Plasmacam servo motor identification?

[Jduke]

I have a plasmacam DHC model machine that was built about 2004,

Controller currently doesn’t work, and I don’t have any desire to buy into the proprietary world of plasmacam any further if I can retrofit it.

I would like to use the Servo motors that are on it, if possible, but plasmacam is apparently very secretive about their proprietary stuff and as such the motor appears to have largely been scrubbed of any identity other than a part number. 90-978 date of manufacture and a serial number.

It is fitted with a Avago encoder that has some numbers on it HEDS-5540 A06. 0752A

I’d like to know where to start on trying to find a servo driver to pair with this motor, I am open to experimenting with it a little bit, as I would rather strip the electronics entirely and build my own than spend several thousand buying all the stuff from plasmacam to rebuild this machine. As such, if I can get the motors working, great, but if not they are going in the trash anyway along with the plasmacam controller.

Thanks

Duke

[Rodw]

I vaguely remember a thread here by islander261 (which may have been Z axis only) where he matched the motor and found they were using a serial protocol to talk to the motor but I think that was around stall based material sensing. The encoder part number appears to match these https://au.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Bro ... N7iA%3D%3D MAybe the other numbers specify a more accurate encoder count as 400 ppr is pretty coarse.

Quite frankly, the best chance you have to retain as much of the machine as possible is to use Linuxcnc. It has a great plasma solution and a broader range of hardware. You need to get some photos of the servo drives and part numbers if at all possible
At that age they are probably a 0-10volt analog control. If that is the case, a Mesa 7i77 shoiuld allow you to use the drives and hook up the encoders and handle the I/O

[adbuch]

Centroid Acorn conroller - it may be worth looking into for your application. It is described as applicable to both steppers and servos. I have one installed onto one of my Avid cnc routers. Pricing is very reasonable. I also have several of the Plasmacam DHC2 tables, but they are only several years old and still working great with the stock Plasmacam controllers.
David

https://www.centroidcnc.com/centroid_di ... oller.html

Centroid Acorn.jpg

[robertspark]

I don't think the centroid acorn will do torch height control

I don't own a plasmacam (and never will!).... That being said are you happy to open the controller and take some photos of components internally?

I'm sure someone could guide you through choosing some replacement servo drives which is what I would do

First question, are they AC or DC servo motors?

Don't worry about the encoders as far as I am aware there are programmable sero drives that will be able to be set for any encoder resolution and compensate accordingly.

Please note I have ONE servo motor which powers a lathe spindle and it was selected with the same drive from one manufacturer to fit in the slot I had plus I wanted it to be a 230v input supply drive (no messing with power supplies caps and bridge rectifiers etc (I have zero problem with that as I come from an electronics plus electrical background).... Just a question of simplicity. The point being I am no expert and my knowledge is limited on servos.

[robertspark]

As an example these are DC servo drives which are programmable.

https://cncdrive.com/DG4S_08020.html

(I have never bought nor used one and have no vested interest in what you buy)

Again no expert but DC drives appear to have two windings (similar to a stepper motor) so you can identify them with a multimeter.

The AC drives (may (I think)) have three windings which will give you a resistance between all three.

This is the drive I use with my spindle
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... Lv2WGWlWB6


After that is trying to establish the frame size (spacing between the mounting bolts and mounting flange) as it may be able to pint you to the actual manufacturer of the servo motors.

Also consider the length of the motor as it will give you an idea of its hp / kw rating too.

Plus the spindle size and type will help.


Plasmacam don't make motors... They will be bought in and from a scale of manufacture.... They will be sold as a product to anyone who wants to buy them so the data will be available.


Also record the winding DC resistance you measure as this will give you a confirmation when you find the data sheet

If you post as much of this info on the forum it may help others to both be able to convert their own machines when the controller dies but also help select drives with you

[Jduke]

I’m with you, that Plasmacam doesn’t make motors, but it appears they have gone to great lengths to make it difficult to find out anything about any of their parts.

The shaft on this motor was turned down to 1/4”

I went ahead and made a couple mounts to put some closed loop stepper motors on it and all the Plasmacam stuff is going in a box to likely go in the trash in a few years after I get tired of storing it.

Thank you
Duke

[djreiswig]

Put the parts in the classifieds. Someone else who is stuck with one of their tables could probably use them rather than buying new ones that probably aren't available anymore.