Yes that was the two questions and you have answered them. I will be making a balancer at some point.
 
I would  to do this from inside mach3    I want a true 4th axis ( as a
indexer and a spindle with brake) to run on my bridgeport R2E4. I have
no requirement to have separate electronic box to control the 4th axis. while mounted on the cnc mill.
understanding  I want this for my own use.

thank you for the help
archie =) =) =)

Quote from: simpson36 on February 10, 2013, 03:22:17 AM

An Atmel processor (on an Arduino MEGA development board) is used for data acquisition only and the data (sensor reads) that is collected on each run is sent over a serial connection to a program on the PC for the calculations.

Is it a commercial program or some code of your own?

Dan

My own.

Yes that was the two questions and you have answered them. I will be making a balancer at some point.
 
I would  to do this from inside mach3    I want a true 4th axis ( as a
indexer and a spindle with brake) to run on my bridgeport R2E4. I have
no requirement to have separate electronic box to control the 4th axis. while mounted on the cnc mill.
understanding  I want this for my own use.

thank you for the help
archie =) =) =)

The control box turns over control to MACH for indexing, so when in INDEX mode, it operates as you describe, i.e. within MACH3.  MACH has no ability to continuously rotate an axis so you will need to do some 'smoke and mirrors' tricks to get that to happen. There are a couple of ways to go about it and I think those are detailed early on in this thread. I was doing the INdexing TURNing using MACH only for quite some time before I made the control box. It is doable, just a bit inconvenient and limited. It is a good place to start. If the limitations become a problem, you can then create a separate controller for the TURNING operations.

Lack of enable/disable is a serious handicap. Cost condiserations may force the use of a hobby drive to get started, but the more you use the machine, the higher the priority will be to upgrade the drive.

Is it just that the changeover is slow. or is it a programming  issue  IE having to massage the code by hand.

Thank You
archie =) =) =)

I do have a untested yaskawa servo drive under the bench that I may break out if nessessary it is supposed to drive a 5HP spindle I was sort of holding that back for a lathe project but who knows.

archie =) =) =)

Is it just that the changeover is slow. or is it a programming  issue  IE having to massage the code by hand.

Thank You
archie =) =) =)

I'm not sure what you are asking here. There is a feature in MACH called 'swapaxis' that can be used alternately connect the spindle axis and the A axis to your 4th axis. I used that initially and then later created a small circuit board to accomplish the same feature in hardware. Either method is essentially instantaneous. There are some caveats to using the internal MACH command which I think are detailed elsewhere in this thread.

You have to message the code in any case, so that is not a factor in deciding how to control your 4th axis motor.  On that topic, a couple of my buyers are working on post processors that embed the codes for the InTurn™ and there are three editors that make it quick and easy to embed the codes.

*The most sophisticated is an editor by CNCcookbook. Bob Warfield added a feature for the InTurn™ (or equiv) code 'massaging' that that actually looks at the context of the G-code and can differentiate where a command should be embedded and where it is should not. A 'smart' editor, if you will.

*There is free editor called NotePad ++ that has the ability to replace a line with several lines. This is the 'secret' to fast and easy editing to add InTurn™ commands.

*A third CNC code editor has promised to add a similar feature, but so far I have not heard back from them and I have not gone searching to see if it is done yet.

I do have a untested yaskawa servo drive under the bench that I may break out if nessessary it is supposed to drive a 5HP spindle I was sort of holding that back for a lathe project but who knows.

archie =) =) =)

  Your 4th axis project IS a lathe project. Once you have your 4th axis doing turning on your mill, as Scarface would say "I don need no steenkeen LATHE!"

Yaskawa AC drive would be an excellent choice. If you have 5HP (continuous), you might get away without dual range belts, depending on the type of work you are doing.

Simpson, I just wanted to say something here........... THANK YOU!  This is a very, very, very good topic.  Inspirational to say the least.  Great work, creativity, originality, implementation, can all be found right here.  Thanks for taking the time to share.   

Brett

I couldn't resist. 

my Stinkin lathe

Do you have the part number for your sealed AC 45mm ID Bearings?  I read through the thread but didnt see it. All I can find is non-sealed versions.