I did not know the plug-in within mach allowed for pid tuning and such - neat.
Yes often the case when trying to score points
should really research before you do, that is why I dont criticise EMC as I know very little about it
I don't know what you mean by tuning the spindle in linuxcnc. Yes - if the spindle has its own pid loop for speed control - you would tune it within linuxcnc. Some do that. The vfd on our hmc does good enough that I never setup closed loop speed control. It isn't required for rigid tapping as the axis is slaved to the spindle. The axis just stays in sync with whatever the spindle does. (don't know if that is what you where asking..)
Well it was really just because you were saying I had to tune my spindle and it sounded like EMC magically could mind read your VFD so tuning was not required
But I see now the main thrust of your argument was tuning in different place from other set-up but that is now known by you to be wrong
Yes tuning is not important for rigid tapping, however precise depth control then becomes trial and error, something I am sure you would soon fall into with use on your particular machine at particular spindle speeds in a particular material etc, ie just try, measure then increase/decrease in the code to suit.
I don't know how standard the plc language is in linuxcnc. I didn't have any trouble wrapping my head around it - having only some exposure in college... I am about 50/50.. I did the tool change/chain/pallets logic in ladder and the spindle gear shift logic in 'comp' (a C like language for making realtime components in linuxcnc) I could wrap my had around the 16 gear spindle programmatically vs ladder. Again - vs the brains/vb - that isn't realtime. it happens when it happens. In linuxcnc I know that the ladder is going to scan every 1ms and the realtime logic is going to happen every X ms or us..
Here you go again, real time, is it needed for a tool change? I think not. Brains are extremely fast but constrained by Mach3's update of 10Hz for non-critical I/O but if 10Hz is not fast enough for your toolchanger then I would be very surprised. And as far as "it happens when it happens" well no, it happens within the expected time frame.
Mach4's update will be much faster but Brains wont be in Mach4
with mesa hardware (5i25 with server daughter board - 6 axis + 48i/o + expandable $239) you can count to 2mhz.
Ahh come on now Sam, thats only half your war cry, tell me again, I seem to have forgotten, how much does LinuxCNC cost?
2MHz is quite good, especially for hardware at that pricepoint.
Now I do need to say one thing Sam, I do respect what you have done with your machine but more importantly I respect your integrity. I recall some guy listening to John S babbling on how Mach4 wont have threading with the PP etc, so he went to Yahoo and asked Art directly, again trying to get the info he wanted to hear so he could score points.
Art replied but it was not the info he wanted to hear. The guy never posted the info from Arts reply on the homeshop forum as it would not be possible to score points.
You however reported that info and my respect for you went up considerably
You did still manage to get a wee dig in though
but that is why I enjoy this banter.
Hood