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Semi manual lathe
« on: July 13, 2013, 01:57:11 AM »
I would like to make a control panel that makes a lathe work almost like a manual lathe,
for example, I would like an encoder hand wheel that works more like the manual handles of a machine than it does now, I want one rev to always do a certain amount of movement for example 5mm per turn which velocity mode does not, and I want it to be more smooth than the step mode.

I also would also like to control the axis by a button or a joystick with fixed positions to move the axis and be able to control the jog speed dynamicaly with a potentiometer.
When jogging with a button its not possible as I can see to change the speed under a move, I have to stop moving and start again which would cause uggly marks on the piece I would be turning.
I have made it work with using pokeys and a joystick with fixed positions and then a potentiometer to control the jog speed and it works quite well, exept that the pokeys seem to be pretty unstable, sometimes when I start Mach3 and reset an axis start moving and doesnt stop until I have pushed the joystick back and forth and sometimes it has lost communication with the board and an axis has started to move and doesnt stop until I pushed the E-stop. Also it seem to be impossible to turn of the joystick which I would like to.

Any suggestions?

Offline Hood

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Re: Semi manual lathe
« Reply #1 on: July 13, 2013, 05:01:14 AM »
The CSMIO/IP-A and S and likely the M do some of what you are wanting. The FRO pot can be set to control the jog speed via keys and I think it can be altered during a jog, however I would need to check on that as I never use keyboard jogging on my machines.
The MPG in the CSMIO/IP-* is the best I have used and works like industrial machines, ie 1 click is exactly whatever setting you have the switch set to. So for metric machines you have three settings 1mm, 0.1mm and 0.01mm, for imperial machines it is 0.1 inch, 0.01 inch and 0.001 inch.

I have not used a joy stick on any machines I have had so cant say how that would work.
Hood
Re: Semi manual lathe
« Reply #2 on: July 13, 2013, 11:18:30 AM »
Thank you for your answer.
It looks interresting but a bit expensive, and I already have a Smoothstepper ess and I´m a bit reluctant to buy a hole new set of controller.

I wonder if the feedrate for the MPG can be changed when jogging, maybe I could send a steady pulsetrain to one or two inputs with the joystick and control the speed with a potentiometer?
In that case, could I send pulses to only one input somehow without having to replicate the pulses from an encoder?
Re: Semi manual lathe
« Reply #3 on: July 13, 2013, 11:35:22 AM »
Did some testing:)
The MPG that I have connected to the pokeys is not affected at all by any kind of feedrate, jog, mpg or the other one under the step/velocity button which I dont even know what its for.
But, when I use my hand held MPG from vista cnc and running it in constant velocity mode it is affected by the jog rate and it works nicely to change it at the same time as I turn the wheel of the MPG.
However, I would mostly like to start the motion with a button or a joystick switch instead of having to turn the MPG?

Offline Hood

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Re: Semi manual lathe
« Reply #4 on: July 13, 2013, 05:55:45 PM »
The Vista CNC pendant must be using the MPG as a Jog mode rather than a true MPG  if it is altered with FRO.
 Does the MPG adhere to distance per click? I would think not if it is doing as you say.

Hood
Re: Semi manual lathe
« Reply #5 on: July 14, 2013, 06:48:35 AM »
It does in the other modes, it has three modes: step, velocity and constant velocity, step and velocity mode works like the same modes in Mach3 and constat velocity mode moves the axis at a constant speed no matter how fast I turn the wheel.
Could this be triggerd with a VB command or something if I knew the command string?

Offline Hood

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Re: Semi manual lathe
« Reply #6 on: July 14, 2013, 07:43:00 AM »
Ok so the FRO will vary the axis speed whilst in Step mode and it will still step an accurate amount per click? Or is it the constant velocity mode you are meaning that the FRO acts on?


Could what be triggered from VB?

Hood
Re: Semi manual lathe
« Reply #7 on: July 14, 2013, 07:55:39 AM »
No the fro will only affect the speed in constant velocity mode.
In step mode it moves the axis 0.1 or 0.01 or what ever is configurated per click.

Trigger the constant velocity movement.

Offline Hood

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Re: Semi manual lathe
« Reply #8 on: July 14, 2013, 09:15:01 AM »
Are you meaning that you will use your pendant (or at least its internals/MPG) and you are wanting to be able to control which mode it is in via VB?
If yes then it will all depend on how the pendant is controlled at the moment, I would think it will either be a plugin or Brains so it may be possible or may not.
Hood
Re: Semi manual lathe
« Reply #9 on: July 17, 2013, 10:43:45 AM »
Yes I thougt that I could have the pendant as a part of my panel, but also some buttons and a joystick with fixed positions and its controlled by a plugin at the moment and I guess thats a question for Vista CNC though I doubt that they want me to mess around in there code.

Thank you for your answers!