no additional hardware needed except linuxcnc interface)

The drives need to be powered for the quadrature output to work

mblaszkiewicz wrote: I found these in the manual. Is it the info you need for the resolvers

i1357.photobucket.com/albums/q757/mblasz...0541_zps9c5da8bc.jpg

This shows that the drives output digital quadrature pulses. This makes things very easy, and rather cheaper.

Do you fancy running the machine with a PCI card, a parallel-port connected card or a rather experimental ethernet interface?

I was waiting for more info before putting togther a pc. I have an amd quad processor avaiable, so the easiest and most robust would be great. Also the most input output options. I have a tool changer to work with

mblaszkiewicz wrote: I was waiting for more info before putting togther a pc. I have an amd quad processor avaiable, so the easiest and most robust would be great. Also the most input output options. I have a tool changer to work with

Lots of choices:
wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?LinuxCNC_Supported_Hardware

But mainly look at Pico and Mesa as they both offer direct support in this forum. (In fact you have been talking to one of them already). I am uncomfortable making recommendations, though I have no commercial links to either.

OK I went to the list and I'm totally lost at this point. What would the best card or cards to get everything running. my main control board has a fifty pin, 30 pin and x, y z and spindle connectors.

mblaszkiewicz wrote: OK I went to the list and I'm totally lost at this point. What would the best card or cards to get everything running.

I suspect that the main choice will be between
pico-systems.com/PPMC.html
and
store.mesanet.com/index.php?route=produc...83_84&product_id=214

But, depending on exactly what the signals are, there may be other combinations that fit better.

Any reps from mesa or pico that wish to chime in with info and suggestions I would really love your input.

Probably any LinuxCNC analog servo control system will work (including ours (Mesa), Pico systems, Vital systems etc) The next step is to find what other I/O is needed and how it is wired. If you have the machine drawings, this is a really big help here.

Then you can take a look at LinuxCNC compatible interface hardware and see how well it matches your interface requirements. Note that no interface hardware is going to connect directly to your existing controller connectors, so you will have at the minimum
a fair sized re-wiring job.

mblaszkiewicz wrote: I found these in the manual. Is it the info you need for the resolvers

\Nope, that info looks like it refers to encoders, or the output of a module that
reads a resolver and converts to an encoder-type signal.

A resolver is a transformer that varies its coupling by rotation. It has no electronics
in it. It needs to have an AC excitation signal sent to it, and then the resolver
reading circuit senses the output from the windings and converts that to
position info.

Jon