RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] T-Tech 5000 PCB Milling machine

Comments:



1) Is the program erased? You do know that you can send the HDD off and
have the disk data salvaged if it hasn�t been overwritten or formatted? I
had a failed 250 SADA drive rebuilt and transfered to another drive in a
couple of weeks.



2) Might the output actually be HPGL. A number of 2D PCB and Vinyl cutters
are actually HP plotters clones with a high speed spindle or a rolling
cutter blade to do the cutting. A simple pin up/pin down command can serve
as Z axis command. And the old HP pin plotters were serial.



All that said, pull the spindle and see if a plot file from a 2D CAD program
will drive the machine. If it does, then you can design the boards in CAD
and �plot� to the machine to do the cutting. Remember the cutter diameter
as you�ll have to manually compensate for the size difference.



R. Wink





_____

From: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Alan Rothenbush
Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 4:09 PM
To: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] T-Tech 5000 PCB Milling machine



Being firstly an electronics kinda guy, and secondarily a machining person,
for some years now I've been dreaming about a PCB milling machine, either
building it from scratch or modifying something else.
My lack of progress has been stunning, but the desire lives (lived) on.

Well, yesterday I was at an auction where they were selling a T-Tech 5000
PCB milling machine. I somehow convinced myself that I

a. could afford it
b. actually had a need for it
c. would save me money in the long run making my own prototype boards

None of the above are of course true, but it's mine now.

I also got a real deal on blank PCB, a zillion cutters for free (close
enough), and the computer that ran it all, with the T-Tech software (ISOPRO)
.. ERASED.
OK, no problem, contact T-Tech .. yes, they'll sell me the software, for
about a month's wages.

Well, I'm into this too deep already to spend much more money at all, and
certainly not that kind of money.

They do have a sort of demo version, and I was able to hook that up and make
sure that things move. I then looked harder at the computer to controller
interface; standard RS232 serial. So, I installed a serial port monitor to
look at the data travelling back and forth and HOPED for standard GCode.

No such luck. What was being sent was something that looked a LITTLE bit
like HP plotter language, but only a little bit. Some was obviously
decipherable, some of it gibberish.

As I see it, I have a few options, and I'm not at all sure where to go.

1. Just buy the _very_ nice looking T-Tech SW, plug in the dongle (hire a
divorce lawyer) and get to work.

2. TRY to locate an old copy of the software. (I don't think I'd be
violating any copyrights here, as the SW _only_ works with T-Tech machines,
and the original purchaser of this machine DID have a copy; it comes free
with the machine)

3. Buy a copy of DeskPCB (which I can just afford), then reverse engineer
the protocol from PC to controller and write some sort of translation
program from GCode to T-Tech.

4. Buy a copy of DeskPCB, build my 2.5 axis controller, run things off
CNCPro.

Option 4 is certainly do-able, but it hurts to replicate that very nice
controller that's already there. Also, the controller is able to control the
spindle speed, which is apparently a useful thing to do (although it can be
done manually) Finally, I'd have to send out to get some boards made up, a
bit of a cruel irony.

Option 1 is where I'm headed, when I can afford it, as this software really
is sorted out, and it all integrates very nicely. I'll just have to wait for
a (long) bit.

Option 3 MIGHT be doable, is certainly cheapest, but would also be the
slowest, and I've got boards I need (OK, want) fabbed TODAY. Plus, I would
probably need a copy of the real software so as to spit out and capture all
the various options, but if I had a copy of the software, I wouldn't need to
do this at all.

Option 2 does not seem likely, as I can't seem to source this old stuff.

Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts, comments, opinions or help to offer, I'd
love to hear from them.

Alan

--
Alan Rothenbush
Academic Computing Services
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C., Canada

The Spartans do not ask the number of the enemy, only where they are.

Agix of Sparta

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