Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: poppabear on June 28, 2008, 10:01:29 PM
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Well got to meet the builder of the new "brain" 6 axis, closed dual
loop. We talked at length today, and it is a extreamly nice, industrial
level system. I will try to help him get a "Plug in" to get it to work
with Mach3, but I did recommend he try Brian first.
He posted up quite a bit of open source for his Motion board system and
interface.
scott
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For those that are curious.
http://www.safeguardrobotics.com/default.aspx?tab=cncbrain
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Hey Scott,
Did you see this unit in operation? It seems pretty awesome!
Sid
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Anybody got much idea of the cost - there are no prices on his website.
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Price is on the website from what I remember it was $499.
It looks interesing but the pushing the axis in the videos doesnt really impress me much as any decent servo drive should do that, the ones on my lathe certainly do. The double closed loop sounds interesting and I am looking forward to seeing some feedback from some of the guys that have bought them.
Hood
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Scott,
Is the Plugin for Mach3 and the CNCbrain still in the works, or has it been canceled?
Thanks,
Jeff...
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Jeff,
I am getting NO SUPPORT from the guy, he has basically dropped of the earth, I guess. Last I talked to him he really showed no interest in doing a plugin.
I think he sees Mach as a competitor since he has his own HMI as well.........
I Will need to study: Com and Active X in more detail, and when/if I have the: Time, Knowhow and not finacially strapped, I will try to implement something.......
Currently, I have mostly just crashed my computer when trying to hook to his COM (It may be a Vista Issue, since my comp will not hook to his Board even just using his stuff.............).
Fell Free to pester the Crap out of him and let him know what you want. He mostly hangs on the CNC Zone.
scott
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After looking around for more information about the brain and mach 3 I found this on the S.R. forum:
Posted: 2008-Dec-24 at 10:15pm
Wong,
The CNC Brain plugs into your notebook via the USB port. The Brain sends signals to the drivers that connect to your steppers and power supply. Also, if you have them, sensors from the machine connect into the Brain.
The CNC Brain is just what the name implies. It is a "Brain" that thinks in terms of motion control.
Importantly, the CNC Brain can be used to "grow" as machine as it can run in mixed mode (open loop, closed loop, double closed loop running at the same time).
The Control Panel software comes with the Brain, including the source code (written in VB.Net). The SDK is also open (in case you want to write something yourself). From Microsoft, there is a free compiler in case you want to see how the whole thing is put together.
For Mach, a lot can be done with it (I've used it myself years ago). We have postponed supporting Mach in favor of putting the efforts into taking the Brain to the next level. This is nothing against Mach, it is about where we put the time.
As for manual, there is a manual "start" here: http://www.safeguardrobotics.com/downloads/CNCBrain/V1.0.6.4/CNCBrain_Owners_Manual_v1.0.6.4.pdf
More is coming.
All that make sense???
s/Bruce
-Adam
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He doesnt have any plans now or in the future of allowin mach to use his Brian. The main reason is that His Brain takes motion control commands from the interface to a buffer in Brain the the Trajectory planner in the Brain run it. Mach on the other hand has its own trajectory planner and it sends its own motion control.
Bruce does not want to be forced to use Machs Motion planner, he wants Mach to use His motion planner.......... So, they are two very different things.
I was with him at his house when we had a Skype Conference between, Bruce/me, Art and Brian about the whole thing. Once Bruce figured out that He could not use his own motion planner with Mach, it was over. He would have to rework his motion board to accept the types of Motion commands that mach sends to external motion boards with Mach being in control at all times. He doesn't have any desire to allow that, nor does he want to redo his current Brain to have the optional Mach Controlled HMI.
scott
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OO, Well that stinks. I was looking forward to getting a brain and writing a plugin to make it work. There is no way around the Trajectory planner in mach? What are the motion commands that the brain needs formatted like?
How dose the smooth stepper work? I have one and dont really know. Dose it do any of its own processing or dose mach do it all?
-Adam