Messages

1181

Galil / Re: Old Dynapath System 10 upgrading to Galil CS 18420 ICM 2900 No idea on wiring???

« on: April 13, 2014, 09:56:44 PM »

There is a video that best describes brains.  Not all I/O needs to be handled by a brain.  Limits and homes, for instance.  And general inputs that can be mapped in ports and pins.

For your limits, the drives probably output the limit signal as well.  My Yaskawa drives are like this.  Limits are wired to the drives and the driives provide a signal to the Galil which in turn supplies a signal to the Plugin/Mach.  It is imperative that the limits are hooked up if you plan on homing with them.  If you also have home switches, then it is not as important.  But it would still be nice to look at the Mach screen to tell if you have hit a limit.  So wire them if you can.

Steve

1182

Galil / Re: Old Dynapath System 10 upgrading to Galil CS 18420 ICM 2900 No idea on wiring???

« on: April 11, 2014, 11:54:01 PM »

Yes, you need a spare axis to run the spindle.  However, if you only have a 3 axis Galil, you can control the spindle with other hardware or means.  A modbus capable VFD, for example.

Steve

1183

Galil / Re: Old Dynapath System 10 upgrading to Galil CS 18420 ICM 2900 No idea on wiring???

« on: April 03, 2014, 02:40:49 AM »

MODCMDW probably.  The ICMs can be labeled wither way.

Galil terminal is Smart Term.  It has a terminal window that lets you type commands to the controller.  Yes, you have some reading to do!  

If you are talking to the card, then you are probably good to go with the plugin version.  So don't worry about that.

Steve

1184

Galil / Re: Old Dynapath System 10 upgrading to Galil CS 18420 ICM 2900 No idea on wiring???

« on: April 03, 2014, 02:14:17 AM »

The Galil tools driver may not support the older 1842s. 

Make sure you use the Galil-st plugin with Smart Term.

Steve

1185

Galil / Re: Old Dynapath System 10 upgrading to Galil CS 18420 ICM 2900 No idea on wiring???

« on: April 03, 2014, 02:13:00 AM »

Everything looks good.  Except I notice that your A,B, and C Galil axes have the default PID values.  Are you running analog servos with +-10v command signals?  If so, I bet you are going to have to do some tuning!  But the spindle config looks good.  

In the Galil terminal, what voltage dos the command OFD=5 produce on the MOCMDD with reference to GND?  

Steve

1186

Galil / Re: Old Dynapath System 10 upgrading to Galil CS 18420 ICM 2900 No idea on wiring???

« on: April 03, 2014, 02:03:45 AM »

A lot of Mach videos here: http://www.machsupport.com/videos/
And the main Mach doc is here: http://www.machsupport.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Mach3Mill_Install_Config.pdf

Galil docs are here: http://www.galilmc.com/support/manuals.php  Get both the Command Reference and the User's Manual for your controller.  Read the user's manual first.  Top to bottom.  Then read it again.  LOL!  I'm not going to sugar coat it...  It is going to be painful!    But I have found that with most technical docs, a person just doesn't start putting it all together until the second time through.  At least that is the way I am.  Chapters 3, 5, and 6 are the most applicable though.  So maybe read it once through and then re-read those chapters.

Steve

1187

Galil / Re: Old Dynapath System 10 upgrading to Galil CS 18420 ICM 2900 No idea on wiring???

« on: April 03, 2014, 01:46:24 AM »

Ok, so I got the spindle working kinda... I get 0-10v out of my 4th axis (MOCMDW) the problem is the voltage is negative. Can I just hook the in reverse?

  Not sure why you are seeing this.  What happens if you go to the Galil terminal and enter the command "OFD=5" ?

Again, make sure that KP, KI, and KD are set to 0.  Issue "KPD=0;KID=0;KDD=0" in the Galil terminal.  Then try the OFD=5 command again. 

Turn on logging in the Galil plugin config.  There is a check box to enables it.  Then re-start Mach and then directly close it.  It will produce a GalilDebug.txt file in the plugins directory.  At the top of this file, there will be a listing of the current Galil settings.  This might prove useful to see if there are any commands burned into the controller's NVRAM that could cause this.

Also how do I link buttons to commands in mach3? For instance: I have a green and yellow button, I'd like the to run cycle start and feed hold. How would I go about doing that?

