Messages

31

Modbus / Re: Simple tutorial on analog inputs with Arduino

« on: April 13, 2015, 11:21:29 PM »

That's really great. I am out of country these days, so couldn't reply to your posts in time. Looks like you have figured it out yourself.

Or did you want these 8 switches on a single pot. This is possible too. Just use the map() and switch case functions in Arduino. See the command reference and examples on Arduino website.

Zafar

32

Modbus / Re: Simple tutorial on analog inputs with Arduino

« on: April 10, 2015, 12:05:05 PM »

You'll have to make additions to the Arduino sketch like this

void setup()
{
  pinMode(2, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(3, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(4, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(5, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(6, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(7, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(8, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(9, INPUT_PULLUP);
}

void loop()
(
  regs[0]=!digitalRead(2);
  regs[1]=!digitalRead(3);
  regs[2]=!digitalRead(4);
  regs[3]=!digitalRead(5);
  regs[4]=!digitalRead(6);
  regs[5]=!digitalRead(7);
  regs[6]=!digitalRead(;
  regs[7]=!digitalRead(9);
}

33

Modbus / Re: Simple tutorial on analog inputs with Arduino

« on: April 10, 2015, 11:41:53 AM »

You'll need foreign keys to short the pins 2,3,4....9 with the ground on arduino. No need to use the external pots if you don't need the fro and sso functions.

34

Modbus / Re: Simple tutorial on analog inputs with Arduino

« on: April 10, 2015, 07:24:40 AM »

I presume you want to use external buttons to control Mach3 through Arduino. For this you'll need to use Mach's brain too. I'll work out an Arduino sketch and the brain and post it here.

Zafar

35

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Rigid Tapping - which motion controller to use?

« on: December 30, 2014, 12:03:12 PM »

Hi all,
I have a machining center on which I need to do rigid tapping. It has a max 6000 rpm spindle motor with 1024 pulse quadrature encoder installed. Which motion controller would be the best or easiest to use for this application.

Zafar

36

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Opthalmic lens curve generator g-codes

« on: October 25, 2014, 08:21:29 AM »

Hi,

A friend of mine has an opthalmic lens surface genrator cnc lathe which is out of order for over a year. I was thinking about converting it to Mach. It is equipped with two linear axes controlled by servo motors and the the spindle also powered by another servo. There's a touch probe on it too which measures the mounted lens blank. I was wondering how to calculate the lens curves and the resulting g-codes. Is there any application software out there for programming these machines.

Zafar

37

Modbus / Re: Mach3, Arduino, Modbus and MPG

« on: September 07, 2014, 08:35:54 AM »

Care to share your sketch of the Mega ? Im new to the arduino and this would help me out tremendously with my mega.

I'll be busy all this week. Maybe this weekend, I'll fish out the arduino code and post it here.

Zafar

38

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: CNC Portable Milling Machine in 15 Days

« on: May 28, 2014, 09:01:00 AM »

Khalid,

Good to see the final result. A correction from Khalid. With manual machining, it took 70 hours for rough metal removal and another 20 hours to hand grind the pocket walls to the desired finish. So a total of 90 hours. Compare this with 10 hours and a better finish achieved.  Almost 90% time saving. What are you going to do Khalid with this extra time .

39

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: CNC Portable Milling Machine in 15 Days

« on: May 28, 2014, 08:13:58 AM »

Specs of the machine:

X-axis travel - 200 mm
Y-axis travel - 192 mm
Z-axis travel - 95 mm

X-axis max rapid - 5000 mm/min
Y-axis max rapid - 5000 mm/min
Z-axis max rapid - 4500 mm/min

Resolution on all the axes - 0.005 mm

Timing pulley reduction on
X-axis - 10:30
Y-axis - 10:30
Z-axis - 11:30

Ball screw pitches
X-axis - 5 mm
Y-axis - 5 mm
Z-axis - 4 mm

Servo motors/drives on all three axes
400 W, 3000 rpm, Delta - B2 series

Motion controller - UC100 from cncdrive.com

Breakout board and logic design - KaraCNC (www.karacnc.com)

CNC software - Mach3 V3.43.066

Controller PC - Dell Inspiron Laptop, 2.4 GHz, 4MB ram with Windows 7 Ultimate

Spindle - Hydraulic spindle from Climax, 300 rpm max

40

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: CNC Portable Milling Machine in 15 Days

« on: May 28, 2014, 07:58:36 AM »

Machine is disassembled once again after lunch and moved to the stripper shop. There they have assembled a 130 mm thick block on top of a work bench. Our machine's mounting plate is welded on to it and then machine is bolted to that. Another program is made in Mastercam for machining a tapered wall pocket of 160x80x90 mm. I am interested in measuring the motor loads in the vertical mounted position. In this position, the Y-axis is dragged down by gravity and any movement against it would yield the most load. 16 mm 4-flute HSCo tool is installed in the spindle. Job centered and zeroed with respect to tool. This time we have programmed climb milling cuts in Mastercam. This way it won't get dragged into the work-piece at corners. Speed and feeds are set as they were in our previous setup and start the cycle. Mastercam gives us the estimated machining time of 9 hours. With the manually operated machines, they had completed this job in 50 hours in the test run. It is close to sunset and we won't be able to complete all the 9 hours machining today. We decide to do half an hour of machining and then complete it after the weekend. The machine was run for almost an hour and 6 mm deep pocket was cut during that time. Machined surface finish looks good, sizes are OK too. Mission accomplished.

We will leave town in the night and return back home. All the credit goes to Khalid for carrying out the project in the assigned time. All my doubts about meeting the deadline and the performance of the machine proved wrong. Another project executed perfectly by Khalid.

A video for the final test of the machine is here.