Hi Jeff
I realised I am writing to one uf the authors of emc / axis. Let me tell you I
am just excited about emc / axis and I guess I have barely scratched the
surface. This software *is* great, excellent work!
> On Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 07:23:35PM +0000, Chris Epicier
> wrote:
> > Hi Jeff
> >
> > I'd be more than happy to get this up running
> through emc. The machine
> > is currently thought to have one single parallel port
> and a 4 chnl
> > controller, so I must sitch say "X" to
> "V" in order to get that up
> > using one controller. I will have the machine
> physically availabel vom
> > Nov 17 on. You know: big boys, big toys and I am keen
> to play on right
> > away. EMC2 is set up through the live CD and now
> running happily from
> > HD. I prefer KDE, but I guess that is not complicating
> things. The
> > machine is a AMD Geode 1750, 2 G Ram, 60 G HD, Video
> is a matrox 450
> > DH but only one moitor is used. I disabled all ACPI
> and APM in the
> > BIOS as read it is adviseable to do so.
>
> If you have the disk space to spare and a good network
> connection, you
> can add kde to ubuntu after installing it to your hard
> drive. I believe
> it is as simple as executing
> sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop
> but search the web to find out the right way to do it
> before messing up
> your working install.
Thanks for the tips, I use suse normally, so ubuntu and now kubuntu is a bit
different. For records: I just used the built in software management and
selected the relevant packagaes from within the live cd's install on my hd -
worked flawlessly.
Q3: I have only 800x600 resolution selectable. Is this due to rt-kernel
requirements or should I use another graphics driver or card?
>
> > This week will be dedicated in getting to know emc and
> probably axis
> > as a front end. I should add, I am a civil engineer,
> kinda crafty but
> > zero cnc experience. I do 3D CAD all day and know of
> the fuzzing
> > around to get data converted from one to another
> system. At the time I
> > do not bother how to get from CAD to G-code, there are
> solutions,
> > which one I will use will be decided later on.
> >
> > Q1: emc is capable of driving cnc machines through 2
> lpts. do I need a
> > second one or is it possible to get al four channels
> served through a
> > single lpt? According to the manual it should be
> feasible through one
> > lpt.
>
> Yes, you can use multiple parports, and you can put more
> than 4 step
> outputs on one parport. hal allows a lot of flexibility in
> this regard.
>
> > Q2: can I uses axis to visualise, dry run my hot wire
> cut assembly? I
> > should assume yes, but then how does axis know or
> being told XZ and UW
> > are running independantly?
>
> I don't think axis will have a useful preview for wire
> cutting. It will
> show the XZ movements just fine, but it won't show UW.
> In the past I've
> wondered about how this might be shown, but I don't
> have any concrete
> ideas. If you have used other software that previews wire
> cutting
> gcode, can you tell me what it looks like, or send me a
> link to a screen
> shot?
Before emc I was pointed to a windows install as my supplier uses - up to date
:-) - only windows. My search revealed the following packages with good
potential, here is a a short review of the two most useful proggies I found:
* fcut.sf.net handy piece of soft, source available, C# windows only but may be
transferrable
+ has the ability to reduce heat / speed on tight turns
+ allows for tapered wings and wash out (twist) (runs both bridges
independantly)
+ dihedral possible
+ has switcheable smoothing algorithm (splines)
+ 3 2D panels, kept actual when cutting
- seems tip and root have to be alway parallel to bridge plane, may lead to
some limitation or waste in use of foam block
- allows manual setting of cutting speed
- has ability to switch heeat on and off
-- windows only
- ability to be used for other than wing cut jobs limited
=> seems mature
* foamworks 3.0, www.foamwork.net, I downloaded the metric version, but I
guess the imperial is really the same.
- closed source, but price is reasonable
+ allows for tapered wings and wash out (twist) (runs both bridges
independantly)
- could not find a switch for dihedral, not a big problem though for wings,
other shapes may suffer
- writes proprietry files, readable ascii files, 3 for each run
+ allows delay points, seems to be also a feasible way to get real sharp corners
+ allows manual setting of cutting speed
+ displays progress in 2 2D panels
+ has ability to switch heat on and off
- could not find any switchable smoothing algorithm, but seems to have one
built in
-- windows only
=> seems mature
I do like the way fcut displays where the wire runs on the foam block and at
the end ribs. It is very straight forward. Also, you seem to be able to define
basic parameters for each foam type which can be reused. I dislike on fcut the
way it makes use of the foam, Any dihedral, sweep angle produces quite some
waste. the wing should be freely moveable/rotateable inside the foam block in
order to minimise waste. Foamworks is first of all closed source. Work flow is
not as straight forward as fcut. None seems to check, whether the cut is really
feasible with the wachine at hand,
none generates Gcode, they drive the hardware directly and both are limited to
windows, with all the fun of getting it to run.
If I may set up a wish list, altough I am not sure if I really talk about a
preprocessor to emc or an extension of the features of axis here:
- although a true 3D model is nice, it is not really required, provided:
- foam use can be checked on beforehand visually, I can do that using my CAD
though
- to cut sharp edges, e reduction of heat and speed should be selectable
- any arbitrary shape should be possible, ie I should be able to have root and
tip section rotated at any desired and reasonable angle
- If I think about it, then it would be required to define the foam block plus
the tip and root surface. It would be great to see where the wire penetrates
the foam bloch and the root and tip planes.
- like fcut, there shouold be some parameters definable for the foam type to be
used
I attach a screen shot of fcut. I do not have a microsoft compiler, but maybe
fcut could be used as gcode generator. I could help there, but need to be
pointed to some gcode library. My programming skills come from borland
cbuilder, but I always wanted to move these over to linux. So if I can be of
any help...
chris
PS: who wants the screen shot, send a pn
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