Dynomotion Forum

I picked up an old Aliant knee mill that had SEM servos and Anilam 31500051s servo amps, but no controller. I've been able to trace out enough to get kanalog to spin the x axis servo, by connecting SIG and Ground from the servo amp (A and B on the breakout panel in the original control box), to ground and DAC0 on the kanalog, then calling DAC0=100 to spin it. Now I'm trying to figure out how to get the linear encoders wired up.

It appears that the linear encoders only have two wires coming in to the control box - X1 and X2 for the x axis. I tried connecting those to A0+ and B0+ but that didn't seem to do anything, so I'm guessing either I need a different connection setup, or I may have to order some of the Differential Line Drivers I've seen mentioned elsewhere to use these encoders? What would be the proper way to setup these encoders (ideally without buying more stuff, so I can confirm everything on this machine works)?

Photos and diagram attached.

Hi chemeleon,

It appears that the linear encoders only have two wires coming in to the control box - X1 and X2 for the x axis. I tried connecting those to A0+ and B0+ but that didn't seem to do anything, so I'm guessing either I need a different connection setup, or I may have to order some of the Differential Line Drivers I've seen mentioned elsewhere to use these encoders? What would be the proper way to setup these encoders (ideally without buying more stuff, so I can confirm everything on this machine works)?

If they are TTL single ended encoder signals they can be connected directly to KFLOP. Such as JP5 Pins 1 and 2 would be encoder channel 4. You might verify they are digital 5V TTL single-ended signals by verifying with a voltmeter (or scope) to see that they switch high (~4V) and low (~0.4V) when the encoder moves. But for better noise immunity you should add differential line drivers and connect them to Kanalog differential inputs.

After taking another look at things, turns out I was way off on the encoder pins. Those x1,x2,etc pins are just limit switches. The encoders are regular 6 pin encoder plugs that went up to the old controller head panel; confirmed by plugging an old accurate dro into them. All worked just fine.

Going to do some reading on the pinout/setup for them, but since that's a standard plug, I'm guessing you already know how they should be connected?

Going to get some plugs ordered to match so I dont have to cut open those wires, do I still need the differential encoders, or is there anything else I should order for connecting them?

Hi chemeleon,

No sorry, I'm not familiar with standards for encoder plugs. I'd do the same test as before to determine if they are analog or digital, or single ended or differential. 6 pins might be +5V GND A+ A- B+ B-

I've got some matching ports on order so I can breakout the pins to wires without cutting things apart. From what I could find in an old acurite dro manual, it appears the 6 pin plugs are digital single end; they used a plug with more pins for differential. Went ahead and ordered a couple differential line drivers on that assumption so I wont have to wait another few days after the plugs for them. I'll circle back around to this once that's all here later this week. Thanks for the help so far.