Anyone Use A Milltronics Partner 4 / Centurion 5 Controller ?

[mhansen]

Good Morning All,

We moved ahead an purchased the Milltronics Partner 4 with the Centurion 5 controller. Machine seems to work quite well and the controller seems to as well. My question is, the machine has added memory but used a floppy drive, or atleast the previous owner was using a 4-1/2" floppy to load programs. My question is, should I look at upgrading the centurion controller? I guess my fear is the floppy drive going bad and then I'm stuck with conversational programing, which could be difficult. Im just looking for feedback, has anyone ever used these older centurion controllers?

 

[Brian]

I have pretty much the same machine. I ran it on the Centurion control for maybe close to ten years and then the last several I have retrofitted it to Centroid.

You don't have to load programs using the floppy drive, just make a cable and run RS232 from your pc to the machine. Much faster and easier to do.

If you have any questions or want to do any upgrades, talk to SportyBob (user name on another forum) at Electro-Mech Tech Services LLC. | Cologne, MN 55322

 

[mhansen]

I have pretty much the same machine. I ran it on the Centurion control for maybe close to ten years and then the last several I have retrofitted it to Centroid.

You don't have to load programs using the floppy drive, just make a cable and run RS232 from your pc to the machine. Much faster and easier to do.

If you have any questions or want to do any upgrades, talk to SportyBob (user name on another forum) at Electro-Mech Tech Services LLC. | Cologne, MN 55322

Brian

I think I stumbled on to some of your videos on youtube. Why did you move to the centroid controller?

 

[Brian]

Well a couple of issues, my Centurion was the easiest version, the "A", so not as upgradeable as the later versions. I had already added a large compact flash card to increase memory storage, but there are still limitation involved with the computer using DOS, so any large programs had to be run DNC, which worked, just not the easiest.

The biggest reason is the machine was not consistent on spindle speed, I added a digital electronic tachometer to the machine as I do a lot of tapping... If I called up S1000 to run a tap, a lot of the time it would run 2000 or 3000 with no rhyme or reason. This made for some tense moments when running the machine, lots of e-stops to prevent busting my taps.

A good friend of mine does a lot of Centroid conversions, he ran into a complete system that somebody purchased and never integrated, so I got that and Marty helped with all the conversion. I did all the mechanical portion, machining motor mounts for the different servos and such, he did all the electrical (way beyond my abilities). I now have the ability to load programs of any length with a USB or network into the machine and run them normally, not DNC. I have a tool length probe and a Spindle probe for locating parts and getting tool lengths. The control is more up to date and runs on a PC using windows, so everything is fixable with off the shelf parts sourced locally, no proprietary components to deal with any longer, especially ones that were from 1992.

A couple years into it and I'm pretty happy with the conversion, I have some "snow" issues on the 22" touch screen that I used, not sure if it's a shielding issue or a bad screen, but that's about my biggest complaint, so pretty minor, Oh, the servos I used were part of the Centroid package and I don't think they were quite as potent as the old SEM servos, I lost some rapid speeds and occasionally the tool release piston will over power the Z servo and I have to start over with a tool change, usually when the axis has been sitting still for a long time. I do really like the wireless MPG unit, makes it easier for me as I work from a wheelchair and reaching back for the control is sometimes a difficult situation.

 

[jlkunka]

I just acquired the same setup, Partner IV with Centurion V. The machine was in storage many years and now the controller seems dead. CRT is black, no lights on the pushbuttons. All fans come on so it's not power. I also need program discs, boot discs, whatever it came with. Is anyone willing to make copies if I provide floppies? Or are there image files available somewhere?

There are emulators available on Amazon that replace the floppy with a USB port. I bought one to retrofit.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Brian]

The software for the machine is on a card burned into the eproms. If you can get the machine back up, you will have to reload parameters, but the software is there. Check your power supplies, the computer runs in 120V, so you could literally plug it into a wall socket with an extension cord and see if that will bring up the computer. If you have any shorts in the machine, coolant pump or the like, that will prevent it from coming up as well. Time to do some exploration....

 

[jlkunka]

The software for the machine is on a card burned into the eproms. If you can get the machine back up, you will have to reload parameters, but the software is there. Check your power supplies, the computer runs in 120V, so you could literally plug it into a wall socket with an extension cord and see if that will bring up the computer. If you have any shorts in the machine, coolant pump or the like, that will prevent it from coming up as well. Time to do some exploration....

So are discs with "parameters" available? This controller actually has an external terminal strip labeled for 12v, matching wires on the harness. When connected, the fan runs, and the fan runs in the operators station. No screen, no lights though. I've just begun to explore.

 

[Brian]

No discs that I'm aware of if it's an older machine. The factory will give you a list of the parameters the machine originally came with on paper, and you can input them by hand, it's not a huge list, so doesn't take too long. There are batteries on the main computer board and the Eprom card, if they are toast, you will need to replace them. The computer runs off of 120V, you should have a Tripplite power box mounted somewhere inside the cabinet that the actual PC and power to the front panel is plugged into.

If you want to post some pictures of the back box, it might help with a bit of the diagnosing.

 

[thereismorethan42]

Hey, just stumbled on this - I actually am looking to purchase one of these, but grabbed the contents of the floppy disk it had with it just to take a peek. As mentioned, it's just config data, but if it's helpful I have uploaded them here for others that may have lost theirs.

I am going to attempt to backup the software from the device, and then recreate it as a virtual machine on a modern laptop with moderns screens etc. If anyone has access to the actual software files, it would be helpful!

Once I have that down, I am going to try and convert it all to Mach4. Probably wont work, but worth a shot

 

[Brian]

Hey, just stumbled on this - I actually am looking to purchase one of these, but grabbed the contents of the floppy disk it had with it just to take a peek. As mentioned, it's just config data, but if it's helpful I have uploaded them here for others that may have lost theirs.

I am going to attempt to backup the software from the device, and then recreate it as a virtual machine on a modern laptop with moderns screens etc. If anyone has access to the actual software files, it would be helpful!

Once I have that down, I am going to try and convert it all to Mach4. Probably wont work, but worth a shot

Why in the world would you convert to Mach 4? Go from an industrial proven software to home/hobby brewed crap? That would be going backwards.