Hi Guys:
Ive been driving myself, (and Brian) nuts with Quantum mathmatics for the planner. Id like to know what kind of effect is seen on more tables though. Results have been very good on the tests weve run so far, so since this is going to take awhile to fully figure out, Id like to know, from the brave and the stupid, just how much difference Scurveing and such will make to your system. (Plus I know some of you are addicted to testing, and havent had much to play with lately.. :-) )
In that vein, a very early alpha of Quantum is on the downloads page. It comes with rules..
Quantum Rules:
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1) It will share your system with Mach3. It has its own driver, so it wont affect your Mach3 installation.
2) It may screwup your plugin loader as it will repoint it to the Quantum plugins folder. To correct that , after install of quantum , run the program m3plug in your MACH3 folder. That will reset your system to know Mach3 really owns your plugins for Mach3.
3) Plugins will not work in Quantum, except for the included ncPod plugin. Delete any others in the Quantum plugin folder. Delete the joystcik and digitise.dll's for example. (And the pod as well for now since you wont have one..)
4) There is no support. None. Absolutely zilch. Other than the explanation below of what it does do. Experienced users only need apply. :-) . While the program is basically fully functional and will cut ,
some functions such as reverse, feedhold and such may not work as expected. This test is for the Brave and the Stupid..
5) This program basically will run just like Mach3 with two important differences. First, in the config/smoothing, is a box called Jerk. Its default is 999999999 , which effectively makes it run almost like Mach3. Lowering that number to 1000 - 50000 will set a 3rd order smoothing of your system. The lower the number, the smoother
the movement. Having it too low will affect 3d small segment programs and make it crawl at the moment. Having it too high will only make it work like Mach3, (which may be smooth enough for you anyway..). The difference you will notice is highly dependent on the system. Shopbot style systems will see a huge smoothing effect when its setup properly tuned to their system. Its really a balancing thing, the lower the number you use in the Jerk setting, the higher you will then be able to tune your acceleration. Thus the jobs will get quicker. BUT, since the Jogging is still in a trapezoidal profile, the higher you set the acceleration, the more jerky your Jog will end up being. Tests seem to indicate that on jerky systems, best results are when you lower the Jerk to get smooth GCode, then raise acceleration till Jogging is starting to get too jerky, then adjusting Jerk for best GCode movement, yeilds the best tune for the system. IT should then cut at speeds you could not obtain previously. Its all a matter of balance. In the Operator menu is a selection called "Velocity Scope". Select it and run a program, youll see the effect on your velocity profiles.
6) Quantum will also display the G41/G42 program as it will run, instead of Mach3's show only when it runs type of operation. If you get a chance to test that, Id like to hear as well how it worked.
Expect bugs and trouble, I dont need to hear about them, we know they are there. All we really do need to hear, is how much difference does it make to your system. Quantum is a numbers game. What we're doing is geared strongly to the smaller machines, Taigs, Sherlines, Plasma tables, but according to the numbers, (and testing), very strong effects seem to show on even much larger systems. We are working on much more advanced models to affect the movement much more, and speed up intricate 3d work as well, but since its all part of the same theory, we'd like to know the experiences of those that want to play. Feedback is valuable in this for several reasons, various strength machines will have different reactions, different users will also have different reactions, some will find no effect. (few I suspect..). So we'd really like to hear reports on What effect did you see? Was it pleasing? Does it help? How big is your machine? Were you able to get higher accel tuning using Quantum with Jerk enabled.? Whats your "sweet point" in the Jerk Settings. How low do you go?
, Can you now run 3d jobs faster with no jerking of your table or mechanics? Does it look like your Ballscrews are saying Thanks for the help? Are Art & Brian wasting their time? :-) , basically anything pertinent to the theory, this is mostly uncharted territory, and just beacuse my mill is in love with Quantum, doesnt mean yours will be. (Life can be like that..). The work here is tremendous, the implementation very complex, so the feedback can really help us thrust in the correct directions..
So, if you feel brave (Go ahead, Punk, make my day..), and feel like playing in the next generation , feel free to download Quantum 2.0 on the downloads page. Install it, copy your Mach3Mill.xml to QuantumMill.xml in the Quantum folder, and you should instantly be able to run it, it hasnt changed that much from Mach3 as yet, but though you wont see much difference, under the hood, the engine is not looking normal at all, whether it has gone from an 8 cyclinder to an F16 or to a chainsaw motor is what I want to know. :-)
Quantum updates will be rare and not as frequent as in past years, so no rush, you can take your time. IF you have a real jerky system though, your feedback is highly invited..
Have fun, Welcome to the new year..
Thanks,
Art
www.artofcnc.ca
