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Looking for Tsugami parts…(Turret Encoder)

devin_decater

Plastic
Joined
Feb 20, 2014
Location
California Central Coast
Hi all,

I’ll try to be brief -
Looking for turret position encoder for 1985 Tsugami NM-3 (or Micro 5)
The encoder was built by NSD specifically for Tsugami. Part number is
HB-A6008AP-Z011

Control is Mitsubishi Meldas L0,

it’s a magnetic Hall effect encoder, not the typical optical disk - I’ve seen similar on eBay, but as I understand it, this encoder is unique.

I had the misfortune of missing a fellow on here by a week - he posted about buying a dead NM3 back in august and scrapped the machine a week before I reached out to him about buying the part. Talk about horrible timing!

My Tsugami dealer can get me the part - which is amazing - but the cost is beyond the value of the machine. Then being said, I’m willing to pay a decent price for the component, as it’s the only thing standing between me and running parts.

Well darn - I would post photos, but they are “too large” :-/ the machine is a horrible mustard orange color you wouldn’t miss from a mile away. It’s ugly, but it turns great parts and has been solid as a rock until I pulled a massive dumb looking it up in the new shop..
 
Do you have an encoder that can be repaired, or do you need to source a replacement?

Oracle Encoder Service in Indiana has repaired some encoders for me. They might also be able to source a replacement.

I would also try Servotech in CT. I don't know if they could do a repair, but they might be able to set you up with a replacement.

Good luck!
 
Do you have an encoder that can be repaired, or do you need to source a replacement?

Oracle Encoder Service in Indiana has repaired some encoders for me. They might also be able to source a replacement.

I would also try Servotech in CT. I don't know if they could do a repair, but they might be able to set you up with a replacement.

Good luck!
I’ve contacted a few encoder repair services - they say that since it is epoxy filled it can’t be repaired.. I don’t know if that is accurate, I’ll reach out to those you mentioned here, it’s worth a shot!
 
If it can't be repaired, I would hope that someone could suggest a suitable replacement.
 

This place implies they can do it.

This may sound nuts, but if you can carefully dissect that old encoder you can figure out exactly how it works. I've done it with optical encoders that were totally shithouse and no datasheets. Hall effect should be the same deal, just machined targets instead of a screen printed disc. I bet it's dirt simple inside when you get it apart.

The replacement could be as simple as an array of microswitches or prox switches or you can match up a current tech equivalent or even have a custom one made.

The machines not doing any good dead. Not much to lose.
 
Send me a picture of the encoder with some dimensions and picture of where it is mounted. Does it have a shaft? I'm thinking not. Are there teeth on the turret that the encoder might be detecting? Got a wiring diagram for the machine? It might tell us what signal the machine expects from the sensor. Could very well be just simple two input quadrature detection. Sad when something like this puts a good machine out to pasture.
 
We have a solution!

I hope.

So here's the plan - I'm working with a good friend of mine who is an electro-mechanical engineer (Great to have one of those friends) We have decided to build our own encoder.

I did dissect the clearly dead unit, first pulled the wheel out of the housing - it has an interesting array of magnets, arranged with some poles one direction, some the other. Then I just turned away the housing until I could remove the epoxy slug. This revealed six neatly arranged hall sensors. I put some time into trying to figure out their thinking on this, and decided since space is not a huge concern, I'll design my own setup. Takes up a bit more space, but it will be a "dumb" unit and should give the same results without having to program a microcontroller. Tsugami wants a whopping $3K for this encoder, so I figure if I can build this in less than 30 hours, it will be worth it.

I'm going to split up the bits axially, so the sensors will be lined up next to each other instead of radially around the encoder wheel. The wheel will end up being around 1.25" long, and a little smaller diameter as the original unit. I'll poke holes representing the binary bit the control wants to see for each position, epoxy a little magnet in the holes and I think we will be off to the races! I'm going to try to post pictures again - I'm on a PC now, so I should have better luck.

Please let me know if you find any flaws in my plan? I would rather address it now before I get too deep into it...

Encoder wheel.jpgSensor Array.jpgSensor.jpgEncoder Drum.pngSchematic.jpgTsugami NM-3.jpg
 








 
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