In general, most DC servo motors can be reused, however it is important to remember is that motors wear and if they are badly worn it may not be in your interest to reuse old motors. The good news is that most DC servo motors can be serviced, this involves changing the brushes, the bearings, cleaning out the carbon powder from brush wear and general service. Sometimes the motors may have been subject to coolant ingress in which case the motors need to be cleaned and check as a minimum. Please note that we do not recommend reusing motors that are no longer supported with new drives, because if the drive fails your investment may be wasted. Motors that need more than 200Volts are unlikely to be suitable for modern drives that tend to run below 200 Volts.

There are some things that you need to consider with regard to drives. As long as the drives have an identifiable enable input and a +/- 10 volts control voltage input to control the motors, they should work. Unless these inputs are easy to identify, it is probably easier to change the drives, because you can spend so long trying to figure out the wiring and time is money.

In general, most servo motors can be reused, however it is important to remember is that motors wear and if they are badly worn it may not be in your interest to reuse old drives and motors. The good news is that most servo motors can be serviced, this involves changing the bearings, cleaning out any coolant deposits and general service. Most servo motors fail because the drive fails, it can be difficult to replace the drive and sometimes it is cheaper to change the motor and drive as a pair. Old servo motors and drives often offer poor performance compared with new motors and drives. Below are some points that you might want to consider when deciding if you would be better to change the motors and drives.

• New drives are smaller and more stable.
• Higher precision and performance.
• New drives use less energy.

In general, most servo motors and drives can be reused, however it is important to remember is that motors wear and if they are badly worn it may not be in your interest to reuse old drives and motors. Most servo motors fail because the drive fails, it can be difficult to replace the drive and sometimes it is cheaper to change the motor and drive as a pair. Old servo drives often offer poor performance compared with new motors and drives. Below are some points that you might want to consider when deciding if you would be better to change the motors and drives.

• New drives are smaller and more stable.
• Higher precision and performance.
• New drives use less energy.

Older machines often used brushed DC spindle motors (these often have a fan on the side of them), while it may be possible to reuse the motor and drive, it is not recommended. The reason that these DC motors should not be used is because they use a phase angle Thyristor based controls and they can cause serious mains disturbance that may be outside of lawful limits. Many machines use 3 phase AC motors and most of these can be used again. You may want to consider getting the motor reconditioned.

Older machines often used brushed DC spindle motors (these often have a fan on the side of them), while it may be possible to reuse the motor and drive, it is not recommended. The reason that these DC motors should not be used is because they use a phase angle Thyristor based controls and they can cause serious mains disturbance that may be outside of lawful limits. Many machines use 3 phase AC motors and most of these can be used again.

Depending upon your experience fitting can be relatively simple but it is likely to take at least 40 hours of work. The major difficulty is normally connecting the drives, machines with "integrated" drives can be challenging, however some clients have found the task quite easy and quick. We do not want you to believe that the task is going to be simple it needs to be considered carefully.

A complete kit is normally quite straight forward to install, this is because the kit is supplied ready to fit and there are connectors for the motors, encoders etc. The more difficult items will be oilers, but this should not be to challenging. Items such as coolant pump, are ready to wire so should be quite easy to fit.

The best way to connect the coolant pump is via a three-phase solid state relay (SSR), this is included with every complete kit. Map software allows the user to choose any one of the 20 outputs, to drive your SSR. It is better to use a SSR than a conventional contactor, this is because when the contacts opens or closes they quite often cause an arc. The arc is caused by the collapsing magnetic field, this is called a back EMF and it can produce high voltages, these high voltages can damage electrics. Back EMFs can cause the controller to suffer disruptions or even damage. Using a SSR prevents this from happening.

If the encoders have a resolution of 1000 Pulses Per Revolution (PPR) or more they probably do not need to be changed. It is better to use encoders on the back of the motors rather then linear encoders, this is because linear encoders are subjected to any play in the ball screws. However, encoders have a marked effect on the precision of the machine and we recommend using encoders of at least 2000 PPR.

Milling machines and lathes are very difficult to protect from a safety point of view. If the machine is guarded, then you need to make sure that the guard switches work effectively. The MSD requires that there is an electomechanical break to ensure that the machine is safe when powered down. This is effected by using a 3 phase contactor and often a SSR. The idea is that the contactor never makes or breaks current, that is done by the SSR. It is very important to ensure that the operator is safe whenever manual intervention is needed!

Normally it is possible to use the existing controller arm. TRM are willing to make an adapter to allow the controller to be mounted of the original arm.