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General Mach Discussion / Using Mach to drive an automated scissorlift
« on: July 19, 2014, 02:09:10 PM »
Hello,
We are thinking of using a scissor lift for a parts picking operation. We would like to load the locations using XZ coordinates, then the lift would go to that X location on the isle and raise to the Z rack height. We would need to use a controller that would link to the electric drive of the lift and incorporate acceleration/deceleration. M00 codes with safety devices would make sure the lift doesn't head for the next location unexpectedly. The safety devices would likely include mechanical limit switches as well as a two-handed 'resume motion' command input. Position feedback would probably be encoders on the drive wheels for X position and maybe just a timer on the hydraulic drive for Z motion to determine height. Each axis would reset zero when X hits its home position when returning to the end of the isle and Z when it lowers to the bottom, and hopefully this would be adequate for any error correction.
Any thoughts on the best controller type to use for this operation? I don't know if something like the Arduino could be linked to Mach and do everything we need. We will likely need to use relays with more amps to control the scissor lift, but that's an easy thing.
We are thinking of using a scissor lift for a parts picking operation. We would like to load the locations using XZ coordinates, then the lift would go to that X location on the isle and raise to the Z rack height. We would need to use a controller that would link to the electric drive of the lift and incorporate acceleration/deceleration. M00 codes with safety devices would make sure the lift doesn't head for the next location unexpectedly. The safety devices would likely include mechanical limit switches as well as a two-handed 'resume motion' command input. Position feedback would probably be encoders on the drive wheels for X position and maybe just a timer on the hydraulic drive for Z motion to determine height. Each axis would reset zero when X hits its home position when returning to the end of the isle and Z when it lowers to the bottom, and hopefully this would be adequate for any error correction.
Any thoughts on the best controller type to use for this operation? I don't know if something like the Arduino could be linked to Mach and do everything we need. We will likely need to use relays with more amps to control the scissor lift, but that's an easy thing.