Messages

241

General Mach Discussion / Re: BT30 spindle from scratch - with power drawbar and ATC of course

« on: December 15, 2012, 09:22:44 AM »

Steve,

At the spindle end of the travel, I provided a "hard" stop, to ensure proper positioning.  This consists of just a bolt with a rubber bumper on the end that contacts a small bracket bolted to the side of the head.  At the other end of the travel, I just allow the air cylinder to bottom out.  I agree a servo or stepper is a more elegant, if more expensive, way to do this, and would allow tuning to get constant-speed motion, or even a motion profile that should negate the need for stops, dampers, etc.  I also used prox sensors to ensure each motion fully completes before taking the next step, so if the carousel for any reason doesn't reach the fully engaged position, there;s no harm done, the toolchange simply stops until the jam is cleared manually.  Had I not needed such a wide range of travel (140 degrees), I could've certainly made this work better.  Were I doing it over again (and I still might....), I'd make the carousel fixed, and use a transfer arm.  I have an idea for that which would be quite simple, using a rotating "claw" on the end of the arm, which would articulate such that the claw was pointed towards the pivot when the arm was rotating, allowing the arm to move much faster, with no worries about the tool flying out.

Regards,
Ray L.

242

General Mach Discussion / Re: What external motion controller do I choose?

« on: December 14, 2012, 01:05:00 PM »

"Most users are going to 64 bit...."??  On what do you base this?

Probably the fact that 99% of new PC's come with a 64bit OS.

Yes, but he's not talking about a new PC, he's talking about an existing Win7 PC.  And, among Mach3 users, Win7 is a tiny minority of the installed base.  The VAST majority are running XP.  I can't understand people who want to add some "Gee Whiz" feature, just because it's the feature du jour in the rest of the world, even though it has ZERO benefit in this application, AND it puts then well outside the mainstream of users.  As finicky as Mach3 is, and as many problem as users have when they keep within the mainstream, it just makes no sense to virtually "blaze a new trail" when there is no benefit, and no need, to do so.  This means when they do run into problems (and they pretty much always do....), there will likely be nobody to help them solve those problems, because nobody else will be running the some configuration, and the developers will have little interest in spending their very limited time helping someone resolve a problem that will only affect a tiny number of users.

Regards,
Ray L.

243

General Mach Discussion / Re: What external motion controller do I choose?

« on: December 14, 2012, 11:51:44 AM »

Not sure why XP support should be and issue at all.  It is the most stable OS for this application at present, and, as I said, if you're planning on using the same PC for other purposes, you're asking for trouble anyway.  Not being able to "buy" XP is a non-issue, as you can easily buy a machine that has it pre-installed, which gives you a valid license, so why would you ever need to buy it?  64-bit offers nothing of value in this application.  Again, you're more likely to create problems for yourself, and there's nothing to gain to offset that risk, so why do it?  "Most users are going to 64 bit...."??  On what do you base this?  I know very few people who've gone 64-bit, and those few are using big-memory applications - PhotoShop, commercial CAD programs, and other things where it's needed.  There's absolutely no need for it here.  You'll be one of a VERY small number of people using the setup you're suggesting, which almost certainly means you'll have problems that nobody else has, and fixing them will be a low priority for the developers.  Makes no sense to me, when XP is cheap, stable, available, and has been proven to work well by 99% of the Mach3 user base.

Regards,
Ray L.

244

General Mach Discussion / Re: What external motion controller do I choose?

« on: December 14, 2012, 11:28:20 AM »

Pretty much ANY of the existing motion controllers will do everything you suggest.  But I have to wonder why on earth you'd choose 64-bit Win7 as the OS for a machine controller?  There is absolutely no advantage whatsoever.  And if you're planning to use the same machine for other purposes, that's really not a great idea.  When running Mach3, you really do NOT want to be doing ANYTHING else with the machine if you want the machine to operate reliably.

Most people would use a dedicated PC with WinXP.  If you don't have one, they are readily available for next to nothing, as there is no need for a particularly fast machine, nor for a lot of memory.  And with XP, you can simply use the parallel port, which is MORE than adequate for running any X2.  I ran for several years on a PC I got for free - 544MHz, 512M of RAM.  Never had a single problem that could be blamed on the machines performance.  And that was running a servo-driven machine that is FAR more demanding than any X2.  My next machine was a use Dell bought on EBay for $80 delivered to my door - 2GHz, 1Gb RAM.  My current machine is an HP I paid $100 for - 2.5GHz, 3Gb RAM, dual-monitor video.  ALL came with XP-Pro pre-installed.  ANY motion controller will cost you considerably more than simply buying a dedicated PC running XP, and will give you absolutely no functional benefits whatsoever.

Regards,
Ray L.

245

General Mach Discussion / Re: BT30 spindle from scratch - with power drawbar and ATC of course

« on: December 13, 2012, 05:29:34 PM »

I could, of course, also go with a more complex linkage, but I really don't want to go there unless I have no choice. 

