Hello! Following other members on this list, I also would like to share information about my abrasive waterjet cutting machine that has been converted to EMC2.
Originally it was produced in 2001 by PTV, working envelope is 3000 * 2000 mm. