Messages

1341

General Mach Discussion / Re: MachTurn tool table

« on: February 15, 2009, 02:59:14 PM »

Ray, dont think you could call a tool above 99, turns tools are called in the format TXXYY where XX is the tool number and YY is the offset.
Hood

Hood,

Well, you could still do the same thing, just using 0-49, and 50-99.  I doubt most people have more than 50 tools....

Regards,
Ray L.

1342

General Mach Discussion / Re: MachTurn tool table

« on: February 15, 2009, 02:05:55 PM »

Interesting - the forum censored my post!  I had three Xs for the DRO number in the sample code, and it got censored to "*********"!  Good thing I didn't post this months Playboy centerfold!  :-)

Regards,
RayL.

1343

General Mach Discussion / Re: MachTurn tool table

« on: February 15, 2009, 02:03:52 PM »

Having just messed with toolchange macros, I'd be willing to bet you'd HAVE to issue an M6 before any changes would take place.  But you can do that through MDI.

Regards,
Ray L.

I'll have to play with it.  My M6 macro sends the carriage to the tool change position.  I'm curious what would happen when I then hit cycle start.

Vince

Vince,

I can see how you could probably Mickey Mouse it - Modify your M6 macros to distinguish between tools in different number ranges.  So, for example, your normal tools are numbered 0-99.  If you see a tool number from 100-199, then you subtract 100 from the tool number, and set a flag reminding you to skip the move.

The M6Start macro does something like this:

tool = GetSelectedTool()
SetUSerDRO(*********, 1)  REM This tells you to do the move
if (tool > 99) then
   tool = tool - 100
   SetUSerDRO(*********, 0)  REM This tells you to skip the move
end if
SetCurrentTool( tool )

The M6End macro does something like this:

Flag = GetUserDRO(*********)
if (Flag == 1) then
   Do the move to toolchange position here, only if a "normal" toolchange
end if

When you change tools mid-stream, issue an MDI toolchange, but give a tool number of the actual number plus 100.  It's Mickey Mouse, but I think it would work.  I expect there's a "cleaner" way to do it, but I don't know enough about how toolchanges work to know what that might be.

Regards,
Ray L.

1344

General Mach Discussion / Re: MachTurn tool table

« on: February 15, 2009, 10:59:16 AM »

Front tools only.  Now that I am using MachTurn more and finding all kinds of problems, I surprised you guys had not screamed more.

A related questions:  If I am in the middle of a part and hit feed hold, then measure the part, can I update the tool table to adjust for part dimensions, exit the tool table, and go back hit cycle start and have the new tool setting take effect?

Thanks

Vince

Having just messed with toolchange macros, I'd be willing to bet you'd HAVE to issue an M6 before any changes would take place.  But you can do that through MDI.

Regards,
Ray L.

1345

General Mach Discussion / Re: Does any one know/remember the new FRO range...........

« on: February 12, 2009, 09:25:57 PM »

Well, I have a SmoothStepper, so mine's still 0-100%!  :-)  I didn't know it had even been changed...

Regards,
Ray L.

1346

General Mach Discussion / Re: No VFD voltage...

« on: February 12, 2009, 05:18:57 PM »

Bill,

I'm afraid I completely don't understand what you're trying to do with the relay.  If the relay is supposed to energize the Minarik board, then it needs to be switching the "Hot" leg (black wire) of the AC input to the Minarik board.  You appear to have it connected to both the motor terminals and one AC terminal, which is wrong.  If you connect the motor to the Minarik, and connect the AC line directly to the Minarik, put the jumper in the "manual" position, with the potentiometer installed, the motor should spin.  If it doesn't, then I'm afriad your Minarik is toast.

Regards,
Ray L.

1347

General Mach Discussion / Re: No VFD voltage...

« on: February 12, 2009, 12:46:46 PM »

Bill, Yes -  I read the 10Vdc at the screws and using TP 1&2 - misprint in the manual...

