Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / Turning off outputs

« on: February 26, 2009, 04:14:54 PM »

I am running Mach3 with a PLC06 as a modbus slave.  I need to put some sort of monitor on the outputs of the PLC.  When I shut down mach, the PLC does not release the outputs for up to 1 minute.  Is there a simple piece of code I can add into the PLC to see if there is communication with mach and if not shut down the outputs?

Thanks

2

General Mach Discussion / My Machine

« on: November 25, 2008, 01:15:03 PM »

I am near completion of my machine which has been in progress for 3 years.  It is a CNC chansaw.  Our company manufactures Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) for the construction industry.  It is a plywood-foam-plywood sandwich which replaces stick built walls and roofs.  

The machine moves the 24' long panel across the saw, while the saw carraige goes up & down and the blade plunges (pneumatic), rotates (A axis) and tilts (Y axis).  I have been intending to use the knife function with the tangent callout to guide the chain bar.  I am now to the point of turning it on, but it isn't working.  One concern is that I designated the vertical axis as the Z axis, but I am wondering if I should change that to the Y axis so the cutting plane is XY.

So, does the tangent control care if the cutting plane is XY or XZ?  I set it to XZ in the General config but it didn't get me anywhere and it seems to revert back to XY on a shut down.

I will post some pictures tomorrow.

3

Mach Screens / Screen Help

« on: November 05, 2008, 07:26:48 PM »

Hopefully somebody can give me some guidance.  I was building screens (1024x768) in Screen 4.  I had been testing it in Mach every hour or so to make sure everything was there and functioning.  Then I opened my screen set with 1280 x1024 (which is the final goal) in screen 4 and saved it, then went to Mach to load it, and all of the images, buttons, LEDs were shifted down 280 pixels.  I had read in previous posts that there have been difficulties when using a screen resolution that you can't see, so I went back into Screen4, opened it at 1024x768, and now it comes up with an error box: "Unexpected file format". 

Is there anyway to recover the lost screens?

4

Mach Screens / Rapid move

« on: October 29, 2008, 09:50:53 AM »

I am finally into the screen design for my machine, and I understand the idea and the basics.  I am trying to make a button that will jog an axis.  I found the OEM 309, ect codes, but that just gives me an incremental jog depending on what was set earlier.  I am looking for something similar to the joystick in ScreenDesign 3, just one direction at a time.  Is there an easy way to do that, or do I need to write a VB script?

5

Modbus / Inputs

« on: October 15, 2008, 05:36:45 PM »

I have a DL06 connected to my Mach PC via modbus.  I have about 60 modbus outputs that work fine and do what they should.  For some reason I can't figure out the inputs.  The first output coil is 2048, so I addressed the first input as 12048 as the AD spreadsheet.  I am running the inputs through a brain to trigger an LED, but no success.

Also, I go into the Configure Modbus screen and I get a "timeout" error when I poll the PLC. 

6

Brains Development / Using a DRO in a Brain

« on: August 07, 2008, 07:01:01 PM »

I am trying to use a Y axis DRO to trigger clamps to release.  What I would like is to watch the DRO, and when it is between 10 and 20 inches from Z, to release an air cylinder (over ModIO).  I have control of the cylinder in a different brain.

I set up a brain that uses the Y axis DRO, then a >10, then a <20, then a NOP, then the modio address.  When I watch it and move the axis, the DRO value doesn't change.

Any thoughts?

7

General Mach Discussion / Automation Direct Photo switch

« on: April 22, 2008, 12:17:09 PM »

I am trying to use an NPN photo switch as an X axis home switch.  I have it connected into a Campbell breakout board.  The problem I am running into is that the input is flickering.  I have a couple of thoughts that I am hoping somebody can either verify or kill. 
1)  First, the switch is rated 10-36V.  The board is 11.6V, close to the bottom edge.
2)  The other is the opto isolator may not be able to react appropriately with a 250Hz signal. 
3)  The Campbell board indicates it is setup for inductive or mechanical switches.  I am sensing wood, so inductive is out, and I would prefer non-contact in this application.

I read on one post that a guy put a 1k ohm resistor between the signal and ground to limit the bounce, any thoughts?

8

General Mach Discussion / Lost Modbus

« on: March 06, 2008, 05:44:43 PM »

It seems I lost modbus.  Let me explain.  I have Mach3 running an Automation Direct DL06 PLC.  The PLC is the slave, and was working fine.  I started writing a sequence in the PLC, switched back to Mach, wrote an LED to call the virtual bit in the PLC (which I inadvertently made a loop), and I ended up locking up Mach and the computer.  I rebooted, and had lost all access to the modbus.  I have been trying everything I can think of to get my modbus back, but no luck.  They are matched at 19,200 baud, 8-N-1.  When Mach starts up it begins polling the PLC (I see the Rx light on the #2 port), but the Tx never comes on.  Either Mach is sending bad info that the PLC doesn't understand or the PLC is getting good info that isn't making it to the correct location.

I have deleted everything out of the PLC, and has only "END" at the end of the first line.  I cleared the memory out of the PLC thinking there must be a loop of some kind.

Any ideas are welcome.

Roger

9

Modbus / Using a modbus input in ports & pins

« on: February 29, 2008, 12:32:31 PM »

I am trying to use an X home limit from the PLC.  I would like to use it as part of the normal X home function, but I can't configure it appropriately in ports and pins.  Is it possible to add a modbus IO in ports and pins?

10

General Mach Discussion / Latch circuit attached to the reset

« on: February 12, 2008, 12:34:23 PM »

I am trying to build a latch circuit that is associated with the reset button.  I have a conveyor with 20 zones, each is controlled through a relay output on the DL06.  I have manual buttons set to turn each zone on and off.  I have it set that it will only function with the reset actuated, but I need it to drop the output if the reset or the estop is hit.  Should I do this in VB or with a brain, or in the PLC logic?