Messages

21

CS-Lab / Precise homing even with CSMIO-M

« on: May 03, 2014, 04:24:39 PM »

Hey guys!

As I wrote in my other thread, I am making my first steps in CSMIO + Mach3 but I am not totally new to Mach3 because a friend of mine owns a machine with this software and I can say I know how to work with it.

Everybody is seeking the best which can be taken out of the hardware, at a reasonable price of course. In my case I built a robust CNC router for now so much money and CSMIO-M seemed the perfect product for me. Now that I evaluate the full capabilities of -S version, I am little bit sorry for not taking it.

My servo drivers support homing on index internally. However, this is activated by input of the servo, not by pulses. If I give a logical "1" to that input, the servo will start searching for the home switch, reach it, get OFF it and stop at Z encoder pulses. This is what precise homing is all about. It is just that it is syncrhonized by the -S version, not by the servo itself(although that's also possible).

I have a separate PLC in my electrical panel which is responsible for reading all drives via RS-485 ModBus and observe the current torque and visualize on a HMI so we know what the actual loads are. I have my CSMIO-M outputs connected to the PLC because I have more control on what's happening and advanced possibilities.

Is it possible that I home all my axes precisely with a input(from the HMI for example) and manually specify that this is the machine coordinates X0 Y0 Z0 from the Mach screen without the axes being moved to search for the zero?

I can always zero the local X,Y,Z values but if the machining fails, it will be the machine coordinates that will help me get back to the very same place at a later moment.

In summary, CSMIO-M doesn't support index on homing but I can achieve it will the additional PLC. The question is if I can skip the homing in Mach3 and just zero the machine coordinate registers.

22

CS-Lab / Several questions on wiring

« on: May 03, 2014, 04:15:03 PM »

Hello guys!

Sorry for the dummy title, I just can't combine all my questions under a single label. It has been a month or two since I am an owner of CSMIO-IP-M. It was very carefully that I made the choice on them, after reading tons of pages here, CNCzone, elsewhere... I think I've done the right choice but we are about to see soon. It was too much time that I was kicking the box left and right without having time to design the electrical panel and start working on the project. The mechanics was also postponed too much due to other projects with higher priority but now we start seriously.

I am almost done with the wiring today but still have several questions which I emailed to CS LAB but they seem to be very busy and I don't get a reply unless I send one email several times. Probably they are hard working on the Mach4 plugin and integration.

Enough words, let's carry on to the questions

1) Where should I wire the shielding of the twisted-pair cable, used for STEP+/- and DIR+/- signals? As you may see, the documentation does not show where the shielding should go. I believe unshielded cable may be used but it is always better with shielding. As you may see the other picture, my servo driver manual insists that we wire the shielding to 0V. Is this the 0V of 24VDC or what? Differential wiring is 5V and my real earth in the machine is very noisy with 5 servo drivers leaking some AC volts.

2) What type of outputs are the CSMIO-M ones? I believe they are sourcing transistor outputs but why do they require both 24V and 0V for supply?


3) How am I supposed to understand which GND is for analog input and which one is for analog output. From what I see on schematics it is probably the pin2 GND being the output ground while pin 8 is the ground for the analog input.

4) What potentiometers(resistance value?) should I use for the CSMIO analog inputs to control feed override and speed override? Should I use shielded cables for them from practical point of view, do they inflict each other if they are on the same cable, different wire numbers?

23

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Help and advising on breakout board / motion controller for my machine

« on: August 25, 2013, 01:18:58 PM »

Hello guys!

First of all, let me say several words about my experience with Mach3. A friend of mine owns a machine running Mach3 and it is the place I have the possibility to get used to Mach and get familiar with the various capabilities the system has. This encouraged me and my colleagues to build our own machine and decided to base it on Mach.

Now that the construction is almost ready, we need to consider buying the hardware in terms of a PC and the external device(be it a breakout card or a motion controller). We are not sure yet what is best for our case, I've read several discussions and have gathered some data.

Here is what is known about our machine:

• 6 axis breakout --> (we will start with 3 axes but plan to have another rotary two in the future). PUL+/PUL- DIR+/DIR- is what our drivers have.
• 0-10V, 0-5V spindle control. --> My friend's machine is using ModBus to control spindle speed. This results in delays of up to 4-5 seconds for the spindle to change its speed. That's not real.
• Several relay outputs --> Flood, Mist and Servo enable are what I have in mind.
• As many inputs as possible --> 2 limit switches and 1 home position for X, Y, Z is just the theory. With parallel ports we have 10 inputs so some extension or another general approach is needed. Another solution I considered is using the limit switches as home positions, that is supported by Mach3 as far as I read. My friend's machine all limit switches are wired to the same pin. That doesn't sound good to me, he overrides the limit switches from the special button on the Mach3 to get away from a dangerous situation.
• Real feed back if the servo motors are moving - we were away with my friend for a moment and after we got back, the machine was cutting the part on a place it shouldn't. As we checked, the servo driver for Y had a failure and Mach3 was sending pulses to no one. I imagine the three servo drivers's ALARM outputs to be connected electronically in an OR way so that Mach3 stops if any driver fails(I mean we get a single input pin occupation for all three). I've read somewhere Mach3 can stop the execution on external signal. It is safe enough for us. We can resume the program execution manually after we get rid of the servo failure.

After my research, I"ve found several breakout board items on Ebay from the seller "cnc4youstore". I won't post a direct link as it may be considered as an ad. I saw several threads from them in this forum too. They vary in price $100-$500. The latter are with a smooth stepper and Ethernet-controlled if I am not wrong. On the other hand, for a first machine, I am not feeling sure enough to go for the most expensive, most powerful, most colorful solution if you get what I mean.

Getting feedback for a particular product would give me more self-confidence to carry on and get the best ratio price/quality/reliability/needs coverage/

To summarize, we would like to build a simple in design but a reliable machine covering our needs and not much more than that.

24

General Mach Discussion / Servo wiring diagram

« on: June 04, 2012, 12:01:45 PM »

Hello all!

First of all, I want to tell you this is my first post and don't blame me too much.

My question is related to the electrical part. I have used only industrial PLCs so far and no computer-controlled utilities.

My servo drivers mains power is 220V but the STEP/DIR inputs are having a common of 24VDC and they expect - at the corresponding STEP/DIR terminals. I have no experience but what I know is - computers have 12VDC and 5VDC terminals. Any ideas what is the best solution in this situation?

Once more, my servo drivers are from China so they require minus(-) for control. I saw it's easy to toggle active low/high in Mach3 but don't know how to do it with a 24VDC inputs of the servo system.

I understand the problem may be easy and discussed but I am new, as I said.

Thank in advance.