If I adjust the spindle speed in Mach3 I get
1800 rpm - around 9Vdc
1000 rpm - 5Vdc

Still getting nothing out of the minarik board....

All the best, Henry

Henry,

Sounds like your interface board is working as it should.  Does the Minarik work when you hook up a potentiometer?

Regards,
Ray L.

1348

General Mach Discussion / Re: No VFD voltage...

« on: February 12, 2009, 11:54:57 AM »

So it must be a voltage controlled PWM....interesting. You may also need to go to the "Motor Tuning and Set-up" dialog page and set the spindle to something like 10000 steps per with a velocity of 60 and acceleration to something like 220 with 1 uS pulses - save settings then 'enter'. If the spindle box is not available to click on then you haven't set-up the spindle correctly for 'motor control' in 'ports and pins'.

Still shooting....
 
And - yes, what Ray said...


Bill Clemens

"So it must be a voltage controlled PWM....interesting." - Yup.  Typical circuit is a voltage ramp generator (sawtooth waveform), going into one side of a comparator, and the control voltage (from the speed control pot, or external voltage) going into the other side of the comparator.  When the ramp voltage is higher than the control voltage, the motor output is switched on.  When the control voltage is higher than the ramp voltage, the motor output is switched off.

Regards,
Ray L.

1349

General Mach Discussion / Re: No VFD voltage...

« on: February 12, 2009, 11:37:06 AM »

Bill

Thanks, you may be right I am pouring over the Minarik manual now... I know it works from a 10Vdc signal.

Test pin 2&3 will get you the voltage measurement - must have been a typo in the manual.

All the best, Henry

If that's a Minarik DC motor controller, it requires a 0-10V analog voltage, exactly as would be provided to a VFD.  Whether you need a STEP/DIR or PWM output from Mach is determined by the Digital-to-Analog interface you're using between your PC and the Minarik.  In either case, you need to provide the 10V from the Minarik (the two end connections of the speed control potentiometer) back to the output side of the D-to-A interface board, and it will provide the variable DC voltage that connects to the wiper on the manual potentiiometer speed control.  The potentiometer, of course, must be removed.

Regards,
Ray L.

1350

General Mach Discussion / Re: CNC'ing both quill and knee

« on: February 12, 2009, 12:01:03 AM »

OK, I think this fixes it.  Put this in M6End.m1s:

REM Get the length of the previous tool, stored in UserDRO 1200 by M6Start macro
OldToolLength = GetUserDRO(1200)

REM Get the length of the current tool
NewToolLength = ToolLengthOffset()

REM Figure out how much tool length changed, and in which direction
OffsetChange = NewToolLength - OldToolLength

REM Get the Z DRO value before the new tool length was applied, stored in UserDRO 1201 by M6Start macro
OldZPos = GetUserDRO(1201)
REM Correct for any moves the user made while changing the tool
CurrentZPos = GetOEMDRO(802)
ZMove = CurrentZPos - OldZPos + OffsetChange
NewZPos = OldZPos + ZMove
SetOEMDRO(802, NewZPos)

REM Get the cuurent A axis (knee) position, and apply the new tool length
OldAPos = GetOEMDRO(803)
NewAPos = OldAPos - OffsetChange
REM Move the knee to the new position
Code "G00 A" & NewAPos

REM Return the the position we were in before the toolchange

x = GetToolChangeStart( 0 )
y = GetToolChangeStart( 1 )
z = GetToolChangeStart( 2 )
a = GetToolChangeStart( 3 )
b = GetToolChangeStart( 4 )
c = GetToolChangeStart( 5 )

if(IsSafeZ() = 1) Then
   SafeZ = GetSafeZ
   if  SafeZ  > z then
     GotoSafeZ()
   end if
   Code "G00 X" & x & " Y" & y
   Code "G00 Z" & z
else
  Code "G00 X" & x & " Y" & y
end if


 
Regards,
Ray L.