The Calcomp 1043GT & other ramblings

A bit more info on the plotter: It definitely has servo's. They both have
nice shaft encoders on them as well.
The plotter looks to be constructed on two fairly large circuit boards, one
of which appears to have the power supply, and the servo amps, encoder
decoding, etc... and the other the interface/driver , display, memory, and
keypad/joystick controls. There is only one cable between the two (I'm
going by memory here) with a dozen or so wires. I had hoped that there was
some way to figure out how to save the first board, with the amps, because I
know from manual jogging that they work. The control board would be nice,
as it has the serial port interfaces so convienently located, and just
taunting me to try to plug something into them. I downloaded a driver for
the unit, but have yet to try it out hooked to a computer.
The motors themselves are about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, and 4
inches long. I think one had 35 volts on it, but can't be sure. I didn't
pay to much attention, as I hoped to use the amps they came with. My
intention would be to use the unit as an XY positioner, probably for a O/A
torch, but that's a way down the road. I just couldn't see the plotter go
to the scrap heap without passing through my hands first!
I've still got my hands full with my first two CADCAMEDMDRO
projects: the Cintimatic ballscrew conversion of the 1961 B'port (about 40%
done) with the Mauch/Kuluga DRO. No CNC for that one, just a readout. The
DRO board works well, and I'm planning on hooking the Goldmine encoders to
the ballscrews. And project #2, the retrofit of the mighty Tape'O'Matic
from 1970 CNC to 2000 EMC control, which is barely started. I've got EMC up
and running, the real thing, not a simulated version. (Linux wasn't that
bad; ver 5.2, patch 2.0.36) Next, and possibly this winter is the amps, and
the Servo-to-go, or Jon's version of it. I'll probably get an invertor
drive for the spindle in place of the mechanical variable speed.


Brad Heuver