Messages

41

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Ex-Cell-O Spindle Wizard to retrofit

« on: August 18, 2008, 03:42:16 PM »

Oh--so nobody has to go back and search for what encoders I am running--they are 1000 line encoders so 4,000 counts per turn and I have 5 turn per inch ballscrews so that's 20,000 counts per inch so I was tuning with a velocity of 150 inches per minute.  My max is about 180 inches per minute so this was aggressive without any worries of clipping by either the amps or DACs.

42

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Ex-Cell-O Spindle Wizard to retrofit

« on: August 18, 2008, 03:37:08 PM »

Controller's PID tuning:

At first I tried a bunch of different tuning methods where you adjust one parameter at a time and wasn't  having much luck.  Then I tried a method where you set both p and d at the same time in a ratio determined by the pid loop sample rate.  The DSPMC/IP has a 5kHz sample rate which means the D should be 25 times the P--then if your amps are in current mode you probably have to turn up d but as you will see I didn't have to.  I have my scale set to 100.  This will allow me to have a small integer I--I will probably barely need any I at all.

First iteration I tried
P=100
D=2500




There was no motion on the first try to I multiplied by 10
Second iteration I tried
P=1000
D=25000
.....oops, I forgot to save that screenshot


There was very sluggish motion so I multiplied by 2
3rd iteration I tried
p=2000
d=50000









The motion was much better but still sluggish so I multiplied by 2 again
4th iteration I tried
p=4000
d=100,000






motion was excellent so I tested larger moves






Vital systems is still working on the axisworks software.  That's an alpha I'm working on now.  I asked Rufi/Abdul to add check boxes allow traces to be added for position error, commanded velocity, and commanded acceleration and to remove the commanded position and actual position.  When he has that done it will be easy to Dial in the feed forwards which I want to do before even bothering with throwing an I in the pid loop.

43

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Ex-Cell-O Spindle Wizard to retrofit

« on: August 18, 2008, 03:21:32 PM »

I've installed the opto22 board into the control box, if you call drilling the holes and screwing it in installing it.  I haven't wired up any of the io yet.  I did get the connectors to hook up the amps to the control though so I've tuned my amps and started tuning the control.

I covered the initial current limit setting of the amps earlier.  That's the starting point with the amc amps no matter what mode you are running them in.  I was going to run the amps in current mode so that the controller's pid loops would be the only feedback loop with no chances of the amps and control fighting eachother but while continuing to set up the amps I realized/decided that was almost "silly."  I'll itemize my amp tuning in a minute but for now--while adjusting the input gain I realized that in current mode the highest current the amps would ever send the motors would be the continuous current.  In voltage mode the amps will give the motors whatever current they need up to the peak current limit for 2 seconds to attain the commanded voltage.  It seems to me, being that the amps are electrically in the best situation to quickly make the adjustments wanted to get the commanded voltage and advanced motion control amps are good amps so I trust them to do it and hey being able to run twice as much current when needed to accelerate they have to be able to perform better.  It felt like running them in current mode I wouldn't be using them anywhere near their full potential so I switched to voltage mode.  Here's how I tuned the amps:

-switch to and tune voltage mode:
-switch 1 3 5 on and all others off
**********************************************
-disconnect motor leads
-use current limit harness with pin p1-11 swapped into p-4 set 0v reference
-adjust offset pot to 0v across motor leads
**********************************************
-use current limit harness with pin p1-11 pulled out and p1-2 reconnected to p1-4 for +10v reference
-adjust ref gain pot to full buss voltage across motor leads
-verify voltage across p1-9 and p1-2 indicates correct continuous current limit and adjust current limit pot if necessary
**********************************************
-disconnect test harness
-reconnect motor leads
-remove motor from axis
-turn loop gain pot clockwise until motor oscillates
-turn loop gain pot back 1 turn

44

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Ex-Cell-O Spindle Wizard to retrofit

« on: August 10, 2008, 08:11:29 PM »

I also looked at the grayhill io options.  Grayhill and Opto22 seem to be pretty much equivalent and the standards in the industry from what I can tell.  They had equivalent offerings to match my needs.  They had the 70GRCK16T rack with terminal strips for both field and control wiring and 70godc5 output modules and 70gidc5 input modules--in fact I think they are interchangeable with the opto22 parts.  I went with the opto22 stuff because I found new surplus on ebay for all the parts.  There are a lot of grayhill modules on ebay and a lot of grayhill racks but none of the racks at the time i was looking had the terminal strip connections for the control wiring.

