As one of the original MASTER EDGE CNC machines imported into Australia in the mid 90’s, this machine has seen plenty of work. However, when the original controller stopped working more than 6 years ago, the owner wasn’t left with many options. With the original controller being obsolete many years ago, finding replacement parts to fix the system was practically impossible.
Faced with either scrapping an otherwise mechanically sound machine, or retrofitting a modern, user friendly control system onto the legacy MASTER EDGE, the owner chose the latter. MDSmotion was able to restore functionality to the MASTER EDGE, enabling the machine to run for many more years to come.
Retrofit Details:
- Machine Configuration:
- Servo X, Y, Z (AB/OSAI OSS200/500)
- Spindle (driven by SpindAx VFD)
- 32 x Digital Outputs required
- 48 x Digital Inputs required
- 2 x +/- 10V AD channels required for reading spindle pressure and RPM
- Key Control Equipment supplied by MDSmotion:
- 1 x G2-M104A Motion Controller
- 2 x G2-S244 IO Controller
- 6 x ISOIO-0808 Relay Boards
- 1 x EZY-CNC PC based Control Software
- 1 x AIOPC Industrial 17″ Panel PC
- 1 x Industrial Network Switch
- Control Methodology:
- X, Y, Z Axis Drives (X: OSS500, Y, Z: OSS200) running in Velocity Mode and commanded by +/- 10V analog signal from G2-M104A. Position feedback via Quadrature Incremental Encoder.
- Spindle controlled with +/- 10v analog signal as a velocity command. RPM and Motor Load feedback is via +/- 10v analog signal.
- X, Y, Z uses physical home switches for homing. Since no + or – limit switches are available on the machine, the ‘soft limit’ feature of the G2-M104A is used.
- Relay outputs from 4 of the ISOIO-0808 boards are used to control various operations of the machine, such as pumps, pneumatic valves, motors etc.
- Isolated inputs from the ISOIO-0808 boards are used to interface with sensors and push buttons on the machine.
The Intermac Master Edge machine is a CNC machine designed for glass and stone fabrication. It’s commonly used in the glass and stone industry for tasks such as shaping, profiling, and polishing glass/stone countertops and similar surfaces. After the retrofitting of the above control system, the machine was able to resume operation running from the same input CAD files as the original controller used, so minimal operator re-training was required.