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Works in progress / Good idea - Maybe? - Opinions welcome
« on: September 30, 2007, 07:55:23 PM »
I hope I can explain the following in a way that gets people as excited about this as I am…
I had discussed with Art the possibility of a plug-in that would allow commands to be passed to Mach via a 3rd part app for further customization. He reminded me that Flash could in theory be loaded into mach from a server (server like environment) and this gave me a host of ideas.
One idea for example it that all of those that own a Pocket PC or touch screen smart phone (or any other flash enabled device for that matter) and would like to be able to use it as a pendant (without having to use remote desktop), a set of server based flash screens could be developed for Mach with an auto detect routine that when connecting from an external source could in essence display a pre-defined screen(s) for our PDA for example.
Also one could use this same technology for remotely training users, troubleshooting and general remote control of a machine – there have been many time I have been out of town and one of my guys needed me to check some settings and so on. In the past I have typically used a webcam and remote desktop but this would eliminate the need for that.
I think it would be great that from my PDA/Smart phone I could step around my machine and have wireless access to DRO’s, start, stop, jog, zero and all the other handy features of Mach. It would also be great to be able to step away from the machine during a long file run and watch the toolpath from my office without interfering with the host machine or having to get off my lazy rump! – This and a thousand other useful things can be done.
My concept is that the flash screens run local from the Mach host machine and remote devices can connect and interact. In a brief preliminary test this DOES work!
I am currently writing a Windows Mobile compatible container that makes use of Flash for just this purpose and I will soon be posting a very basic alpha screen and related files with source code here and to the yahoo group for proof of concept, testing and further development.
I am aware of potential timing, lag and other issues but this could easily be worked out and some issues will depend on the users home network, computer, PDA and other variables. I will say that a simple heartbeat can be implemented to help avoid issues and add an element of safety…
If anyone would find this useful, has additional ideas or would like to aide in the development in this project please feel free to contact me or better yet, keep it open by posting to the group.
Also, if anyone is interested I have posted an excel gear/timing calculator in the files section of the yahoo groups that will help get Mach tuned initially (before the automatic axis calibration) if someone is using gear, rack and pinion or reduction drive system– I hope people find it as useful as I have.
Thanks everyone and I look forward to your ideas/input.
Josh
I had discussed with Art the possibility of a plug-in that would allow commands to be passed to Mach via a 3rd part app for further customization. He reminded me that Flash could in theory be loaded into mach from a server (server like environment) and this gave me a host of ideas.
One idea for example it that all of those that own a Pocket PC or touch screen smart phone (or any other flash enabled device for that matter) and would like to be able to use it as a pendant (without having to use remote desktop), a set of server based flash screens could be developed for Mach with an auto detect routine that when connecting from an external source could in essence display a pre-defined screen(s) for our PDA for example.
Also one could use this same technology for remotely training users, troubleshooting and general remote control of a machine – there have been many time I have been out of town and one of my guys needed me to check some settings and so on. In the past I have typically used a webcam and remote desktop but this would eliminate the need for that.
I think it would be great that from my PDA/Smart phone I could step around my machine and have wireless access to DRO’s, start, stop, jog, zero and all the other handy features of Mach. It would also be great to be able to step away from the machine during a long file run and watch the toolpath from my office without interfering with the host machine or having to get off my lazy rump! – This and a thousand other useful things can be done.
My concept is that the flash screens run local from the Mach host machine and remote devices can connect and interact. In a brief preliminary test this DOES work!
I am currently writing a Windows Mobile compatible container that makes use of Flash for just this purpose and I will soon be posting a very basic alpha screen and related files with source code here and to the yahoo group for proof of concept, testing and further development.
I am aware of potential timing, lag and other issues but this could easily be worked out and some issues will depend on the users home network, computer, PDA and other variables. I will say that a simple heartbeat can be implemented to help avoid issues and add an element of safety…
If anyone would find this useful, has additional ideas or would like to aide in the development in this project please feel free to contact me or better yet, keep it open by posting to the group.
Also, if anyone is interested I have posted an excel gear/timing calculator in the files section of the yahoo groups that will help get Mach tuned initially (before the automatic axis calibration) if someone is using gear, rack and pinion or reduction drive system– I hope people find it as useful as I have.
Thanks everyone and I look forward to your ideas/input.
Josh