NI SCC-68 for motion control?

[confusedbme]

I cannot afford to get a universal motion controller but I found the SCC 68 terminal block. I know it is used for Data Acquisition, but i was wondering if there is a way to connect it to a stepper motor drive for motion control.

My PI says that there is he has done it before for a microscope that he used, but I'm trying to figure out how to set it up for a 3 axis system, to see if its even possible to connect it for at least one axis.

I already have a PCI 7340 and I have the MID 7764 stepper motor drive.

[Lysandros]

Depending on your motor drive, you will need to generate specific signals for interfacing with the drive. They can be analog, digital or PWM or various other formats. Consult your motor drive for the exact requirements of the protocol, the timing and the voltage levels.

Also, the electric interfaces of a motor drive have specific input (i.e. output) impedances. That has to be taken into account, because else malfunction/damage will occur.

As far as I know, NI offers dedicated software and hardware modules for motor control.

[Buechsenschuetz]

You may use this as a pure electromechanical interface. But of course a terminal block does no signal conversion, i.e. the signals to and from the motor drive are fed through "as is". The NI motion controllers have TTL output levels and TTL compatible inputs only. Many motor drivers have a differential input, and many encoders have differential signal output, and these devices cannot be connected to the motion controller with a simple terminal block. 

NI offers something more versatile, the UMI box. It does no conversion of output signals (so you need an extra signal converter in case your motor controller has differential signal input or even 24V level inputs as used in plcs. But an encoder with differential inputs can be wired directly since the box accepts both TTL level and differential inputs on the encoder input lines. 

I wrote this with stepper motor drives in mind. Servo drives may need a analog input signal, and you have to make sure that the analog outputs of the NI motor controller match the requirements of the motor driver.