Messages

1391

Galil / Re: Edit Galil Plugin

« on: November 19, 2010, 02:06:20 AM »

The problem with the 1341 and my OpenBSD hack is that I wrote the VME bus driver (I was "Mr. VME" at OpenBSD for many years) specifically for the Fanuc SBC.  It will run on no other hardware.  And the VME driver is not in the OpenBSD source tree.  So the 1341 will never really be possible to use with Mach. 

Steve

1392

Galil / Re: Edit Galil Plugin

« on: November 16, 2010, 11:58:47 AM »

The Mach and Galil combination doesn't create static code for the Galil controller that can be downloaded to the controller and run "offline".  It talks to the Galil controller constantly and streams commands to it in a very dynamic fashion.  In other words, it is not a G code to Galil code converter.

I actually wrote some code to run the 1341 (VME) on an OpenBSD install on a Fanuc VME single board computer.  I then wrote a TCP/IP server that mimics a Galil stand alone Ethernet controller.  The problem is that you have to have a VME chassis, a Fanuc SBC, (not cheap at all) and a lot of UNIX know how.  My point is that anything is possible, but it might not be worth it.

The 1040 and 1540, as Kenny said, suffer from a lack of a data record.  And the 1540 also has the problem of being a serial only device.  Of the two, the 1040 has possibilities but the whole plugin would have to be rewritten to even try it.  The plugin is written in Visual Studio 2003 C++ (That is what you would edit the plugin code with).

Finding a newer ISA (DMC17x0), PCI (DMC18x0/2/6), or Any of the Ethernet controllers would be the quickest route to success.

Steve

1393

Galil / Re: X,W home problems

« on: November 16, 2010, 11:33:50 AM »

Yes, I can.  I'm trying to make the plugin use the new Galil Tools drivers at the moment.  So I need to finish that first because the code is all torn up.  Hopefully I should be done with that by the weekend.

Steve

1394

Galil / Re: Mesa card plugin

« on: November 16, 2010, 11:30:22 AM »

The only board that I know of that might work with both is the Mesa.  You can try the plugin, if you want.  It moves motors on my system.  I just have not tried it on a mill where the motors are actually hooked up to something.

Otherwise, the DSPMC and the Galil are good choices that work perfectly with Mach.

Steve

1395

Galil / Re: Mesa card plugin

« on: November 15, 2010, 06:28:59 PM »

EMC uses the HostMot FPGA config where EMC handles all of the trajectory control and thus is capable of spreading the work across multiple contollers.  We use the SoftDMC FPGA config where trajectory planning is done by Mach but the control is done on the Mesa card.  So adding axes by adding multiple controllers is not possible.  However, you can use one Mesa card for axes and another Mesa card for I/O.  (I wrote an I/O plugin as well)  Also, there is the 96bit 5I22 (8 axes and 48 bits of I/O) if that might be enough.

With the 5i20, you could do 8 axes and 24 bits of I/O with the motion plugin.  Then you could add another 5i20 for another 72 bits of I/O with the I/O plugin.

The Mesa motion plugin is not tested yet, so it's not ready for prime time.  I've been working too much. 

Steve

1396

Galil / Re: Homing without switches

« on: November 01, 2010, 12:16:21 AM »

No way around this.  Homing is integral to the Galil.  You could probably write your own homing routine in a separate thread in the Galil.  But that would be waaaaaaaaay more work than installing switches.

1397

Galil / Re: Remote Pendant for Galil

« on: October 26, 2010, 06:13:50 PM »

It looks like the MPG101 uses the parallel port, which is deactivated if you are using an external motion plugin.  So I don't see how it would work with that limitation.  It has a plugin with it as well, from what I read.  But I have not seen on or tried to get one working, so I can't say for sure.

The MPG4 is wired the digital inputs and a spare (or secondary) encoder on the Galil ICM.  So the MPG is actually controlling the Galil instead of Mach.  The MPG configuration is done in the Galil Plugin configuration dialog.  This makes for super smooth MPG operation!  You will also have to write a small brain that takes the digital inputs and makes them do the right thing in Mach (axis selection, step size, etc...)

Steve

1398

Galil / Re: Remote Pendant for Galil

« on: October 26, 2010, 03:15:15 PM »

The MPG4 from http://www.cnc4pc.com/ works well.  However, you will need to get a DB25 breakout and wire to the Galil ICM.

1399

Galil / Re: Z axis to digital output

« on: September 30, 2010, 04:03:41 PM »

The easiest way to handle it is to put a couple of macros in the desired profile's macro directory.  The macros should me named ZUP_2D.m1s and ZDN_2D.m1s.

Inside the macros, use the VB subroutines ActivateSignal(OUTPUT1) and DeActivateSignal(OUTPUT1).  Substitute your desired output for OUTPUT1.

Steve

1400

Galil / Re: MPG Not Stopping At Soft Limits

« on: September 26, 2010, 02:00:03 PM »

I need a GalilDebug.txt log to look at.  But looking through the code, there should be no reason for this.  All the MPG code is doing is driving an axis via an encoder and regular axis limits should apply.