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2 tools on y axis
« on: November 21, 2010, 06:36:51 PM »
Hi,

Can mach 3 control 2 tools on a cnc machine. I am building a cutting plotter and need need two tools - drag knife and a creasing wheel. both will be ativated by a push type solenoid. The both tools will be at different positions on the head so the home position for both will be different on the y axis.

Can anyone advise me on this

Thanks

Offline Hood

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Re: 2 tools on y axis
« Reply #1 on: November 21, 2010, 06:42:24 PM »
Sounds like work offsets would be all you are needing, well thats if I am understanding you correctly.
Hood
Re: 2 tools on y axis
« Reply #2 on: November 21, 2010, 06:52:27 PM »
thanks for your reply,

Say i have a drawing with a square and within it a smaller square. I want the first tool (drag knife)  to be used for the outer square and the second tool (creasing wheel) for the inner square. so the solenoids need to be activated independantly.

The home position for both tools will be the same on the x axis but different on the y axis by maybe 3 or 4 inches.

Can this be done?

Im new to all this so I apologise if this has been discussed before.
Re: 2 tools on y axis
« Reply #3 on: November 21, 2010, 07:23:54 PM »
You could do it this way...

Zero tool #1 and run the program.  When the program calls for tool #2, do a G92 X3...or the difference between tool #1 and tool #2.  When switching back to tool #1 do the opposite...G92 X-3.
Re: 2 tools on y axis
« Reply #4 on: November 21, 2010, 07:34:55 PM »
ok

but can mach3 activate solenoid #1 and solenoid #2 as its needed?

And will it run both tools without stopping or will I have to wait for the first tool to finish the enter the code and run the second tool?


Re: 2 tools on y axis
« Reply #5 on: November 21, 2010, 09:17:19 PM »
You can activate and deactivate any or all of the outputs as you need.

Offline Hood

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Re: 2 tools on y axis
« Reply #6 on: November 22, 2010, 03:11:11 AM »
ok

but can mach3 activate solenoid #1 and solenoid #2 as its needed?

And will it run both tools without stopping or will I have to wait for the first tool to finish the enter the code and run the second tool?




For your solenoids you could have them set up as Flood and Mist Coolant outputs. What you would then have in your code is M7 to activate one then when you have finished with that tool you would call M9 to retract and then call M8 to activate the other tool and so on.
As rrc1962 has mentione you could use G92 (or G52) or you could use fixture offsets such as G54, G55,G56 etc. For example if you are in G54 which is the default offset you would move tool 1 to the position you want it to be zero, and then zero the DROs, next move it up and in MDI line type G55 and then move tool 2 to the same position as tool 1 was at and zero the DROs. Now if you type G54 in via MDI you will see that an offset has been created between the two tools and the value in the DROs is the amount that you would need to move to get tool 1 back to zero again.
 To use that in your code it would be as simple as calling a G54 or G55 before each tool is used.

Hood
Re: 2 tools on y axis
« Reply #7 on: November 25, 2010, 02:17:42 PM »
I do something similar with my machine but I use a different method. It's a plasma cutter with a pneumatic scribe mounted a few inches from the plasma torch. I don't have much knowledge of G code or fixture offsets, I use Sheetcam to generate the G code for Mach3. I wrote a custom post processor file for Sheetcam to handle the tool offset and activation of the air scribe solenoid. When I have a job requiring plasma and scribe on the same part I just specify the correct tool for each line in Sheetcam, and the rest is automatic. This may not be the best way to do it, but it has been working for me for a few years.