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Author Topic: Out-Of-Band Axes in Hobby vs Indusrial  (Read 12585 times)

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Re: Out-Of-Band Axes in Hobby vs Indusrial
« Reply #20 on: May 11, 2018, 05:09:26 PM »
Hi,
when I used Zero Brane to write a macro mc.JogAbsStart() is compliant but its not mentioned in the API.chm.

The version of the API.chm I have is Rev 1.01 March 2015. Is there a later revision? I recently updated to 3756 and I would have thought that if there
were a later revision it would have come with the update.

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'
Re: Out-Of-Band Axes in Hobby vs Indusrial
« Reply #21 on: May 11, 2018, 05:44:53 PM »
Hey Craig,
I'm using 3787.  It is not in the API on this version either.  I found it by typing and seeing it pop up in Zero Brane.  I guess they haven't updated the API yet.
Chad Byrd
Re: Out-Of-Band Axes in Hobby vs Indusrial
« Reply #22 on: May 11, 2018, 05:58:13 PM »
Hi,
well we should be used to NFS developing new stuff and leading their documentation.....I mean I'm of course happy that mc.JogAbsStart() exists but how is anyone supposed to know!
Further, what other gems have been introduced that we have no idea even exist?

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'

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Re: Out-Of-Band Axes in Hobby vs Indusrial
« Reply #23 on: May 11, 2018, 06:12:42 PM »
Further, what other gems have been introduced that we have no idea even exist?

One may NEVER know...  :)

I usually don't document an API call until it has been fully tested.  There are tons of undocumented API calls in Windows too, and I suspect for the same reason.  However, the reason THIS one (and a few others) is not documented is because I had to re-install Windows (long story) and I lost all of my license keys for a lot of my development software.  The Help documentation software included. 

I did have a backup, but some of the stuff is stored in some mysterious location.  Typically, the CAD/CAM stuff allows for you to "park" your license, reinstall, and then pull the license back down.  So those were easy.  But other things were not so easy and/or you just forget that they are licensed.  Anyway, I have that all sorted now.  But I detest writing documentation because people then complain that it is not good enough, etc...  So I have to be in a particularly "I don't give a rip" mood before I can motivate myself to write that stuff.  :)

Steve

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Re: Out-Of-Band Axes in Hobby vs Indusrial
« Reply #24 on: May 11, 2018, 06:55:59 PM »
I'm going to do some more testing with this and get my PLC and Mach changing the OB Axis position to make sure that it will do what I want.   Is this still considered Hobby??? lol

Well...  hobby can be/is expansive.  For instance, one of my hobbies is ham radio.  People can get into that hobby and just buy radios and antennas just to talk.  But others. such as myself, get hopelessly drawn in and end up having tons of test equipment following them home and/or start building solid state amplifiers and power supplies. 

So...  I think you are building the equivalent of a solid state amplifier.  :)

Steve
Re: Out-Of-Band Axes in Hobby vs Indusrial
« Reply #25 on: May 11, 2018, 07:15:33 PM »
Hi Steve,
my cheap and nasty spectrum analyser cost me $5000NZD when I bought it and it was a demo unit at that!

That was before the advent of Ebay, or perhaps me being aware the Ebay is a pretty fair source for test gear. Still you have to shop
around and the good stuff can be had at good prices, just plain expensive....as opposed to eye-watering pie-in-the-sky stuff.

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'

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Re: Out-Of-Band Axes in Hobby vs Indusrial
« Reply #26 on: May 11, 2018, 07:56:10 PM »
I buy dead stuff and fix it.  I'm successful about 75% of the time.  You have to watch out for stuff made in the 90s because they will most likely have the leaky surface mount electrolytic caps that can corrode the traces on the PCBs.  Sometimes beyond repair  Tek TDS500 series scopes, for instance.  But my wife HATES this stuff because the 25% that I can't fix seems to stay around.  :)  Plus I usually keep the stuff I do fix as well.

I got a Tek 492AP spectrum analyzer for free.  It was all ganked up with display storage issues.  But it is up and running like a new one now.  Up to 21 GHz!!!  That was my best fix ever.  Next was a Fluke 6080 signal gen from eBay.  That one cost less than the shipping to get that heavy beast to my door.  It is now running 100% as well.  So eBay can be even cheaper if you can fix the stuff.  I find that capacitors are almost always the culprit, no matter what vintage/type they are.  Even the good non leaky electrolytic caps let go with high ESR.  Capacitors are just little serial killers that are just waiting for a chance to pounce.  Nasty little beasts! 

But with eBay, I have a complete RF lab for less than the cost of a new HF radio.  eBay is good for machine tool stuff too.  But you better know something about what you are looking for, in call cases.

eBay can be frustrating though.  I simply hate the "buy it now" listing types.  Because most will invariably try to sell something dead for 10 times what it is worth and the listings clutter up your search for months on end! 

Steve
Re: Out-Of-Band Axes in Hobby vs Indusrial
« Reply #27 on: May 11, 2018, 08:17:17 PM »
Hi Steve,
my most recent purchase was a HP 54720D scope and three input amps and active probe. 5 Gsamp/sec so about 1 GHz bandwidth.....The guy I bought it from was a retired HP Engineer and he did a nice job on
it. The thing weighs 70lb and shipping to NZ was going to cost over $1000, got around that by using UPS, no tracking, no insurance, but it got here!

Bought a house since and mortgage has put paid to any plans for more RF gear. In addition now working for a company fixing welding gear, a good percentage of inverter types.
As a consequence I've built up a selection of HV isolated probes, high bandwidth current clamps and  a 13kV HF voltage probe. Most of my electronic hobby time seem to be designing
and building wiredrive PCBs, phase controlled bridges to hundreds of amps etc for work related projects. Have had some fun designing and building a servo drive for a decent (2.6kW) AC servo
fitted with an eight pole resolver. All in all a great learning curve. Cheaper than RF too!

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'
Re: Out-Of-Band Axes in Hobby vs Indusrial
« Reply #28 on: March 26, 2022, 02:02:39 AM »
Hi everybody

I am using Mach4 EtherCAT as my motion controller and I would like to try out-of-band axes for an auto tool changer, or to move a something up/down.

I have read that I need to use macros with API, but I am completely new to those.

Any tip of where should I start and also more advanced sources to program macros for OB axes in Mach4?

Best regards

Pablo
Re: Out-Of-Band Axes in Hobby vs Indusrial
« Reply #29 on: March 27, 2022, 07:47:14 AM »
which hardware did you you use for the ethercat?
and why you choose  ethercat?