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11
General Mach Discussion / Re: Help! Vibrating motors and hotwire!!
« on: March 07, 2011, 03:13:05 PM »
Could the hot wire be dampened somehow to reduce vibration?  Maybe some high temperature latex or hard rubber at either end?

12
Hey guys, embarking on another fun Mach project and I've hit a snag.

The system is going to be a pick, place and solder machine with integrated dispensing of adhesive and solder paste.  I'm trying to use Mach to control the motion and a PLC to control the actuators and timing for the pick/place/solder head.

I've tried writing a macro that does the following:
1)turns on a Mach3 output that enables the PLC
2)waits until a PLC output triggers a Mach3 input before motion can continue

here is said macro:
 
ActivateSignal(output1)   'triggers PLC to start PICK cycle
Sleep(100)
DeactivateSignal(output1)
SystemWaitFor(input1)    'PLC program is complete, Mach may continue


So far everything works, Mach moves the system to its specified coordinates, the halts and the PLC program executes, however when it is complete, the system is stopped.  I can see input 1 being triggered on the diagnostics page but the macro never completes.  Am I executing the systemwaitfor command improperly?

Any suggestions or ideas are more than welcome!


13
General Mach Discussion / Re: External EStop Requested
« on: March 06, 2011, 02:57:28 PM »
the moving soft limits seems to indicate that the machine wasn't homed properly.  In regards to electrical noise, placing a small capacitor between the offending signal and signal ground works wonders in reducing noise.

14
General Mach Discussion / Re: Help! Vibrating motors and hotwire!!
« on: March 06, 2011, 02:54:12 PM »
ALSO in total agreement with you that DeskCNC lacks setup and tech support.  Making the switch to Mach was the best thing I've ever done!

15
General Mach Discussion / Re: Help! Vibrating motors and hotwire!!
« on: March 06, 2011, 02:53:23 PM »
If I recall correctly DeskCNC converts arcs to segmented lines.  The resolution can be adjusted in the machine setup tab.  This is usually only a problem if CV is turned off in Mach.

16
General Mach Discussion / Re: Reprap 3D printing machines
« on: March 06, 2011, 02:51:23 PM »
I'm very interested in this idea, but haven't gotten beyond a concept stage yet.  I think driving the head as a step/direction spindle would be the way to go as you can use the spindle speed override to tune the rate of dispensing independant of the motion of the axes. 

17
Had to pipe in on this one!

Using Mach I've had no problem getting resolutions of 5 uM or less using open loop steppers.  The real key is to have an extremely rigid machine with tight smooth motion and a good microstepping driver.

That said, on the closed loop end, I've used mach to supply the motion signal to copley servo drives and reached resolutions of 500 nM.  Mach supplies the control interface and trajectory planning and the servo drive and encoder do the rest.  Mach may not be closed loop but the driver its controlling sure is.

18
General Mach Discussion / Re: Steppers slightly "jitters" when idle
« on: January 10, 2011, 09:42:51 AM »
are your drivers getting hot?

19
General Mach Discussion / Re: Two heads
« on: January 10, 2011, 09:41:33 AM »
If it was up to me I would have both heads mounted on a single tooling plate with some kind of actuator to move them into the work envelope.  But hey, if you can afford another ball screw why not!

I'd probably set it up using seperate XML files for each head and switch the Y and Z pin assignments with A and B as hood suggested.  Maybe have a script or macropump to park the secondary head in a safe zone when the primary head is active.

Whatever happens this sounds like a really unique machine and can't wait to see it in action!

20
General Mach Discussion / Re: Servo Encoder Feedback
« on: January 06, 2011, 03:06:33 PM »
Same rule applies.  Mach uses the encoders strictly as a DRO display, they will not correct positioning like a closed loop driver would.

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