Kirk et al, > It looks like the G540 has two outputs that can drive up to 1 Amp at 50 > Volts. This should be enough to drive a small solenoid directly or a > higher power relay. Parallel ports are inexpensive and can up to twelve > outputs:
Thanks for pointing out these outputs on the G540. I wouldn't have known to look for them. So if I understand you correctly, these outputs could definitely give me access to a solenoid of some sort to open or close a gripper. I presume there must be some gcode command within EMC2 I can use to operate that output? > Most tool changers are controlled with simple on/off outputs to control > simple movements. Unless you have an unusual machine, like a pen > plotter, you won't need to think about using an EMC2 axis for the > changer. If you can describe the basics of your machine, the tool > holders you want to use, and a rough idea of what the tool changer might > look like, we can start to give you our opinions on what the details > might be. I'm thinking really simple and crude, at least for the first pass. The idea is to have some wells in fixed locations on the cutting bed. Each well would hold an upright paintbrush. I can use xyz gcode to drive the machine so that it's over one of these brush wells. I would then send a command to open the gripper, move the open gripper over the brush handle, close the gripper, lift the brush out, and move on. For a gripper, it just needs to be something that would hold a light brush. So I'm thinking a pull solenoid that will open a spring-closed gripper of some kind. I haven't explored this part at all yet. But like I said, crude is ok as long as it can pick up a brush and hold it firmly. Once I've got something crude under my belt, and a CNC working, and a firm understanding of basic gcode and whatever else I'll need to learn to get this far, then I'll refine and/or rebuild. thanks! fg ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The NEW KODAK i700 Series Scanners deliver under ANY circumstances! Your production scanning environment may not be a perfect world - but thanks to Kodak, there's a perfect scanner to get the job done! With the NEW KODAK i700 Series Scanner you'll get full speed at 300 dpi even with all image processing features enabled. http://p.sf.net/sfu/kodak-com _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
