New guy hoping to move to Masso

[bigmark]

My name is Mark. I live in Michigan and I sell AR500 steel shooting targets online.
I have a background as a machine builder and machinist.

My hobbies are 3d printing, riding trials motorcycles and building and designing machines and
products for my business.

I recently bought a very nice Webb 5vk knee mill with a working prototrak M2 cnc retrofit and control.

I hope to add an Elrod quill drive to the Z axis and utilize the existing X and Y servo motors and scales
from the prototrak and control it all with the Masso G3 controller.

I'm a huge fan of Fusion 360 and hope to post from it to the Masso.

 

[cncnutz]

Hi Mark and Welcome,

Sounds like you have an interesting project ahead of you.
You can use Fusion 360 with MASSO and you will find the link to the post processors you need here: https://docs.masso.com.au/cam-post-processors/fusion-360

Hope the build goes well for you.
Cheers Peter

 

[emermogle]

Hi I also have a Prototrak M3 powered knee mill I am hoping to convert to MASSO. I have a fair bit of information about the existing drives but I can't tell if they will work with the step direction Masso requires, I am hoping someone can provide some insight . The motors are Megnetek DC Brush type. The drivers are directly mounted to the side of the motors. They have a encoder installed on the back of the motor shaft. From what I can see the drives take a +/- PWM signal from the computer with a 5V reference signal. I have attached a wiring diagram for clarity.

 

[breezy]

@emermogle,

You are correct about the PWM signal to the drivers , also the encoder output is fed back to the computer for it to work out how far the motors have travelled. The 5v is to power the logic part of the electronics.

So you will need to replace the motor driver combo with something like this ClearPath INTEGRATED SERVO MOTORS this will allow you to reuse some of the wiring already in the machine. https://www.teknic.com/products/clearpath-brushless-dc-servo-motors/

Regards,

Arie.