Delta Tau UK's Advantage 500

Delta Tau has introduced its latest low cost CNC/General purpose controller that enables simple and inexpensive operation of all sorts of machines from metal cutting tools to lasers, flatbed cutters and Cartesian robots. The control provides motion control, operator interface, PLCs, standard interfaces and software in a single unit.

Called the Advantage 500, the system can handle four or eight axes and has at its heart Delta Tau's powerful Turbo PMAC Clipper. The PMAC motion controllers give stability, flexibility, accuracy and speed. This, coupled with the use of the company's Turbo PMAC CPU embedded computer delivers a controller that has many high level features within an otherwise simple system.

Unlike PC based solutions, the Advantage 500 solves all of the wiring headaches of getting cabling in and out of the motion controller. The controller comes with a broad array of hardware interfaces as standard so that just about anything can be simply plugged into the unit.

Machine operation features such as lead screw and planar compensation; backlash compensation; fast position capture; rapid position comparison; master/slave capabilities; and the ability to handle 40MHz and auxiliary handwheel encoders, are just a few of the features that will greatly appeal to machine builders and end users.

Set up could not be easier, there are interactive input screens: axis characteristics; axis I/O; axis reference methodology; and finally general axis and CNC options.

The Advantage 500 can be supplied with either CNC machine tool software or with DNC software or custom HMI's designed using VB.net or C++ embedded for any type of flatbed machine. The CNC interface uses the familiar RS274 G-code library, but also offers the PMAC-style structured text entry and a DNC interface for external program download. Indeed, the controller's CNC software has full G, M and T code compatibility for milling, turning and grinding.

The deployment of Delta Tau's soft PLC allows the Advantage 500 to be programmed using American Ladder Logic or Sequential Function Chart since the software is IEC1131/3 compliant. Programming can also be performed remotely for subsequent download. The user-friendly programming is emulated at the controller itself, but while allowing the changing of variable values for maintenance purposes, the programs cannot be overwritten at the machine – an important safety and security feature.

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For further information, contact: Andy Joslin,
Delta Tau UK Limited,
Unit 2 Faraday Close
Gorse Lane Ind. Est.
Clacton on Sea
CO15 4TRZ

Telephone: 01255 221 055
Fax: 01255 225 391
e-mail: ajoslin@deltatau.com