Electronics Design specialising in Motion and Motor control
For one of our long standing clients we designed a control box for remote and automatic operation of Pneumatic Cylinders.
This unit was designed to sequentially operate an array of up to 12 pneumatic cylinders in a factory production environment, it has pre-settable timers, configurable alarms and remote alarm activation for connection to factory PLC control.
Going from our customers specifications we designed the PCBs, wrote all the internal firmware and designed and manufactured the box that houses it. We were able to offer our customer a turnkey solution which is now their product, and which they market integrated with the equipment that they build.
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Custom Electronics
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BOXFORD RETROFITS
Over the past few years we have retrofitted a few Boxford 240TCL Lathes and Mills and have gradually improved our retrofit to the point where we can now offer the best control for these machines currently on the market. These were very solid and well made machines, mechanically they were made to last a long time, unfortunately the electronics was outdated very quickly, so they are definately worth a makeover to bring them up to date and with a new lease of life. We also offer complete in-built control panels to give unparalleled levels of control.
What is involved?
1 We check the machine over to ensure it is in a good mechanical condition for the retrofit.
2 Apart from the Power Supply we remove all the original electronics from the machine and replace it with much more technically advanced drivers and control system.
3 Optionally we can remove the original stepper motors on the 2 Axes and fit new Brushless DC Servomotors to give much smoother operation, faster response and much higher resolution. (as in the picture above).
4 We install all new electronics, including a PC. We fit external sockets for USB, Ethernet and monitor.
5 Fit a new “reader” circuit for the spindle index, to improve threadcutting.
6 We can optionally fit a new Control Panel, this gives far greater control over the machine and, since this is based on real industrial controls, gives your students a real “industrial” experience.
7 We fit a new drive for the spindle control, this allows full control of the spindle and removes the need for the users to have to reach across a running machine to turn it off.
8 We give the machine an extensive commissioning, not only to prove the new electronics but also to fully test the machine, as most of them have not seen service in many years. We will check the machine over and report any problems we may find, and make repairs if required and by prior consent.
And the Benefits? The original Boxford Lathes and Mills were designed to run off the bus of a BBC Micro computer. These computers have now long disappeared. With our retrofit a PC running Windows 7 (no we won’t install Windows 8!) is now in-built into the machine. Wwith a superfast ethernet interface to the motion control card. With modern drive electronics for the motors to improve the resolution as well as the quality of the motion, this machine will work far better, better even than when it was brand new. The CNC software is globally popular with over 1.5million licenses sold worldwide, it is even supplied on many new CNC machines. Even though we build the computer into the machine, it is a standard form factor motherboard which can be replaced at a later date should this be required. All computer parts used are standard parts, which can be replaced or upgraded as required. With the exception of the PC and Ethernet interface, all the electronics used in this retrofit was designed by us and manufactured here in Australia. This is less of a retrofit and more of an upgrade, since after the operation the machine will be able to do so much more than before.
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CNC Retrofits
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