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G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / How to activate & deactivate an output once every 5 seconds in G-code or macro?
« on: March 03, 2013, 12:30:31 AM »
Hi
I am fairly new to the world of CNC, i recently built a small milling machine which packs a real punch and have been making parts on it for a few months now.
I use Lazycam on dxf files and then tweak the G-code manually which has been a great learning curve, in fact the whole project has been really.
I have just finished my lubrication and chip removal system and am all set to go apart from activating it in my G code. I recently discovered macros and wonder if these may help here also.
My lube is straight 11 weight cutting oil and is sprayed at the cutter at high pressure through an automotive fuel injector driven by a PWM driver. This works great but I don't need the lube running constantly, even at minimum PWM to open the injector there is still 10 times more oil than I need being delivered to the cutter and it just makes a mess.
I don't want a flood type system, it's an open machine that makes enough mess as it is, and i need bugger all cutting oil on the alloy at a time. Currently I am applying it with a paintbrush prior to each cut and that is plenty.
How do I go about activating a relay output for say 1 second out of every 5 seconds, while my code is running? Is this even possible in the Mach3/Windows XP environment?
I can easily use an arduino to turn on/off every 5 seconds but i feel the computer is smart enough to do that itself, if only I knew how!!
Can we use code similar to the arduino "blink without delay" example in a macro? (ie use the system clock and count milliseconds til on/off)
Thanks in advance for any help, please bear in mind my programming knowledge is fairly limited so try to keep it simple if possible!!
I am fairly new to the world of CNC, i recently built a small milling machine which packs a real punch and have been making parts on it for a few months now.
I use Lazycam on dxf files and then tweak the G-code manually which has been a great learning curve, in fact the whole project has been really.
I have just finished my lubrication and chip removal system and am all set to go apart from activating it in my G code. I recently discovered macros and wonder if these may help here also.
My lube is straight 11 weight cutting oil and is sprayed at the cutter at high pressure through an automotive fuel injector driven by a PWM driver. This works great but I don't need the lube running constantly, even at minimum PWM to open the injector there is still 10 times more oil than I need being delivered to the cutter and it just makes a mess.
I don't want a flood type system, it's an open machine that makes enough mess as it is, and i need bugger all cutting oil on the alloy at a time. Currently I am applying it with a paintbrush prior to each cut and that is plenty.
How do I go about activating a relay output for say 1 second out of every 5 seconds, while my code is running? Is this even possible in the Mach3/Windows XP environment?
I can easily use an arduino to turn on/off every 5 seconds but i feel the computer is smart enough to do that itself, if only I knew how!!
Can we use code similar to the arduino "blink without delay" example in a macro? (ie use the system clock and count milliseconds til on/off)
Thanks in advance for any help, please bear in mind my programming knowledge is fairly limited so try to keep it simple if possible!!