Messages

1221

Galil / Re: Problems with losing position

« on: January 24, 2014, 10:28:47 PM »

Well...  Mach3 with a Galil is not the same as Mach3 controlling a stepper system.  Mach3/Galil is a closed loop system!  The servo PID loop is closed on the Galil.  And there is another important distinction; Mach3 gets its position from the Galil!!!  This is in contrast to a stepper system where Mach3 has it's own notion of where it thinks the table should be.  What is displayed in the Mach3 DROs comes from the Galil (which comes from the encoders).  This can be verified by disabling the servo drives and turning the motors by hand.  You will see the position updated in the Mach axis DROs.

So something is amiss here...  Are your motor tuning counts set right?

While all of the issues you described above might throw a stepper system for a loop, I have never seen any of them get my Galil and servo system out.  I can hit e-stop, escape, hit a limit, stop and everything in between and Mach always knows where the motors are.  I find it VERY repeatable and reliable.  If I set a part zero, then slam into a limit, all I have to do is hit GOTO 0 and I'm back to my part 0 with amazing accuracy.  If I hit e-stop and blow my axis reference away, all I have to do is home the machine and hit GOTO 0 and I'm right back at my previous part 0.  Again, with amazing accuracy.  (I do use index homing.)

What you are describing sure sounds like a mechanical issue to me.  Another fellow just had similar issues and he found his slip.  (http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,25998.0.html)  It may work in Galil Tools for a bit and then start acting up.  My advise is to take a hard look at the motion system.  Because I have never seen what you are describing come from any other source.  Mechanical issues can be tricky.  I have seen a slip in one direction and not another.  Inconsistent slips.  Slips more on direction sometimes and then reverses, etc...  Very frustrating.  But I really think this is your problem.  For several reasons...

1) I don't experience what you are describing at all. 
2)  There are a LOT of Mach3 Galil users and they are not experiencing this (or else I would be flooded with complaints!).  We have a customer that sells engine block boring machines that use Mach3/Galil.  If things were not as they should be, there would be a bunch of ruined engine blocks laying around.
3) I have solved a LOT of mechanical motion issues in the past that were deemed "impossible".

I'm not ruling out some strange occurrence though.  Also, hacked versions of Mach3 do strange things.  So make sure your license is valid.  Some users have gotten bilked by purchasing Mach through less than ethical people.  They may have a bad license and not even know it! 

Good luck hunting.  Seek and destroy! 

Steve

1222

Galil / Re: Galil + Mach3 slowly losing position

« on: January 19, 2014, 02:13:28 PM »

Glad to see you got it sorted!!

Steve

1223

Galil / Re: DMC-4080 on-board amp hardware questions

« on: January 15, 2014, 11:22:48 PM »

Mark,

I have not actually seen a 4000 series controller with the amps built in.  All I can say is read the Galil docs a couple of times and then re-read them.  The last thing you want to do is brick it.  But I feel like the integral amp boards can be used.  If not, I'm sure Galil will reconfigure it for a reasonable price.  I was just reading the docs and I thing it is certainly possible to use the controller though.  The only thing is the amp enable outputs are a bit different on the amp controllers.  It may require removing the cover to configure them.  An the voltage ranges may not be available.  Regardless of if it has amps, you will need to provide power to that plug.  The amps are powered by a different power source I believe.

I can tell you for certain that the 4000 series controllers are really sweet. 

Steve

1224

Galil / Galil plugin version 4.6 available.

« on: January 08, 2014, 05:54:30 PM »

There is a new Galil plugin available on the plugin download section of http://www.machsupport.com.

Two plugins...  One for Smart Term and one that will work with Galil Tools (and possibly Galil Suite) PCI drivers and Ethernet controllers.  Pick the one you want.  You don't want both plugins in the plugin directory at the same time! 

Steve

1225

Galil / Re: Galil Connector

« on: December 10, 2013, 05:47:33 PM »

Yes, exactly like that.

Drive enable is a function of the Mach enables.  I believe you can stagger the enable delay in Mach 3, but I do not know how.  You may want to pose that question in the General section.

