Messages

61

Galil / Re: VFD Spindle control 0 to 10V (not -10 to +10V)

« on: April 14, 2011, 08:38:26 PM »

Sorry, but the spindle options aren't improved yet. Steve has been very busy at work and I am working on lathe threading at the moment. You should try and make do with the diode bridge for now and compensate with the spindle calibration. When I get threading working, I'll take a look at it. Steve and I have discussed this several times and have an understanding of what the various spindle setups are. but implementing them all is another story.

Kenny

62

Galil / Re: VFD Spindle control 0 to 10V (not -10 to +10V)

« on: April 13, 2011, 09:09:38 PM »

Mike,
You may need to fit a jumper in the SM location for the spindle axis. That enables magnitude and sign output. Yes that is also the step motor jumper but the motor is still configured as a servo. You may also need to fit a diode bridge to the Galil output to prevent the voltage reversal. You connect the direction bit to the sign output. It is described (but not well) in the Galil manual.

Kenny

63

Galil / Re: toolpath drifting during cut

« on: March 23, 2011, 12:42:39 PM »

Steve,
Is the power to your cutting spindle located anywhere near the Z axis encoder cable? If so you may try relocating it or removing it from the wireway temporarily. You may have noise on the grounds. Yes, I have seen machines with differential encoders lose counts in only one direction. Not sure why that occurs. If you have one, try using an oscilloscope on the shields of the encoder wires to check for noise.
Lastly, is your z-axis perpendicular to the table surface?
Sorry, but I need to keep asking, maybe I'll get lucky and we'll find the trouble.
Kenny

64

Galil / Re: toolpath drifting during cut

« on: March 23, 2011, 09:26:07 AM »

Steve,
Set up a dial indicator on the edge of the table and watch the encoder counts as you push to the side. You need to see that the encoder zero matches the actual table zero. Now push the other way and check again. If the dial indicator is different in both directions, you have found the trouble. You may need to have all your scan passes start from the same edge to eliminate this play.

As to the disconnecting, I have seen it when one or more of the following programs are installed, Skype, Quicktime, Acrobat reader,  any virus scanner software. They often attempt to "phone home" to check for updates and can disrupt the stream of data to the ethernet port.
BTW, what port address are you using? Is the cable a direct connection or do you have a switch and other devices on the network? Please advise.

Kenny

65

Galil / Re: toolpath drifting during cut

« on: March 23, 2011, 08:11:25 AM »

Steve,
Does your machine always come back to the same position? If so it would appear that your table isn't flat. Or there is lost motion (backlash) in your table drives.
Kenny

66

Galil / Re: galil combination for tool changer, mpg

« on: March 16, 2011, 06:32:45 PM »

Sorry, I'm not familiar with your drive. You will need to control speed from modbus as unless you are going to use the Galil for spindle control, you won't have any pwm outputs available.
Kenny

67

Galil / Re: galil combination for tool changer, mpg

« on: March 16, 2011, 04:16:30 PM »

You can use any modbus devices with the Galil plugin. Spindle can be by VFD if yu want. You have the choice between the Rio or any other modbus device. But please use the MPG in the plugin with Galil I/O if possible. The MPG encoder can be wired to use an auxiliary encoder input on one of the existing servo axes.
Kenny

68

Galil / Re: a couple of suggestions if kenny or smurph have time

« on: March 15, 2011, 08:48:10 AM »

I'll speak with Steve about posting additional errors to mach. I am making progress with lathe threading too, it has only been two years getting it to sync correctly. Now I need to implement the thread features as per Peter Smid. That will take me into the summer to get right. It is going to require a spindle mounted encoder with index pulse to sync properly.  No single slot disk for this application unfortunately. Look at what Art has been going through on the other forum and you will realise that threading is not as easy as one would think.
Kenny

69

Galil / Re: DMC-2162 with a daughter card for I/O's

« on: February 28, 2011, 09:12:49 PM »

PM me with your e-mail address and I'll send you my brain files for my MPG. Brain questions are better answered by those on the brains part of the forum.
Kenny

70

Galil / Re: Galil controller compatability (what works with the plugin)

« on: February 07, 2011, 01:56:47 PM »

Not sure if it has been mentioned here before, but, you need Smartterm and not Galiltools to run with Mach3. You can have both installed, but You must have Smarterm in order to run with the current release of the plugin.
Kenny