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Hi everyone,
I have an old analam conversion and I am setting up emc controls. I decided to go with the gecko drives because I am new to this and find the stepconfig wizard is very easy for me to understand. I have sem servo motors, I removed the tachs and installed amt102 encoders, and hooked them up to the 320x drives and a simple breakout board. Using software step generation. It works very well (about 300ipm). My question is in step config axis configuration (motor steps per revolution) and ( microstepping) I have set the encoders for 1000(ppr)squared, quadrature decoded should be 4000 (i'm not really sure on that) I used a value of 1000 in the step per rev. box and microstepping value of 1, does this sound right I am a little confused I have not found anything in the manuals on these settings with the servo drives.

Any Help clearing the fog would be a great help
Thankyou Paul11

The G320 is an open loop drive ie. the control (EMC) only gives step and direction signals to the G320 and the encoder is connected to the G320. What this means is you have to know how many steps it take to move one user unit.

In a closed loop system the drive gets velocity and direction from the drive and gets feedback from the servo usually a tacho to know if it is keeping up. The control gets feedback from the encoders so the control knows where the servo is.

Just curious what Anilam model your converting? I have an upcoming 1100M to convert...

John

Hi John,
The anilam I am converting is an old crusader11 about 1985 on a lagun mill. The servo motor and ball screws are in good shape so I decided to try the conversion. I understand that the 320x is a simple step and direction (open loop) I was trying to figure out how to know how to know the amount of steps per revolution and if it's related to the encoder output.

I have everything working on a table I guess I could count the shaft revolutions and just play with the numbers in step config.

I'll post a little later Paul11

I don't know if it is related but that would be something that should be in the gecko manual.

Mine has analog velocity drives so I'm keeping it closed loop and using a Mesa 5i20 + 7i33TA + 7i37TA for my BP Series 1 mill... The crusader was just before the 1100M as I recall. Are you ditching the old drives?

John

Hi again,
I think I answered my own question. the steps per rev with open loop servo drive (320x) is the quadrature output of the encoder. I was just trying to find it in a manual (it's probably there somewhere) the wealth of information is mind boggling. I had to set my encoders to 250 ppr squared or 1000 quadrature

Thanks John

Hi John,
The anilam drives used tachometer feedback 9.5volts/1000rpm and had a 70volt power supply 2 of the three work for sure would have to test the other by swapping wires. The control doesn't function correctly I tested the motors by swapping axis. I am not going to use them

Take care paul11

John,
anilam use the glass scales for their position feed back and the tachometers to control motor acceleration (i think) is it possible to close the loop with emc? You got me thinking, now i'm confusing myself

paul11

There are some converters for glass scales to quadrature type encoder signals. You would have to figure out what kind of signal the glass scales have...

John

Hi John,
The glass scales that I have look like they put out an encoder output. They are .005" resolution four wires go to the reader head +5v , G , and two signal wires (it looks like an 90 degree offset encoder with no index pulse) I''ll play with them after I finish the conversion, it looks like they would hook up to a 320x as is.

John on your project are motors sem mt30 series I'm removing the tachometers from mine If you want the drives I'll send them to you it is better than ditching them

paul11

I'm not sure exactly that one is at the other shop, but I'll keep that in mind. I think my drives are a bit newer that yours...

John