IONI plans

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As we are expecting the release candidate prototypes of IONI arrive any moment now on the first week of December according to factory, it’s good to shed light to the plans regarding the drive.

Here is a draft of one option: we launch a standard model which has all the features we have implemented to the date (pretty much all the stuff that Argon has) and a Pro version where we add sophisticated features that may be useful for the most demanding applications.

The IONI and IONI Pro plan

One possible variation model for IONI and IONI Pro

One might wonder why not to put everything into the one model. The reasons for separating the models into different price versions traces back to the cost. There will be cost of development and support that affect the Pro version price. Support is the main factor here. More sophisticated features inevitably generate more support overhead and that costs our time. If a customer buys lots of drives, then price of the two will become nearly same as the difference in support becomes near equal.

And the good news for early birds: as the implementation of Pro features will begin after standard IONI model launch, and there is no much extra in Pro, the early bird users will be receiving the Pro version at the price of standard model :-)

SimpleMotion v2 bus termiantor/breakout board eases setup

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As the multi-drop bus, SimpleMotion V2, contains also dedicated signals for drive Enable and Safe torque off, there is need for user to make electrical wiring to the bus. Based on support requests and feedback, we figured out there is need to ease this job. This is why SMV2BRK (SimpleMotion V2 break-out-board) was created.

SMV2USB adapter and SMV2BRK bus termination board.

SMV2USB adapter and SMV2BRK bus termination board.

Typical SimpleMotion V2 bus with SMV2USB and SMV2BRK.

Typical SimpleMotion V2 bus with SMV2USB and SMV2BRK.

Wiring of Enable and Safe torque off switches to SMV2BRK.

Wiring of Enable and Safe torque off switches to SMV2BRK.

SMV2BRK will become available through the web shop shortly. SMV2USB and SMV2BRK will be also sold as kit.

IONI hardware design ready and sent to production!

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This week we have reached the point where we could no more improve the hardware design of IONI. We celebrate this today by placing the first release candidate batch (10 pcs) of IONIs in production. Factory quoted lead time is 4 weeks from the order.

IONI see-thru image

IONI see-thru image in autumn colors. The final board is size is is 69.5 x 36.5 x 6.5 mm.

Meanwhile firmware will be finished so volume production should be able to start right away from prototypes are received and tested. Also production of IONOSPHERE will be begun at the same time with drives.

ION is now known as IONI

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ION servo drive has been renamed as IONI in order to prevent name collision with another company’s drive product named as Ion. Ioni is just a Finnish word for ion. :)

We haven’t yet decided whether to rename IONOSPHERE as IONISPHERE. Which one do you like better? Let me know in comments!

It’s called IONOSPHERE

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The proto PCB’s of ION motherboard have arrived! Boards are just waiting for assembly to let us begin testing.

IONOSPHERE four axis motherboard and ION drives awaiting assembly.

The IONOSPHERE four axis motherboard. The design shares VSD-E’s benefit of having motor and encoder connectors on same face so it can be easily installed through a panel.

Where our drives go?

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That is the question that got me wondering yesterday. We have a good feeling where they go but I wanted to know the answer in detail and here it is:

Deliveries by country

Deliveries by country

In summary we have had deliveries to more than 40 countries, many of them are destinations I could not even dream of selling when we started the business. I see Internet is working very well spreading the word all over the world. Thank you everyone involved! This would not have been possible without word of mouth.

One interesting observation is that we see orders coming in waves from area by area, especially from the countries with less frequent sales. For example Switzerland was quiet for long time, then suddenly multiple orders started coming during relatively short time.

Fanuc serial pulse coder support for Argon servo drive

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As Fanuc servo motors are quite common target for drive retrofitting, it was tempting idea to make native support for their serial communication based encoder on Argon drive.

The protocol seems quite straightforward based on the details people have found out. So without much wasting time, I purchased a Fanuc motor and hooked it on the drive. Argon encoder port has total of three programmable RS422 inputs and two RS485 inputs/outputs which would make it possible to communicate with almost any kind of serial encoder.

Fanuc servo motor with serial pulse code connected to Argon drive

Fanuc “red cap” servo motor with serial pulse code connected to Argon drive

Fanuc encoder outputs data in form of asynchronous serial communication that is transmitted and received by UART. During testing, it occurred to me that encoder outputs very unusual 76 bit word with single start and stop bit. Standard UART support 5 to 8 bit words so the internal UART of drive’s microcontroller will not help here. Implementing a custom 76 bit 1024 kbps serial receiver with bare software would be so tricky that plan of supporting Fanuc protocol is unfortunately looking quite improbable at the moment.

The working solutions for using a Fanuc motor are:

Most of serial encoder protocols (SSI, BiSS, etc) use SPI style transmission which is way easier to implement on software. Plan of supporting those is in the future plans, we just need some hardware and time to begin with.

This is the ION motherboard!

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Despite of being quiet, we have not been resting all summer. The four axis motherboard for ION drive is only pending “proofreading” and last minute ideas before prototyping.

The solution here is to use PCI-express 8X connectors where extra pins may be used later for higher power drive. The first ION model has PCI-e 4X connector and plugs in 8X socket too.

ION motherboard design nearly ready for prototyping

ION motherboard design nearly ready for prototyping

The board has been designed to be ideal solution for CNC, 3D printing and custom motion control systems. Key features include:

  • Carry up to 4 ION drives
  • On-board regenerative braking resistor
  • Each axis can have mechanical end switches and homing switch
  • Motor holding brake drivers for each axis
  • The first 26 pin ribbon cable connector is laid out so that it’s directly connectible to traditional CNC controllers (parallel port, SmoothStepper etc).
  • The second 26 pin connector has extra I/O for drives and analog setpoint inputs for custom applications
  • No separate break-out-boards needed
  • Charge-pump input for safety
  • E-stop switch input (safe torque off)
  • PWM to 0-10V converter for VFD spindle
  • Two relay drivers
  • Argon compatible encoder connector pin-out
  • RJ45 connectors for SimpleMotion V2 usage and configuration
  • Address selector jumper: up to 4 boards can be chained in one SMV2 bus (total 16 axis)

Any further ideas welcome! There’s still time to add more in it :)

New poll (DIY board assembly)

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Printed Circuit Board Through-Hole Assembly.

Printed Circuit Board Through-Hole Assembly.

We’re in progress of designing an open source accessory circuit boards for ION drive that are sold as finished product but instead they are DIY. So we will provide the design files (PCB & schematics) and maybe sell bare PCB’s too but assembly (soldering of components) should be done by user.

The poll is there to study which kind of PCB assembly skills people do have. Through hole components are easiest to assemble but is it necessary? Or do you prefer surface mount components (SMT) which would yields smaller PCB size? Vote and share your thoughts in comments below :)

SMT assembly

SMT assembly