Messages

381

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: September 05, 2014, 12:37:41 PM »

Hi Guys:

  New Darwin this weekend if not before. Heres an update on its usage...

http://youtu.be/f2IzaLQ85YA

Thx
Art

382

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: September 03, 2014, 01:02:32 PM »

  Has to be fast, In October I begin Gearotic work again, ( and Im off to Lisbon in 2 weeks for a 2 week vacation.. ), so within two weeks Ill be done
most of Darwin for this year..

Art

383

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: September 03, 2014, 08:26:37 AM »

Hi Tweakie:

 Yesterday I added the implementation of M62, M63 as Steve added them to Mach4. ( Bumped up specifically to
thank you for all your work I hear. ). The next Darwin should work with those commands. While they are handy
for laser on/off, Im finding having the laser trigger on any step pulse VERY handy. It means I can leave the spindle on
and not worry about burning things.

  Anyway, next version of Darwin will be a few days as Im adding the laser control parameters into the plugin in a way
thats more usefull than the hobbled bunch of things I currently do to make an engraving. More on that on release.

Thx
Art

384

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: September 02, 2014, 07:03:18 PM »

Update:

  Turns out my servos were badly out of tune, with a good increase in PID, the system can engrave bidirectionallly.
So next version of Darwin will have 3 more system outputs, a StepFlag, which pulses its output on any motors step..
, a data clock which runs at kernal frequency, and a Data line matched to the clock.

  Ill publish the code for the laser control panel , in Darwin you now just set a register named "laser" to 1 to make the
system run in laser mode. Laser mode also corrects for acceleration and deceleration to keep laser power the same no matter
what the speed.

   I know only laser users will care about making a panel, but the outpus may come in handy for other experimenters to use.

Art

385

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: The Laser Project.

« on: September 02, 2014, 10:47:40 AM »

Hi Guys:

(Copied from printer port forum.. wrong spot )

 First laser engraved photo done with Darwin. Darwin sent 40 levels of power ( of 100 possible) via
serial dataclock transmission while engraving at 7000mm/min.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/118339423221700707274/albums/6054479007323314049/6054479008542443554

 Theres a video on the page as well. Im still just developing a method for darwin to do engravings or pin
punching.. I find surprisingly that my servos have a terrible following lag only noticable because of the lasers ability
to fire instantly on any step command at any power. SO if I cut in both directions, I get a "Carrot on a stick" problem
where the laser fires on the step pulse, but the servo doesnt get there for another 10mm's of travel.
  So Ill either have to put in a following error calculation for slow servo's.. or replace them if I wish to engrave in both directions.
Cutting isnt so much an issue. The photo shows quite an impressive quality for laser on melemine , and at least verifies that
adding a simple arduino, and hooking up 4 wires to the breakout board allows a large amount of laser control..

Art

386

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: September 02, 2014, 10:39:14 AM »

Hi Guys:

 First laser engraved photo done with Darwin. Darwin sent 40 levels of power ( of 100 possible) via
serial dataclock transmission while engraving at 7000mm/min.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/118339423221700707274/albums/6054479007323314049/6054479008542443554

 Theres a video on the page as well. Im still really just developing a method for darwin to do engravings or pin
punching.. I find surprisingly that my servos have a terrible following lag only noticable because of the lasers ability
to fire instantly on any step command at any power. SO if I cut in both directions, I get a "Carrot on a stick" problem
where the laser fires on the step pulse, but the servo doesnt get there for another 10mm's of travel.
  So Ill either have to put in a following error calculation for slow servo's.. or replace them if I wish to engrave in both directions.
Cutting isnt so much an issue. The photo shows quite an impressive quality for laser on melemine , and at least verifies that
adding a simple arduino, and hooking up 4 wires to the breakout board allows a large amount of laser control..

Art

387

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: August 29, 2014, 05:08:22 PM »

HI Guys:

  New version of the installer for Darwin with dependancies added. Dont install unless you need to, there is no update in here other than to make the installer work better.

Thx
Art

388

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: August 28, 2014, 06:23:02 PM »

Hi Mike:

  Yes, its a graphics non compatability for some reason it seems. Weird the way its intermittant on some systems and doesnt show up at all in others.
Ill take a look to that code and see if I can figure out why. I may be stressing the cpu too much so its timing out on the display or something.
Sounds like youll be able to tune it in though..

Art

389

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: August 28, 2014, 03:34:25 PM »

Mike:

   I have heard of that, and Ive had it go away on me too and then show up again. Its an issue with a graphic control I use. Im looking into it
, its only a display issue, it actually works and changes the numbers. If you have a hardware acceleration control, turn it down a notch, that can help,
also make sure your video driver is up to date. Im still trying to get it to do that to me so I can kill it..

Art

390

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: August 28, 2014, 03:20:37 PM »

Mike:

 Drivcer test will not remember anything, to store changes you have to configure it in Mach4.
SO nwo that the driver is running, try Mach4 and select the pp as your motion device, then configure it..


Art