Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Boss 5

rocketscientistnate wrote:

>Thanks to everyone for your help with my BP Boss 5 question. I
>would probably go with the Geckos, but I think they need a lot of
>heat sinking, and running at max current probably wouldn't be that
>good for them for extended periods of time. (I'm hoping to run it
>12-16 hours a day) There isn't any cheap way to change to servos
>and do something similar is there?
>

Cheap? The big problem is you need to change the motors! You probably
can't find servo motors with the same face and size as the steppers on
there.
Well, maybe you could, but you'd also need to have room for encoders,
either on
the motor or attached outboard. Also, unless you use really beefy
motors, it is
much better to use a belt reduction drive from the motor to the ballscrew.

Gecko has the G320 drives which take step and direction signals and drive
DC brush servos. (You could also get Yaskawa servopack drives, or a number
of other models that take step/dir.)

> Is there a way to add a tool
>changer to this? It has a Universal Kwik Switch 200.
>

I doubt it. That is the one with the button you push to lock/unlock the
tool,
right? If you had a machine with drawbar-mount changable tooling, or with
the NMTB-30 through -50 taper, the holders come with a v-groove in several
flavors that a toolchanger uses to handle the tool. Then a tool changer
would
be fairly reasonable. If you have a long table, it is possible to put a
tool pallet
at the end, and have the machine position over a particular tool, lower
the spindle
and use a power drawbar-driver to pick up the tool and pull it into the
spindle.

Jon