Oops! I was going to suggest you articulate as that is what I decided I would need to do when I was considering and actuator similar to what you have . . .  but  . . uh . . never mind.

Hey, is that friggin' thing done or WHAT??!!

My 60 day project is completed. I have another project that will be wrapped up in about a week and I have material on its way to finish my ATC.

Tick Tick Tick  . . do I smell Chili Beer?   

  I expect the bearings to arrive probably tomorrow,

Ray . .  you don't really think I'm falling for the old 'the bearing is in the mail' routine , do ya?

Seriosuly, what I saw from october looked very nice. I can hardly wait to find time to catch up on what you've acomplished. I'm very interested to see if and how you managed the actuation force at the ebds of the 140 degree sweep.

I really gotta fly now but I'll be participating here in the next few. 

Steve,

It was a matter to optimizing the geometry of the arm and air cylinder to the extent I could, using flow control valves on the air cylinder to keep it from moving at 100 MPH, and rubber bump stops at the end.  Very little force is required to engage with the tool in the spindle.  I may end up adding an air damper at the "parked" end to smooth out the stop, but it's working fine as it is.

Regards,
Ray L.

246

General Mach Discussion / Re: BT30 spindle from scratch - with power drawbar and ATC of course

« on: December 13, 2012, 05:06:01 PM »

I could, of course, also go with a more complex linkage, but I really don't want to go there unless I have no choice. 

Oops! I was going to suggest you articulate as that is what I decided I would need to do when I was considering and actuator similar to what you have . . .  but  . . uh . . never mind.

Hey, is that friggin' thing done or WHAT??!!

My 60 day project is completed. I have another project that will be wrapped up in about a week and I have material on its way to finish my ATC.

Tick Tick Tick  . . do I smell Chili Beer?   

Steve,

Actually, the ATC is working just fine, I just can't prove it right now....  But it has run literally thousands of toolchanges in testing without a single error.  I went out a few days ago to cut the very first parts using the ATC (the little brackets to hold the "skirt" on the carousel), and ran face-first into an unrelated failure, and I now have the spindle out, and almost the entire head disassembled, waiting for some new bearings and a few other parts to show up.  I expect the bearings to arrive probably tomorrow, but I'll be out of town for a few days, so won't get to work on it again until at least Tuesday.  But, I am hoping that this will *finally* resolve my long-standing "rattly head" problem.  Well, the one on the mill anyway.  I'm pretty sure the other one is beyond hope at this point....

I'm also thinking seriously about buying a Novakon Torus Pro/Servo bed mill....

Regards,
Ray L.

247

General Mach Discussion / Re: return called with no sub in effect...

« on: December 12, 2012, 05:02:54 PM »

Put an M30 after the M0.

Regards,
Ray L.

248

General Mach Discussion / Re: What buttons on your control?

« on: December 10, 2012, 01:10:18 PM »

Thanks for the input. So far it looks like I'm going with Start/Run, Hold, Single step, Mach reset, VFD reset, E STOP, Main power, PC power, Coolant HOA, Spindle HOA. Can an output be set to mimic the on screen "reset button" condition, eg. flashing, steady on, off? If so how?

That can be done using a macropump to toggle the output controlling the light.

Regards,
Ray L.

249

General Mach Discussion / Re: What buttons on your control?

« on: December 05, 2012, 01:13:01 PM »

Heh Ray,
I think I'm gonna need quite a bit of "other" parts(and knowledge).  The closest I've been to programming was to flash the chip on the schumatech DRO350.   So I think your pendant is over my head.    BUT!
From viewing your posts throughout the forums, it is apparent that you are a fine teacher.  Maybe someday you would put together a "step by step" tutorial on the making/modifying of your pendant?

For now, I'm thinking it would be better to just negotiate with SWMBO for a ready made unit.   

Thanks,
John

Well....  I'm afraid that wouldn't really be enough.  It would take considerable programming to make it work with Mach, as there has to be a "driver" on the PC side to receive the RS232 messages, and perform the actions.  I do this with a KFlop, and that driver is DSP code running on the KFlop itself.  For Mach3, a VB macropump would have to be written.  It's not rocket science, but certainly beyond the capabilities of someone pretty good at programming.

However, Vista does have their own Mach3 drivers for all of their pendants.  They don't implement quite as much functionality as mine, but they're still pretty darned good for the money.

Regards,
Ray L.

250

General Mach Discussion / Re: What buttons on your control?

« on: December 05, 2012, 11:37:26 AM »

John,

 I'd be happy to post the modified firmware if you want to go that route.

Regards,
Ray L.

Ray, I want you to be happy!  So sure, go ahead and post the modified firmware.  You are convincing that that is the route to go!

Thanks!...I'll surely appreciate seeing and attempting to emulate your work.

John
p.s. I have the Nemicon MPG, the estop switch, and the two 6 position switches and parts i'm sure i have in my stash.  The case? Well, I'd start by making a crude one and refine if I follow through with this. 

My pendant source code is below.  This is for PIC18, though could be easily ported to pretty much any MCU.

Regards,
Ray L.