Newbie basics, is there a "What do I need" page for laymen?

[LorenCoffin]

Very little of all this makes sense to me yet. I have an old Matsuura that I believe has ac servos, with a bad control. Looking for a cost effective way to put it back in service. One fella so far said he thinks I would want an Oak?
Basic question, do the products here bypass the bunk control or work through/with it or what?

Found out they are labeled as DC Motors in the manual.

So lots of learning has been going on here, gents. I sure appreciate the help.
Adding a link to a photo album now(9/28). https://photos.app.goo.gl/CYYoCPwVfpioBqUN8

[tblough]

There is not a page like that because every machine is different. You've come to the right place for help, but we'll need a lot more information. Can you post some photos of the machine? Detailed photos of the motor nameplates and/or motor specs? Do you know if the motors have tachometers, resolvers, or encoders? If encoders, we need photos of the nameplates or manufacturer and part numbers.

If they are DC motors, it might be possible to use an AllIn1DC board. The AllIn1DC board is essentially an Oak with motor drivers built-in for DC motors. The Oak relies on external servo drives and works with both AC or DC motors.

Best case is you gut the cabinet except for the DC power supply and install an AllIn1DC keeping the motors but probably having to replace/add new encoders on the motors.

Worst case is gut everything including motors and go with an Oak and new AC servo motors and drives. Nowadays, it really doesn't make sense to do a new system with new DC brushed motors. Both of these scenarios give you a true closed-loop control with professional features better than the existing control.

A lower cost option is the Acorn. This is an open-loop control that works with step/direction input servo drives or stepper motors. If your existing drives can accept step/direction inputs, you could consider this.

[LorenCoffin]

The motors are buried. I see in the manual they are labeled as DC Motor, took the model number from the manual and searched for it and I see other motors for MC500V showing this Type: UGCMEM-04-MU12
Kw: 0.40/2.00
RPM: 1750
Volts: 68
Amps: 8.0/38.0
Feed Back Unit: Model TFUE-08ZC7
In using the Allin1DC setup, does that mean not using the existing drives then? Wiring straight from the Allin1 to the motors?

[LorenCoffin]

I will say it's been a steep learning curve so far, thanks to some key answers buy a few people. The Allin1 sounds like the way to go at this point. 8 amp DC motors in the machine. I'm still struggling to understand what hardware I will need to do this though. Can't be just the board, encoders, and some cables, is it?

[LorenCoffin]

Searching just the "feedback unit" number shows every one of more than half a dozen posts calling it an encoder. I'll start on some pics tonight, but I'm not into tearing a complete vmc apart to get pics instead of gathering pics off the web of the same model parts when it can work.

[cnckeith]

start with photos! make a photo album on google photos and post the link here..then you will get lots of great advice.

[LorenCoffin]

Someone please tell me if this is visible? https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vljvm1g3e3s4 ... E_RYa?dl=0

[martyscncgarage]

Very little of all this makes sense to me yet. I have an old Matsuura that I believe has ac servos, with a bad control. Looking for a cost effective way to put it back in service. One fella so far said he thinks I would want an Oak?
Basic question, do the products here bypass the bunk control or work through/with it or what?

Found out they are labeled as DC Motors in the manual.

Hi Loren,
As I mentioned on my YouTube channel. We need PICTURES of the machine, the control cabinet, the servo drives, spindle drive, the make and model of each one. Then we can give you some guidance.

What is the history of the machine? Do you feel you have the skills to do the conversion. A VMC with a tool changer is not trivial. Do you have a realistic budget? We can't tell you if you can reuse your servo drives, servo motors, spindle drive without Pictures and information.

Pictures please, and model numbers off the drives.
Then we can provide some advice.

Marty

[martyscncgarage]

Someone please tell me if this is visible? https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vljvm1g3e3s4 ... E_RYa?dl=0

Yes it is.
But those appear to be motors from ebay.
Do you own this machine or are you looking to buy a machine with a dead control and convert it?
Please explain.

Marty

[LorenCoffin]

I own the same model these motors come from. My wiring manual labels them as dc motors. I chose the wrong tech to fix an issue with the Y axis and now the control has big pronlems.