45

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Ex-Cell-O Spindle Wizard to retrofit

« on: August 10, 2008, 07:27:23 PM »

I installed the dspmc/ip, the break out boards for the analog io and encoders and hooked up my encoders.  I figured out that the 7535 digital io board has sinking outputs and I need sourcing outputs.  They are making another digital io board with sourcing outputs so you have a choice but it will be a few weeks before it's done.  I went ahead and got an opto22 board and modules.

G4PB16T io module rack with terminal strip connections for both field and control hook ups
http://www.opto22.com/site/pr_details.aspx?item=G4PB16T&qs=100310111003,,,9,12&

8 g4odc5 ouput modules to send the +24 volt signals for my M functions
http://www.opto22.com/site/pr_details.aspx?item=G4ODC5&qs=100310071003,,,31,45&

8 g4idc5 input modules to accept the +24 volt signals from my limit switches.
http://www.opto22.com/site/pr_details.aspx?item=G4IDC5&qs=100310071003,,,22,45&

My machine has overlimit switches which cut the servo power outside of the limit switches but there's no reason to conect those to the control.  That's the whole point behind them.  There's a home switch on the z which light's the light on the front panel and enables the tool changer.  It does it's own thing and there's no reason to connect it to the control either.  I'm connecting the + and - minus limit switches to the control and using the -x, -y, and +z limit switches as the home signals.  There will be a home switch on the 4th axis so that's a 7th input.  That leaves me one open input which I will connect to what was the "tape start" button which is just a button to send a signal to the control.  Maybe I'll use that as a feed hold button.

46

General Mach Discussion / Re: removing mach3 driver

« on: August 09, 2008, 02:48:14 PM »

Thanks,

That's all there is too it?  The installation tutorial video makes it sound like the mach driver installation does a lot of who knows what.

Right click on My Computer, choose properties. Click the Hardware Tab, and go to device manager. Find the driver and remove it.

47

General Mach Discussion / removing mach3 driver

« on: August 09, 2008, 01:49:44 PM »

I just installed mach3 for the 1st time and didn't think to ask if I needed the driver or not when using mach with the dspmc/ip plugin.  Apparantly I don't so I figure I should remove it since it's supposed to be a burden on the system.  Anybody know how to do that?  I'm contemplating just doing another clean install of xp.

48

dspMC/IP Motion Controller / Re: Welcome to the dspMC/IP board

« on: August 09, 2008, 12:18:51 PM »

Is the Mach3 driver required when Mach is used with the dspmc/ip plugin?

49

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Ex-Cell-O Spindle Wizard to retrofit

« on: July 31, 2008, 11:36:58 PM »

Yes, the dspmc/ip is an ethernet control with a plugin for mach3.  It's made specifically for mach3 and it has the features to let you run differential encoders and analog +/-10v input servo amplifiers that industrial size equipment uses.  They haven't sold many of them yet but it seems like THE setup for running servos with mach and they actually want your business.  I'm going to be giving feedback and video of my machine running it to try to help them prove themselves in the market (assuming it works out well). 

They are listed on the mach plugins page: http://www.machsupport.com/plugins.php

Their website is: http://www.vitalsystem.com/

Thieir section in the 3rd party support part of the mach forums is: http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/board,66.0.html

50

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Ex-Cell-O Spindle Wizard to retrofit

« on: July 29, 2008, 08:18:50 PM »

I read the mach3 with vista thread and think I'll just install xp on my laptop to prepare for running mach.