Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: cncjeff on July 25, 2010, 12:35:15 PM
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Has anyone successfully used a Mach3 control to replace an outdated control on a commercial embroidery machine (with multiple heads). Are you willing to sell or share your knowledge?
Regards,
Jeffrey
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Jeff,
There are quite a few postings here on that topic. http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,13859.0.html
Perhaps if you PM Khalid he may be able to give you more details of his setup and software.
Tweakie.
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Tweakie .. thanks for answering.....I confess I don't have much knowledge about the embroidery machines.. i started working on making a Software that can generate G and Mcodes for the embroidery format DST... As you will be aware that the Tajima file format better known as DST format has some information of X/Y (Hoop) movement for each stitch and color change... the DST file format is complex binary coded so you can not open and read it directly..
As the embroidery files are abundantly available on the internet with DST format, so i decided to make a GCODE EMBROIDERY SOFTWARE that can import DST file and convert it into usable Gand Mcodes..
The Gcode file then can be used with CNC converted sewing machine and you can make perfect replica... The one limitation is that we use Mach3 for driving the embroidery so SPM (stitches per minute) is very low..or you can say that you can not get more than 200 stitches per minute.. We are currently working on how to improve our Speed..but i have lot of others project running...
I make this software for only one reason... The commercial home embroidery machines having very small hoop area.. I made my machine with a hoop of almost 10" x 8".. I use WILCOM software to create the embroidery and then export it into DST format.. Import the file in my Gcode Embroidery software (This software is Public domain, and i kept it free for all hobbiest but not can be used commercially)....
Following is the link of the thread at CNCZone...
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57404
Following is the download link of the final version of my software...
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57404&page=33
Following is my blog where you can see my work..by clicking the pictures they can be seen in large size...
www.my-woodcarving.blogspot.com
Best Regards
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Hi Khalid, I looked for the download link for your software, but I could not find it. Could the program be emailed? Thanks, Jeffrey
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I am familiar with embroidery amchine as my wife has 2...
I have also thought of using a program like mach for a quilting machine - similar process, just differnces in the amount of detail.
My thought is that the easiest way to do the operation would be to have a sensor in the sewing machine main shaft and use it to inhibit motion when the needle is moving down. I don't know how quickly Mach would respond to that signal. The other way would be to stop at the end of every move and cycle teh needle. That might be more like the way the original embroidery software worked.
It would be more work... But seeing as you have already created teh software to convert from DST to G-code - you might look at some existing sourcecode for a CNC control (there are a couple out there for DOS) and modify it so that the needle finction doesn't have to be explicitly programmed - it is a added function at the end of every move.
I have worked a little trying to decode the Janome format and there are 2 types of moves - a stitch or a position. A position move leaves a thread that needs to be cut. Kind of like G00. All the other moves would be G01 with a stitch at the end.
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Hi,
The needle fuction is very simple... You can just download my software and play with it.. You will find how the needle is controlled through Gcode..
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Khalid,
Like Jeff - I can't find the download link to your software either. It is not on the page you have given http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57404&page=33
Is it on your website ?.
Tweakie.
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The link is on page 3. Just drop off the last 3.
Jeffrey
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Thanks Jeff. ;)
Khalid, please disregard my last post - thanks to Jeff the link is found.
Tweakie.
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But the Link is at Page-33 and in midway between the page..I think Post 388 and post No. 389 are the latest version.. You have to read all the Posts in Page No.33 to get the software working.
Regards
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Okay.. I think there is No. of Posts/Page settings... But the Post No. are same... SO follow the Post No. 388 and 389 and read upto 10 posts before and after these posts..
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Hi, Link is exactly this, I checked right now
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57404&page=33
Also you should read in pag 34 a post about Regional Configuration in WINDOWS-
rEGARDS
RENE
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Khalid,
You are quite right, the link is in post #388 but the paging system is dynamic and now this post is appearing on page 4 on my system. ;D ;D
Thanks for your help.
Tweakie.
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Hey Tweakie,
I got a question for you. I was playing around with the GCode files that I use for patterns, for my CNC Quilter, and I set up a file to repeat the pattern using G98 and L for the number of repeats. I noticed after the first pattern ran, and the program hit the M99 at the bottom of the file, the whole pattern slowed down tremendously, like maybe 400 percent of the original speed. Any idea what may cause this?
Larry
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Sorry Larry, I am no expert on using the G98 / L.. and M99 return commands as I don't think I have ever used them other than in the pre-coded Wizards where I had no problem with the code slowing down.
Not much help I am afraid. :(
Tweakie.
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Ok, thanks anyway. Have a great day Tweak.
Larry
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Hi Tweakie
I have an off the wall question for you. Here goes, I am in the process of automating the upper takeup roller of my CNC Quilter, and I am running into a programming issue. I have constructed a moving plate to carry the upper roller and roll it up as it travels forward, and unroll it when it reverses. That all works fine. The question is regarding synchronizing the movement of the upper roller with the movement of the Y-axis along the same longitudinal axis. This motion only needs to move about two inches when the center of the throat of the sewing machine is not in place over the takeup roller, but when the throat moves either forward or reverse over the roller, the direction of the movement of the takeup roller must be the same as the carriage with the Y-axis. I hope that makes sense. I have placed a drawing of the roller and the sewing machine carriage as an attachment. You will see that the roller is centered in the throat of the sewing machine. As the sewing machine moves forward, the takeup roller needs to move to stay centered in the throat, same with the reverse movement.
Any thoughts?
Larry
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Hi Larry,
If you need exact movement then fitting another stepper and driver and slaving this new axis to the Y axis or, if you can get the gearing right, driving the new axis from the existing Y axis step and direction signals.
As an alternative.......
A few years back I used to use drum plotters and the take up rollers were driven by current limited dc motors continuously energized (if the paper broke then the upper and lower take up rollers would rotate rapidly in opposite directions) as the drum rotated forward and backwards the paper would be taken up in either direction accordingly. There was also some adjustment of the take-up torque to cater for different paper thicknesses. I no longer have these plotters as my current stuff is flatbed otherwise I could get some circuit details but it should not be too hard to figure out.
Hope this helps,
Tweakie.
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Thanks to Khalid for his work on machine embroidery - I finally decided that I had to give this a try.
Just running a Tajima test pattern and ignoring thread colour changes my machine set-up appears to be running OK so I can now start to investigate the software side of things, hopefully to create my own designs.
Tweakie.
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Still some way to go on this but I am making progress...
I've read the book, watched the film, soon I am going to have the T-Shirt :D
Tweakie.