Messages

1101

General Mach Discussion / Re: Stopping and resuming

« on: July 06, 2009, 09:51:06 PM »

My experience with "RunFromHere" has been less than satisfactory.  Sometimes it works fine, other times not so much.  But, I do often use "SetNextLine" to resume an interrupted program.   The only risk is if there are modal commands within the code that is skipped, then the machine will not be properly configured when you restart.  The way my post generates code, all the "Setup" and model commands are up front, so I just single-step through those, then skip ahead to where I want to re-start.  Be sure you understand where you're starting, and what it will do first.  I typically start at the "clean-up" at the end of a contour, which retracts Z and moves to a specific location, like X0Y0, to make sure the G0/G1 state is established, and the first move will ensure the machine is where the code wants it to be at that point.

Regards,
Ray L.

1102

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help with new SS board and servo motors on Gecko drives

« on: July 06, 2009, 06:49:02 PM »

Hi Everyone    I need help  Iam at my witts end           I've converted from steppers to servos on one of my milling machines and mach3 seems to have gone stupid, well maybe I did. I have several problems and maybe someone can help me with.  First I have a new Smothe Stepper board onto an cnc4you C11 breakout board going to three 320's gecko drives powering two 1/2 horse brushed 24 vdc motors on the X and Y and 1/10 hp on the Z axis all on US DIGITAL 5 encoders with wire lenght under 7 feet.  Iam exagerating but they dont seen to be able to cut thru wet tissue paper!  No power?. I have the Gain  and Limit settings all the way up on the geckos and the Dampener abuot 75 % up and the are steady and sound and run good, untill you put metal in front of them. Ive considered putting the Gecko drives right by the motors? I live in South Florida and my phone No. is 954 347 5807 If some could help either by phone or here I would apprisiate it..........                HHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPP

What kind of power supply are you running?  24V is kinda low for servos.  Are these real servos, or some kind of surplus DC motors you've slapped encoders on?  What is their current rating?  You indicate 1/2HP, which, at 24V, would imply about 15A.  Is 1/2HP the continuous or peak rating?  Under what conditions?

Regards,
Ray L.

1103

General Mach Discussion / Re: Second probe?

« on: July 04, 2009, 07:40:22 AM »

Don, I am also using a dedicated tool setter probe that I don't want to move, but I also want to have another spindle probe to do center/ and or edge finding. I see no reason these both cant be used on the same port since they wont be active at the same time. My problem was that I was trying to use one normally open and one normally closed probe, but if they are both the same, I don't see a problem. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.
Ken

All you need to do is add an inverter to one of them so they'll both be the same polarity....  A single transistor would do it.

Regards,
Ray L.

1104

General Mach Discussion / Re: electro-pneumatic slide lock

« on: July 03, 2009, 07:58:35 PM »

Cheers Ray,
Sounds good, any suggestions of a circuit I could try? I have built 555 based PWM circuits so I am reasonably familiar with them.
the thing that I was wondering was would the tap on the pulse stream short it or interfere at all?
I dont mind experimenting if pointed in the right direction!!
 tony

The monostable circuit on the Wiki page is exactly what you need.  The TRIG input is the step signal.  OUT drives the relay coil, or SSR control input.  The only thing you may need to add is an inverter on the TRIG , if your step line is active high.  You just need to decide how long you want it to remain active after the steps stop, and calculate the R and C values using the equation on the Wiki page.

Regards,
Ray L.

1105

General Mach Discussion / Re: electro-pneumatic slide lock

« on: July 03, 2009, 01:33:43 PM »

Ray,
 My machine has normal lead screws,so there is always a touch of back lash.
I am not fussed about the step loss you mentioned as I use servo's and they make up the "lost"
steps of there own accord.
   Tony

OK, in that case, a 555 timer will do exactly what you want - assert the output the instant a step pulse occurs, and sometime after the last pulse,  the output will be de-asserted.   As long as the period of the step pulses is longer than the 555 time-constant (I guess 0.5 second in your case), the output will remain continuously asserted. You want the monostable mode, as shown here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/555_timer_IC

The output of a 555 can sink or source up to 200mA, which should be enough to drive a relay coil directly - just remember to use a protection diode so the back-EMF from the coil doesn't fry it.  You might want to use a solid-state relay, to get faster response - connections are the same as a mechanical relay.

Regards,
Ray L.

1106

General Mach Discussion / Re: electro-pneumatic slide lock

« on: July 03, 2009, 12:21:26 PM »

Hi,
   I would like to make some pneumatic slide locks for my  mill.
What I'm thinking is a tap off the step line to a transistor then to a small 5V pcb type relay finally to a 24V solenoid and an air cylinder.
 I would like it to open or release instantly upon sensing the first step ( within reasonable workable boundaries) then lock again when the pulse stream stops I would like a delay on re-lock of about 0.5 second.
  How can I achieve this? can I use a cap/resistor delay or a 555 timer? or is it a job for a PIC ?
Any help or circuit suggestions would be welcome.
    Tony

I'm not sure why you'd want to do that, but you'd stand an excellent chance of losing a step every time you start a move, because relays and air cylinders are slooooooow, so you will be preventing the axis from making one (or more) step(s) it wants to make until both relays and the air cylinder have done their thing.  That arrangement should not be necessary, unless there's a problem with your machine.  What problem are you trying to solve? 

Regards,
Ray L.

1107

General Mach Discussion / Re: Are We Losing CNC Vendors???

« on: July 02, 2009, 01:37:36 PM »

I will have 4 of the DC-06 speed controllers and can say that the quality and functionality is superb.
My hat off to to Peter - keep up the good work, there are a lot of us that appreciate the service you provide.
Be assured of my continuing cutom.....

ATB

Derek

I'll get to see for myself real soon now.  I just ordered two BOBs, a spindle controller and a ModBus board!  :-)

Regards,
Ray L.

1108

General Mach Discussion / Re: Are We Losing CNC Vendors???

« on: July 01, 2009, 06:23:31 PM »

More good news!  Peter Homann is also still out there, just buried in work!

Regards,
Ray L.

1109

General Mach Discussion / Re: Are We Losing CNC Vendors???

« on: July 01, 2009, 02:04:21 PM »

Tom from CandCNC posts regularly on CNC Zone under the name Torchhead. Definately still in business, and I agree, their website really sucks. Pretty sure Peter is still in business as well.

Well, I did just hear from Tom Caudle, so all is apparently well with CandCNC.  He indicated he is working on a new website.  Now, where is Peter?

Regards,
Ray L.

1110

General Mach Discussion / Are We Losing CNC Vendors???

« on: July 01, 2009, 01:20:10 PM »

I've been shopping for BOBs lately, to replace the bug-infested one I have now, and I'm wondering if some of our suppliers have perhaps gone belly up?  I first wanted to go to Peter Homann.  I found several dead links and other rather obvious problems on the website, which left me wondering he's still operating.  An e-mail has gone unanswered for several days now.  I started looking elsewhere, and stumbled across CandCNC.com.  Their website is an absolute disaster!  MANY dead links, a LOT of obviously wrong and out-of-date information.  Their "Special Deals" expired in Feb 2008!

So, anybody know if these guys are still in business?  Just on vacation?  Have we lost them?

Regards,
Ray L.