Hello all,
I'm working on retrofitting a Hardinge CHNC. It's running pretty well now, but I'm having troubles with my original solution to turret indexing. I'm using a stepper to index the turret as if it were a rotary axis. I have one home switch which corresponds with tool 1/0deg. From there its just a matter of indexing to each tool position by degrees. The turret locks in place via a raise/lower situation.
Unfortunately, it's proven unreliable. There's a lot of backlash in the gear train that drives the turret, and the steps per degree don't work out to an even number causing further frustration.
I'd like to set it up with 8 sensors, one for each position, and I have enough inputs left for them.
So my question is, could this type of setup be easily controlled by a macro? Just run the stepper till it hits the right sensor? I'd rather go this route as I have no experience with PLCs or ModBus.
Thanks for any ideas,
Kevin