What controller to retrofit into an Epilog Legend 32EX

[StuMid (Stu)]

Hey all,

I’ve been using LightBurn for years on my K40 until it died. Recently, I’ve been gifted a faulty Epilog Legend 32EX. I think it’s actually working, but I want to replace the controller as it’s not compatible with anything beyond the 90’s, and especially not LightBurn!

I’m going to rip out the motors and drivers, but I’d like to keep the laser. However, the input to the PSU has zero documentation that I can find online. Has anyone got any info on this?

The Laser PSU is a Coherent DEOS D600 and the laser is a GEM RF laser

@mippen - I saw you were having problems with a similar PSU. Did you figure anything out?

[ednisley]

@StuMid

rip out the motors and drivers

If the motors have NEMA-spaced mounting, then all you must do is match the shaft diamters / lengths / flats.

However, the word “all” is in heavy-lift mode, so unless the motor / drivers are truly weird, leaving them in place will eliminate a whole bunch of hassle.

What are the motors and what do their drivers expect as input?

[StuMid (Stu)]

I’ve been told these use brushed servos with tachometers, which seems to correlate with the drivers in it. I’ve not had time to look at it propertly yet as it went from it’s original home to my car, to my shed which is where it’s sat since yesterday. The only reason I have photos of the bit is it was too heavy to move without removing the PSU, laser and controller!

A bit of googling suggests these expect analogue inputs from the controller.

This is one of the drivers

[ednisley]

@StuMid

these expect analogue inputs from the controller

Abusing that picture a little brings the wires out of the shadows:

The +REF IN looks a lot like an analog velocity input. The +5 V and -5 V supplies suggest the analog range isn’t more than 5 V.

Perhaps the driver box has a setup option to turn that input into a digital STEP input.

Whether the configuration gets done with those DIP switches or an unavailable DOS program will require some spelunking.

If that doesn’t work out, then your project just got a whole lot more complex.

[soniclab (Jeremy Hutchinson)]

@StuMid

A bit of googling suggests these expect analogue inputs from the controller.

Not necessarily, generally analog type servos require a different voltage.

Analog amplifiers use a continuous voltage signal typically ±10plus or minus 10 v

Since you see +5 and -5 volts that kind of suggests pulse and direction are 5 Volt logic