American Flyer wrote:

Paul,

The -02 board has just one dip switch (8-bits). It is just behind the
terminal strip. The -05 board has a second dip switch (4-bits)
next to the serial port ribbon cable. You can see both switches from
the top and/or rear without removing the board.

OK I'll take another look.

Does your Bandit currently run OK in JOG or MDI mode?

Don't know yet. Maybe by tomorrow. The guy working on it claimed it did.

As far as the ms-tech system, $4000 is at least twice what I would
be willing to pay for that upgrade. I have a friend here in
Phoenix who has been big into CNC resale for 20 years or more. He
says these Kasuga machines are worth about $2000-3000 more with a
modern controller than they are with a working Bandit I. I really
would rather design and retrofit my own controller anyway because
I think I may want to get into a sideline of retrofitting old machines.
The cost of the hardware for that ms-tech retrofit is of
course a small fraction of $4000. It would be much more profitable
for me to sell copies of my own hardware as part of a retrofit
than to have to buy someone else's.

The big problem is the software that reads the G & M codes off the hard
disk, sends the proper commands to the motion control card and generates
the user interface on the LCD and PC keyboard. Do you have something in mind for
that. Seems that software would be custom for each motion control card
design.  Can that be bought off the shelf for some motion control
chips set?

If you are patient, and can get along with the Bandit for awhile
(about 3 months), you should wait and come see mine when I get it
running. If you like it, I would sell a copy for a fraction of
what ms-tech costs just to get some additional user feedback. It will
have most if not all of their features eventually. Since your
machine is the same as mine, it would be very easy to do the same
retrofit. Mine will be USB based, with field updateable firmware,
and like theirs it will have essentially unlimited file size. I
plan to use a small off-the-shelf pc chassis inside the controller
console, with an LCD flat panel display and keyboard built-in (as
opposed to using a separate external PC). I am looking at the
possibility of a touch screen as well, but not sure if I will bother
with that at this point.

Harrison Young

I sure will. I am not overjoyed at the prices I have been quoted so far.

Paul Lamar

OK Harrison here is the number I got off the POP INTLK I/O card.

214 009 02F. I was pleased to see it had a 6850 UART on it and the
6502 was not bit banging.

BTW I think I found the designer and programmer of the Bandit. 

His name is Jim Drain(S?)

Rumor has it he works or owns DAC Optical Lathes in Carpenteria CA.
I'll call and see if he has the schematic and the 6502 source code.

Paul Lamar

American Flyer wrote:

Paul,

That might be a great resource you've found there. I'll scan the 
info for your board shortly.

Harrison Young

 
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