Matt - They are cool. I had been trying to find one for years and finally one hit the market and I picked it up. I didn’t mind getting one that was removed from service. It was cheaper because all the cables and extra wires were just disconnected and thrown in a heap. It took me about a week to tear it down and figure out how to get it back together again. The refurbished ones cost over $5000 on the low end.. Shesh! I can buy cars that are newer than the Pumas for less than that!
I had a lot of help from a loosely knit Puma community. But I am still in the 'baby steps' stage because the manuals I have are not 100% compatible with the machine I am using. Some of the commands do not work and I have yet to get the CS4-IO units to accept INPUTS. Outputs work fine; SIGNAL(1) turns on relay 1, SIGNAL(-1) Turns it off.
(There are 32 output relays and 32 Optically Isolated Inputs on a single IO unit for those wondering)
There were jumpers in the unit that had to be changed on each input to select 110V or 24V input. Each Input has a Bridge Rectifier on it so AC or DC works just as good.
The LEDs light up when I apply the input signal but the SIG(x) command never shows any change. I am still working on that part of the system. I think I am just using the command wrong.
STEVE!
DUDE! MY NEW FRIEND! Talk about envy! I would love to have (Spare Parts). Don’t get me wrong, the new systems today are cool. I actually have 2 Kuka pallet loaders at my day job as well as 20 Automatic-Guided-Vehicles (AGV) Forklifts in our warehouse. But my Puma is like a vintage car, I just get a kick out of digging around in that system and learning how it was all put together. It makes me appreciate what the new stuff can do. I have also gained a better understanding of Kinematics then I ever had before.
About those parts and Manuals you have. How attached to them are you... Hummmm? Actually I would pay for a photo copy of the documents you have! I would also be willing to talk about those parts and Pumas you have. It never hurts to have extra parts for older systems!
I am setting up a new email address so you guys can get in touch directly it will be RobotGuy (at) Theatronics (dot) com {I know I shouldn't post addresses here, but How else can I get those amazing manuals eh!? Besides if it gets spammed I’ll delete it and make a new one.. }
I just configured the address so it might take a while for it to show up in email servers. If your email doesn't get through try again in a few hours.
I am also setting up a web page (
www.theatronics.com) where I want to begin posting all the data I can about Pumas and Robotics I have found. There seems to be a huge lack of detailed technical info on the web. (Unless you like tearing through thesis and doctoral drivel looking for something useful)
-Mike