Steve

1226

Galil / Re: Ethernet communication drops with RealTek card

« on: December 10, 2013, 01:48:39 PM »

I have seen a fair amount of computers come with these RealTek Ethernet controllers on-board.  And another issue with them is that the transmit buffers are woefully inadequate for streaming data TO something.  They work fine when the PC is streaming data FROM something, like a video from the web, etc...  But streaming data to the Galil was problematic.  So you have to go fiddling with the Ethernet card driver settings.  Find the transmit buffers and max them out.  Then it seems to work fine.

Steve

1227

Galil / Re: Galil Connector

« on: December 10, 2013, 01:38:44 PM »

Ilia, you can limit the output voltage with the TL command.  I use it on my Matsuura because the amplifiers actually take a -6 to +6 voltage range.  Galil is VERY handy when running obscure stuff. 

Steve

1228

Galil / Re: Galil Connector

« on: December 10, 2013, 12:40:16 AM »

Nice!  Thanks Ilia!

Steve

1229

Galil / Re: Mitsubishi J2S-40A and Galil DMC-2183 with ICM-20105

« on: December 02, 2013, 02:19:48 PM »

The DMC-2260 is a good controller.  It has 100 Mb Ethernet and can probably do 2ms in LI mode pretty well.  Tweaking the VA, VD, and VT params via the plugin will smooth things out even more.  I have never tried the position control (step/dir) input servo drives, as there is really no reason to use a Galil with them.  So for your machine, I would suggest 200w analog command servos.  A bit overkill, but you can soften them up with the PID parameters.  You will most likely want to drive the screw with a reduction belt drive to the servo.  No direct drive as often used with steppers.  Most servos will do 3K RPM so gear reduction is the norm. The more encoder counts per unit you can get is going to help all things out.  The Galil will handle 50,000 counts per inch easily.  So use 5:1/4:1 reduction or so on the servo to the screw and then calc in the screw pitch to get in the 30,000 to 50,000 counts per inch ball park, assuming 1024 counts per rev or more encoders on the servos.  Adjust accordingly for metric.

I like the little Yaskawa SDG/A servo drives and the matching SGM motors.  Bullet proof.  And you can find them pretty cheap on eBay.  SDGA-02BS is the 100v (110v mains) drive and the SDGA-02AS is the 200v (220v mains) drive.  The motors have to match the drive voltage.  For smaller 100 watt system, SDGA-01BS or SDGA-01AS.  Big thing here is getting the cables control cables with the drives.  Or at least the stubs.  Otherwise, you will have to order some expensive cables!

The 200 watt motors are not much bigger than NEMA 23 steppers.  The 100 watt motors are even smaller.

Tuning the servo system is a royal pain.  But once done, it is well worth it, IMHO.  Quiet and smooth.  Less stress while operating the machine.  The sound is rather nice on the ears.

Be careful though...  Once you go servo, you never go back!  

1230

Galil / Re: Galil + Mach3 slowly losing position

« on: December 02, 2013, 03:13:40 AM »

I guess it is possible.  But I was talking about noise sources such as switch mode power supplies or VFDs that use switching transistors.  They are terrible!  

Try this test that will take Mach and the Galil plugin out of the equation.

What happens in the Galil terminal if you do this:
1.  ACX=5000 ' set accel to something your machine can deal with.  5000 is just a number I thought up.
2.  DCX=5000 ' set deccel to something your machine can deal with.
3.  SHX  'servo here to turn on drive.
4.  DPX=0 ' set the X axis encoder count to zero.
5.  PAX=10000  'move the X axis pos 10000 counts (or something that makes you machine move about an inch or two)
6.  PAX=0 ' Move X back to pos 0.

Do you get back to 0?  If not, PID or mechanical.  

Also, the motor should hold position at zero after the last test step.  If it does not, then there is something really wrong somewhere.  It should really not ever creep after SH has been issued.  If you try and turn the screw by hand, the servo should fight you and try to keep the encoder at zero.  This is really a good test because you will see if you PID values are good.  If it fights back and tries to return to zero and it just never makes it back after you let your hand off, there is a sign that the PID values need tweaking.  It should go back to 0 and stay there.  It may dither back and forth a couple of counts, but not much!

After MO (motor off), the servo loop is disabled and the motor can creep if there is a bias on the analog command input of the servo drive.  In this case, you can adjust the voltage bias with OF (offset) to get a no creep setting.  Use BN to burn the OF value to the controller.  

Oh, and it goes without saying but I will say it anyway...  Be careful! 

Steve