Mach3 + Galil

[Brian Barker]

If you would like to probe I would stay away from the Galil at this time... I have boards and so on on the way so I can test the Galil on the new router that I have here but I have no idea how long it is going to take me to get this all working I need about 3 more of me to keep up with the work load

I think the best thing to do at this time is to make a machine that will run from a desktop computer and change it over to a Smooth stepper as soon as they are out

Thanks
Brian

[usfwalden]

Too late, I have a galil 2160 sitting on my kitchen table.

If you would like to probe I would stay away from the Galil at this time... I have boards and so on on the way so I can test the Galil on the new router that I have here but I have no idea how long it is going to take me to get this all working I need about 3 more of me to keep up with the work load

I think the best thing to do at this time is to make a machine that will run from a desktop computer and change it over to a Smooth stepper as soon as they are out

Thanks
Brian

[usfwalden]

and the 19540 has been ordered....


What else might I run into besides probing not working?  Is there a particular challenge with the architecture for probing and toolsetting to work with mach?  Is that something being worked on or should I persue other avenues of connecting the probe?  I do have a cardbus serial card I can use on the laptop if needs be.

[usfwalden]

Brian,

Are you the one developing the galil plug in?  Even if it's not currently being worked on it would be helpful to know what isn't working and what the hurdles are to getting those features working and come up with alternative methods of getting them working either temporarily or permanently.

Like if I can do probing and tool setting by hooking a probe up through serial modbus or something like that.  I could do that.  I just need some direction from someone who knows how the plugin and mach work.

[small_rcer]

Good day:

I too would like to know the current status on the Galil plugin.  Am looking at the DMC-1836 3 axis or DMC-1846 4-axis PCI  card for a vertical turret lathe.  The VTL has shaft encoders on the ballscrews.  Will Mach3 accept the output from the encoders via the Galil card and display that on the DRO, and use it for position information, rather than the predicted position?

In other words if an axis has incremental shaft encoders on the axis itself rather than on the servo motor, does Mach 3 use that position information for determining accels, decels and other motion, or does Mach 3 not use this, and instead display the "estimated" or predicted position based on motion commands sent to the Galil?

The Galil card will "close the loop" if the feedback from the encoder on the actual axis is used by Mach via the Galil card.

Another question is the servo motors themselves have encoders to tell the servo drives that the motor has moved, the servo drive will generate a fault signal if the motor does not turn, and can generate pulses as the motor turns; can Mach 3 accept this 2nd encoder input as well?  The Galil can accept 2 encoder inputs per axis I believe.  The difference between the 2 could be used as the backlash determining value. 

In the proposed application, the servo motor is connected by a 21.5 to 1 gearbox, to the ballscrew.  There is a small amount of backlash in this motor to ballscrew drivetrain.  That is the reason for the encoders on the ballscrews.

To re-iterate, an update on the Galil plugin and its capabilities would be very timely.

Thanks

Jim H

[Jeff_Birt]

The encoder on the servo is the 'main' encoder. The Galil uses this to control to motor, and the servo control is done on the Galil card, Mach just tells it where to go and monitors the encoder readings. The encoders on your ballscrews are 'auxiliary' encoders, Mach can display the reading from the auxiliary encoders, but I'm not sure how the Galil makes use of them, many controls use aux encoders to 'double check' positional accuracy.  (I have an 1842 that does not have aux encoder capability). If you know you have backlash it's best to remedy it mechanically as much as possible, fancy controls can help, but not work miracles.

[HillBilly]

I am using a 2183 on a mill and having problems with the 4th axis. I can jog it around no problem using OEMButtons 313 (Jog A+) & 314 (Jog A-) DRO seems right on. The problem occurs when I try to MDI or program a negative move, the U axis then heads positive (I am using the axis in a linear fashion.). From Z0 U0 I programed a -1" Z movement along with the U -1" and the Z moved real slow while the U moved at feedrate in the positive direction. There appears to be an endpoint somewhere but I was going to run out of U travel before the Z made it to -1".

I MDI'ed a series of positive moves U1, U2, U3, etc.., always right on. I have tried both the lockdown (R2.63) and latest (R3.039) versions of Mach3 and the latest Galil plugin (3.00.00).

Thanks, Darek

[HillBilly]

I found the [Rot 360 Rollover] setting being checked on the general config page is affective this axis, although it is not setup as angular. A move from U2 to U1 that stopped at U361 led me there.

Darek

[usfwalden]

Anybody have any idea why a dmc-2160 would report back as a dmc-2120?  I'm in that situation now.  I just installed a used dmc-2160 with a new amp-19540 and the control is reporting the correct serial number for the 2160 but only 2 axis of information and labeled as a dmc-2120 in both smart term and galil tools lite.  Even though I purchased everything else new and would have been happy to send it in for service if that's what it needed Galil is refusing to give me technical support because the dmc-2160 is used.  I'm disgusted with the company and looking for a new control supplier now but I'd still like to get this one working correctly.

[kcrouch]

If You use Galil Smartterm and issue TP. what do You get as a return? Also have You got the correct number of sip resistor packs installed in the sockets on the board? if You get a position report for more than 2 axes, then You are probably fine. If You have some missing resistor packs, then You have a real problem. Please get back to me, and I'll try to help.
Kenny