Topics

11

General Mach Discussion / dispensing liquid with Mach 3

« on: March 25, 2010, 11:07:18 PM »

Hello,

I want to dispense liquid with Mach 3 . I have a peristaltic pump that is driven by a stepper motor (X ul per step) so the hardware does not look like a problem.  Is there a way to use the spindle controls to run the pump? or could I use the A axis?  The G code should be relatively simple. I need to be able to select the wells to add the liquid to and how deep the wells are.  The wells will all be the same size and evenly spaced in a 10 by 12 format. Any ideas.

Thanks,
Todd

12

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / My first CNC project

« on: September 17, 2009, 10:21:15 PM »

Hi,

Here is my first CNC conversion.  Having worked in the scientific research industry for many years on equipment I now have been bitten by the CNC bug.  I look for cheap obsolete equipment that has parts that may be useful for CNC projects.  l This conversion took a Cartesian Technologies liquid dispenser and converted it to a small CNC router.  It was a simple conversion because once I opened it up I found it had three IMS-483 controllers  that are step/direction compatible controlling three stepper motors.  I basically replaced the control board with a board from  CNC4 PC and wired things up.  The system came with three optical homing sensors and a power supply.

I removed some extra hardware from the system and made a fixture to hold a small trim router and am up and running.  This one gives me the opportunity to learn Mach and gcode with something that will not take my arm off.   I have another larger  instrument conversion that I am working on  and will post it sometime.

Todd

13

Brains Development / converting step and direction to CW, CCW

« on: April 01, 2009, 08:53:08 PM »

My drivers have two inputs, clockwise and counterclockwise.  I can convert the step and direction output to CW and CCW with an inverter and a 2 AND gates but is there a way to do by software with brains?

Thanks,
Todd

14

General Mach Discussion / Can not get off the limit switch

« on: May 03, 2008, 03:01:02 PM »

Hi I am new to CNC and am having trouble with my home/limit switches.  I only have my x axis powered up.  On my X axis I have two switches, x-/home and x+ limit.  When I reference the table moves negative unitil it hit the -x/home switch and stops, all good.  But I can not get it to move off the limit/home switch.  The override limit on the setting tab does not seem to work.  I can keep hotting that button and it will not turn green.  I have tried the auto override and it does not work.  What am I doing wrong? 

Thanks,
Todd

15

General Mach Discussion / flat magnetic iron core servo

« on: September 17, 2007, 09:58:08 PM »

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with flat magnetic iron core servo.  I have the opportunity to get some and have thought about using them for a CNC router table.  I looked them up on the web and got a little information.  Here is a link    http://www.olympus-controls.com/display_product.php?id=151&   Do you think they could be driven with a gecko drive?  I have no experience with these typed of drives systems.

Thanks
Todd