You would typically wire them to inputs on your Galil and then map that input in "ports and pins"  Then you may need to write a Mach 3 Brian that looks at that input and operates an OEM button code.  There is a good video tutorial on Brains in the Mach documentation web links.  Once the mapping is done in ports and pins, it is all pretty much standard Mach from there on out for this task.

Steve

1188

Galil / Re: Old Dynapath System 10 upgrading to Galil CS 18420 ICM 2900 No idea on wiring???

« on: April 03, 2014, 01:32:02 AM »

Proportional (P), Integral (I), Derivative (D).  These are the main terms that describe how the servo loop operates.  They have everything to do with how a servo system operates.  Galil lets you "tune" these values with KP, KI, and KD commands.  OF is the Galil voltage offset command.  OF0 will be 0 volts offset while OF9 will be 9 volts offset.  And anything in between.  This is command that we use on the Galil to basically use the axis as an analog output.  But...  KP, KI, and KD need to be set to 0, otherwise they may change the base voltage of the output!  

The Galil is a very complex and flexible motion controller.  A good bit of knowledge about Galil controllers is pretty much a prerequisite to using one with Mach effectively.  We cannot possibly put all of that into the plugin docs.  If you know how to operate a Galil outside of the Mach environment, then setting up the plugin via the plugin docs is pretty straight forward.  However, if you don't have a good handle on the Galils, it can be challenging (to say the least).

The good news is that the Galil documentation is pretty good.  And they have a nice forum on their website with lots of answers.  Also, the application notes are an invaluable resource when it comes to connecting the Galils and wiring up ICMs.  

There are 3 things that anyone needs to know a good deal about when using the Mach/Galil combination:

1.  Servo theory and operation.  This means getting to know your servo/drive combination pretty well too, as they are all a little bit different.
2.  General Galil concepts and operation.  This includes wiring the ICMs up to the servo drive, inputting the servo tuning parameters,and BN (burning) them to the Galil's NVRAM.  Making the servos move with only the Galil terminal is a good first step.  
3.  Mach.  Mach started off life as a system that drove stepper drives from the parallel port.  This paradigm is most noticeable in the "Ports and Pins" configuration dialog.  Later on, the concept of external motion controllers came to life.  But these external motion controllers pretty much don't resemble a parallel port at all.  So there has always been this sort of square peg/round hole type thing going on.  So the way we implement an external controller is by providing "virtual ports and pins" via the plugin.  That is why we have a pin map in the Galil plugin documentation.  So you just installed Mach and have fired it up, right?  Is all of this immediately apparent?  Unfortunately, No.  

None of this comes fast and easy.  I can't tell you how many nights, days, and weekends I have spent pouring over the Mach and Galil docs.  And I'm still learning every day!

But it is all worth it.  The Mach/Galil combination is poetry in motion.

Steve

1189

Galil / Re: Old Dynapath System 10 upgrading to Galil CS 18420 ICM 2900 No idea on wiring???

« on: April 02, 2014, 03:27:28 AM »

In the plugin config dialog, you map S to the desired Galil axis.  Then select "Single Ended 0-10" check box. You would then wire your VFD 0-10v input to the MOCMDx (where x is the axis you chose) terminal and then tie your VFD ground to any GND terminal on the Galil ICM.  You can also wire the VFD on/off signal to the AMPENAx circuit of the Galil ICM.  You will also need to map and wire output to control the direction of the VFD.

It is important that the PID values (KP, KI, and KD) for the Galil spindle axis be set to 0 and burned to the controller if you are not running with encoder feedback.  When in this mode, the plugin controls the speed of the motor with the OF command.  You will see these commands being sent down in the debug log file if you turn on logging.

Do not check the "Spindle uses encoder" check box unless your VFD can accept a +-10v command like a servo drive does.  Even if your VFD provides encoder feedback.

That is it, in a nut shell.

Steve

1190

Galil / Re: Galil plugin sends TM 1000 but I need TM 125?

« on: March 31, 2014, 12:32:21 PM »

We depend on the sample period that is defined by TM1000.  The plugins makes calculations based on this default and thus there is no workaround. 

The TM1000 is sent by the plugin to make sure that TM is what we need it to be.

Steve