I am looking for MORE Wizards to do. GOT any IDEAS or wants or needs

(;-) TP

YES !
Yes, I actually do. 
Needing one very soon for a servo driven feeder to be used on a precision cold saw.
Not sure of industry standards, but this is what I have in mind.

There are two stationary clamps/vises, one on each side of the circular blade and one clamp/vise attached to the feeder.

The feeder axis would be HOMED at the end of it's stroke nearest to the blade.
The material is 12 feet long +/-
The stroke of the feeder screw is 30 inches.
The part cut length is 2.800 inches.
Clamp and trim the end to begin with, then retract the feeder to however many increments it can cut in one full stroke.
In this example, 30/2.8=10 x 2.8 = 28  Now, feed, cut, feed, cut and so on until the HOME pos., then retract 28" and resume.
Continue this cycle until a prox switch at the outboard edge of the feeder clamp senses the end of the material, most likely during a retract, at which time it will move to the increment that is JUST shy of making the switch, then resume feeding incrementally until reaching the HOME pos, then stop and wait to be reloaded by the operator.

This little bit of math alone gave me a throbber. (headache that is)

Been thinking G and M codes  or maybe better just with macros ? ? ?
Also considered a PLC w/HMI but am more comfortable with Mach.

Am I on the right track ?
Suggestions welcome.

I saw poppabear's, have it too but not sure if it is exactly what I need.

For your consideration.
Thanks,
Russ

Maybe have a review of the wizard list located in  Members Doc's and see what's missing.
I know that some of the turn wizards could use a some fixen.

RICH

Russ do you have ?

Names of the ouputs to drive the clamps
Name of the feed axis
Picture of it( for the background)

Do you want it as a wizard OR as a Mach3 Screenset??

It "Should" be fairly easy ? (famous last words)

(;-) TP

Hi TP,
   I will get a pic of the actual machine soon, here is a very similar example.

The feeder and the saw slide will be CNC'd, X and Y axis respectively.
The 3 clamps and the Ejector will be pneumatic.
Each cylinder will need 2 prox switches ea. and each Axis will have 1 Home/Limit switch ea.
The Feeder slide will have a prox sw. to sense the end of the material.
Might use a PoKeys for the I/O ? ? ?  (this is where I was considering a PLC)
(the saw slide is now fluid controlled pneumatics, could possibly use this instead of CNC but would rather not. $.$$ might be a determining factor here)
The saw slide will have 3 basic positions. Retracted and extended for the cutting cycle and a fully retracted position for blade changes. ("Blade Change" button on-screen)
The Spindle and Coolant can be standard Mach M-Codes.

The Cycle:
Power up the machine and HOME the axis's.
All clamps OPEN, Ejector retracted, Saw retracted.
Operator selects CUT-Length from a file or enters directly into a DRO.
Configure the clamps for the selected job and load the material.
Manually close clamps 1 & 2 (push button)
All looks well, Cycle Start
1. Saw and Coolant turns ON, FEEDER retracts to the max number of possible cut-lengths per stroke, then clamps the material.
2. G1 Y** to make the cut then G0 Y0.
3. Clamp #1 opens
4. Ejector extends then retracts
5. Clamp #2 opens
6. FEEDER advances 1 cut-length increment.
7. Clamps #1 and #2 close
8. Repeat 2 thru 6 until the prox switch on the feeder slide senses the end of the material during a retract.
9. The feeder positions itself at the last available full cut-length increment and feeds the remaining stock thru the saw.
10. M30 (I guess the cycle could continue until a feeder retract drops the prox sw BEFORE one cut increment is reached, same thing ?)

I would guess a Mach3 Screenset would be the best.

Piece of cake ? ? ? 
Thanks for looking,
Russ

Russ How about something like this ??

WOW, you fast !
Looks great, but:

  No need for the "Full Stroke Length DRO" as it is always the same. (the script knows)

  No need for the "Material Length" DRO as they are all random length and the cycle will run until the feeder clamp prox sw sees the end.
  "Cuts per Bar" DRO is not necessary for the same reason.

  Not sure what you mean by "Trim Length" DRO.   ? ? ?

  Would also like something I don't think I've ever seen mention of on the forum, Individual FRO for X and Y. Possible ? ? ?

THANKS !
Russ

In the first response you mentioned trim the ends of the stock  to start ??  trim length (;-)

The other DROs (;-) Others may want to use it as well (;-)

OK NOW the rub. You want mach3 to act like a dumb PLC which relies on the prox switches to tell it when it is ready or when it is to stop. MACH3 as a CNC controller does not like that type of control nor really allows that type of control in G code. IT really onlly like to follow directions (Gcode)

In CB macro yes BUT in macro mode mach3 is a terrible motion controller  as the Gcode/cb threads can slip out of sync.

IF we do all this in CB it MAY end up a nightmare to control OR to safely stop the machine. Even with Estop when you resume there is NO garrantee that the CB side will not restart on its OWN. YES that is a Mach3 safety bug.

I think it can be done using a Paramteric Gcode file to drive the move and cut AND have the CB side feed it  the variables. That MAY give us a way to see the prox switch and have Mach3 react in Sync.

SO basically it may be all G code driven or nothing (;-).  BUT we can work on it to see IF it can be done your way.

AS to individual axis  FRO ??   NOPE (;-) can't happen. But you can different feedrates for infeed and Cut feedrate.

Just a thought, (;-) TP

The raw ends of the stock are manually loaded at a position that will true and square the end, by operator "eye". Some may be sheared, squashed or rough cut. This length varies and is not important. The stock is loaded and clamped, THEN the auto cycle starts.

I understand about the "Others" now, versatility. Good plan.

The RUB, let me absorb this and maybe get something physically set up then go from there.
I really need the position sensors at the cylinders to insure things are where they need to be before the next step takes place.
As said earlier, a PLC and a touch screen HMI would be great but I'm afraid I do not know enough about them to get the programming done.
A PLC - ModBus - Mach3 might work OK ? ? There again, getting out of my realm a bit.
I'll get back to ya.
Thanks TP,
Russ

Hey TP, couple q's for ya.
I built a machine several years ago the used a PLC and 2 servos with indexing drives.
The PLC ran several blocks then sent a pulse to the drive which executed a few blocks, then pulsed back to the PLC etc., etc. to the end.
Worked pretty keen.
I assume this could this be done with Mach3 ?

Also, configure the SAW slide as a s&d spindle (scale accordingly). Then have FRO for it independantly of the Feeder FRO. ?
Thanks,
Russ