Centroid Community CNC Support Forum

Afternoon,

I hope you're all well.

I've just picked up an old (new to me) Pacer 2412 CNC Router as project. For those of you in the US, its effectively a Gerber type machine.

It has no PC or control systems, as it came from a specialist aerospace company, and they had to be binned.

It currently has all the wiring, which looks good.

The motors are old, see below, and I am hoping to install new drivers (EM806 or DM860T) to get the machine up and running. I will update the motors to bigger (8-12Nm), new closed-loop units at some point; I just need to hit the ground running at the moment. The machine runs on BS on all axis so not too concerned with the motors at this moment but I definitely want to upgrade in the future.

Spindle is an old air-cooled unit, will need to replace the VFD as this isn't there but will probably replace with a Huanyang or something similar.

Motor Spec (X x 2 & Y x 1)-
VRDM3910/50LWBOO
4Nm
2 Amps

There is a 6Nm unit for the Z

I have a couple of questions about the Acorn system...

I use Aspire for design and notice there isn't a save post processor for Acorn, have I missed it or is this an easy fix?
Is it easy enough to add in the homing and built in z height system using the Acorn board?
How difficult is the hookup for spindle speed control on the computer?
Ive been using Mach3 up until this point on a old machine, is it just as easy to set the right steps/mm and that sort of thing as it was on Mach3?
Can you use any pendant for this or does it need to be the Acorn one Ive seen for sale?
I plan on running this on an ex-office Dell system. I did see about the touch screen monitor, is this just for ease of use or for a specific reason?

I think that's it, sure I will think of something else.

Does anyone see any issues with the above conversion?

Any question please ask, happy to answer!

Many thanks,

Josh

Answers / Feedback in line.

I use Aspire for design and notice there isn't a save post processor for Acorn, have I missed it or is this an easy fix? I'd be surprised if there isnt something available.

Is it easy enough to add in the homing and built in z height system using the Acorn board? Yes, loads of options and customisation available via wizard and/or directly in the .hom file

How difficult is the hookup for spindle speed control on the computer? Very easy, via Wizard, few questions under the spindle section.

Ive been using Mach3 up until this point on a old machine, is it just as easy to set the right steps/mm and that sort of thing as it was on Mach3? Its different but very simple. There's a good post that says on the forum somewhere 'dont do it like mach 3' and explains how ...

Can you use any pendant for this or does it need to be the Acorn one Ive seen for sale? Acorn one, Shuttle or USB BOB.

I plan on running this on an ex-office Dell system. I did see about the touch screen monitor, is this just for ease of use or for a specific reason? Centroid is natively designed for touch. Dont need it but its massively useful. Make sure that the Dell's single CPU score is good enough for Acorn.

The steppers are 230V 3Phase, they will not be compatible with default chinese drivers...

Uwe

Vectric has has a Centroid post processor for both MM and Inches since the first year they started.

Touch Screen: you can use a touch screen if you want , or not it is not necessary, if you do use a touch screen get a resistive touch screen.
see this post. viewtopic.php?p=70990#p70990

Dell: make sure it meets the minimum requirements. see this page. https://www.centroidcnc.com/centroid_di ... guide.html
Run the Centroid PC Tuner on it.
https://www.centroidcnc.com/centroid_di ... loads.html

mach3 steps per rev. see this post. viewtopic.php?t=1801

Spindle to VFD to Acorn: Easy. what make model VFD do you have?

I'm very keen to see how youve got on with this, i have a pacer 25/12hds which im looking to run Acorn on and put a simpler spindle on