Hood ,
We do more servo motor systems i.e closed loop  , as against stepper based systems .
and retrofits etc , thats all

nothing meant by it

Dave 

As the smoothstepper can be used on servos systems as well, I was however wondering whether you were thinking of closing the loop to Mach with your product?
Hood

the short answer is yes we hope to


Dave

Sounds interesting, looks like there may be quite a few products that will be attempting this which can only be good news for Mach

Hood

Hi guys
Jumping in here if that is to be used on a plasma cutter . It would be nice nothing is out there that is simply as of yet
                                             klmark
                                     

Wow - lots of interest here.  As Hood said "Good for Mach" - and us too!!

A good solution should work through Mach so that current position is always known - or "closed loop to Mach" .  I think that's the goal everybody is talking about.

Should work well on anything - plasma, laser, waterjet, etc.

Once the basics are worked out, I'm expecting that several entries will pop up for consumer sales.  The trick will be making one that is low priced for the masses.

I wonder if and how well something like this would work for sensing distance? There are other types avaliable form other manufactures. Could sense the distance and out put an analog signal depending on varience.

http://web5.automationdirect.com/adc/Shopping/Catalog/Sensors_-z-_Encoders/Ultrasonic_Sensors/30mm_Round_(TU_Series)/TU1-C0-0E

Brett

As far as I'm concerned, an ultrasonic device would be perfect.  It outputs a signal that varies from 0-10 vdc.

Now, if there was a way to read in this analog signal to the Mach interface that would plunge until the feedback was 5vdc, and then maintain that 5vdc by moving the z-axis up/down as the voltage varies - you're there.

Hopefully, something like that is possible.

Would the 1Hz switching frequency be adequate for such a device?
Hood

For almost anything I do that would work great.  I think the toughest application would be laser where height is critical and cutting speeds can be fairly high.