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Using Stepper and Servo Motor Drives Together with One Motion Controller

Hardware: Motion Control>>Controllers>>PCI-7354

Problem:
I am using a PCI-7354 four axis motion controller, and I want to control both servo and stepper motors with it at the same time.  Is there a way to use National Instruments stepper and servo drives such as the MID-7602 and MID-7652 together with this motion controller card?

Solution:
The PCI-7354 is a four axis controller with all four axes on a single 68 pin connector.  A router or custom cable adapter is required to link this single connector to two different NI motor drives.  The MCA-7724 Motion Axis Router was used for this purpose in the past, but its production has been discontinued due to extremely low demand.  Currently, there are no direct alternatives to the MCA-7724 offered by National Instruments.  If you need to connect a motion controller to servo and stepper drives such as the MID-7602 and MID-7652 at the same time, the following options are available:
  1. Create a custom cable that breaks out the signals on a single 68 pin connector to two 68 pin connectors.
  2. Use three UMI-7764 breakout connectors:  One for the controller, and one for each motor drive, then wire the UMIs together as necessary.
  3. Consider using all servo or all stepper motors in your application.  This eliminates the need for two different drives, and it allows you to directly connect the controller to the drive with a 68 pin cable.
  4. Consider upgrading to a six (PCI-7356) or eight (PCI-7358) axis motion controller card.  These cards have their axes split up between two connectors, which allows you to connect directly to two different drives without any intermediate accessories.


Related Links:
Developer Zone Tutorial: Stepper Motors
Developer Zone Tutorial: Motor Fundamentals

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Report Date: 09/13/2006
Last Updated: 11/20/2008
Document ID: 41CAD9MS

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