Brother TC-225 / TC-229 adventure!

all brothers are 208-230v internally. some have an internal transformer to allow 380-440v mains input. so yup, thats just a normal US spec brother.

12000km shipping shouldnt be an issue. ups should handle that.



i wish. mine cost $1400us to ship (both at once) and that was only like 350km. moving them is the worst part about cnc machines haha.

well they gots a bunch more brothers on hgr. 2-4k. tc211, tc225, tc227, tc228. all analogue drive models. the 228 has a 4th axis even.

anyhow, i got too busy to deal with the 229's drives. i have the 225 running, with its original control, and learned to program it. its cool, but i need to do some 3d :x

i have a little time, and am wondering if i could do a fast linux conversion. basically, run the drive wiring to my mesa analogue card, as well as the limit switches, relays, and atc hardware with no actual tampering done to the control cabinet - just a bypass.

we have:

- analogue XZY servos with incremental encoders. (there seems to be no brake on the Z other than resistive).
- analogue spindle servos with incremental encoder.
- 3 limit switches on each of the x and y. for home, and end of travel.
- 3 or 4 limit switches on the z - for home, end of travel, and ATC (i think theres 4, basically 2 home positions, but i have to check again)
- a relay for coolant pump on/off.
- a spindle air blast relay.
- a door interlock.
- the ATC driver (reversible relay with braking resistor) and 4+1 bit encoder wheel.

i think thats it. theres some fans and thermal sensors, but i think all of those are independently controlled by the drives and other devices.

power input is 220v, and there should be a 110v line inside the cabinet to run the computer which for now would just be sitting outside the machine with the monitor up front near the door.

ill start with the xyz and the limits. the limits will be e-stops, and we'll use soft limits for the working end of travel, a mm or 2 inside the physical limit switches. we want to use the home switches for "proximity" and then use the index pulse on the encoder as the actual home. as per the original control. so - move to home switch > search for encoder index > home. my understanding from previous posts is this should be possible... so, we'll see

im going to start poking at it tonight, and with luck have the mesa stuff wired in by the weekend.

can anyone think of any roadblocks here?

so, these are the connections to the mesa card as far as I can tell looking through the machines cabinet:

+-10v X axis (to driver)
+-10v Y axis (to driver)
+-10v Z axis (to driver)
+-10v SP axis (to driver)
A+-B+-z+- X axis (to driver)
A+-B+-z+- Y axis (to driver)
A+-B+-z+- Z axis (to driver)
A+-B+-z+- SP axis (to driver)

--- I need to figure out which pin is which on the connectors from the drives, but this should be pretty straightforward to hook up. there may or may not be a drive enable type signal, but I don't think there is (for the control anyway).

coolant motor on/off (to 24v/110v relay)
coolant main solenoid on/off (to 24v solenoid)
spindle air blast solenoid on/off (to 24v solenoid)
cabin lights on/off (to 24v/110v relay)

--- those are basic outputs outside the brothers main systems, so easily connected. the lights and coolant motor technically don't even need to run through the control but why not.

X limit A/B (24V input)
Y limit A/B (24V input)
Z limit A/B (24V input)

X home (24V input)
Y home (24V input)
Z home (24V input)
Z ATC home (24V input)

--- these run through the brother relay board then to the control. there may or may not be some needed functionality to this, I'm not sure. it would be very easy to just run them direct to the mesa however.

drive power enable (to 24v/200/100v magnetic contactor)

--- this is enabled currently by a button on the control panel. I don't know if its better or worse to run it through the control or keep it directly wired. this is the on/off switch for the powered systems (motors basically) - after the mains power is turned on. it seems to be independent of the controls power - as in, the control turns on, then this contactor powers the drives.

ATC swivel left (?)
ATC swivel right (?)
ATC brake (?)

--- I haven't figured out exactly how this works - if it needs the relay board or can run off 24v. I need to look up the omron part manual. I assume you tell it to go cw or ccw, and then when the encoder hits where you want to be, you slam the brake on.

ATC encoder channel A (24V input)
ATC encoder channel B (24V input)
ATC encoder channel C (24V input)
ATC encoder channel D (24V input)
ATC encoder channel deceleration (24V input)

--- ATC absolute encoder wheel. easy to hook up, then we just need to determine how to use it.

coolant motor on switch  (24V input)
drive power on button  (24V input)
drive power off button  (24V input)
program start button  (24V input)
program hold button  (24V input)
door interlock switch  (24V input)
key lock front  (24V input - unknown use)
key lock back  (24V input - unknown use)

--- basic inputs, nothing special here I don't think.

X torque (analogue input)
Y torque (analogue input)
Z torque (analogue input)
SP torque (analogue input)

--- analogue inputs. really we only need the spindle one. I expect these should be easy enough to use.

MPG input A+-B+-Z+-
MPG mode (?)

--- standard off the shelf MPG with an encoder and 2 rotary switches.

I really don't want to interfere with too much of the original systems. there cooling fans, and power supplies that I imagine should be left completely as is. as a result, I think I want to try and use the relay board as is, and not try to bypass it for anything if I don't have to.

only hitch with that is, I don't have a pinout diagram for its connectors (I did see one for the drive cables, though the photobucket picture is gone now bah!).

anyhow, how hard can it be?

If the controller is the same as the tc 211 check out my thread. I did a total changer except for the tool changer with out cutting any wires. I only added an inline splice for the z across brake. I also posted some pics of the pin outs.

controller is similar, but not the same but the pics would still be useful. but..... all your pics are down as well. could you re upload it to something not photobucket?

I think that I have seen other people with a machine that needs to continue working duplicating the existing controller connectors on the LinuxCNC setup. Then they can plug back in to the known-good controller when paying work comes in, and switch back to developing the LinuxCNC setup in the quiet periods.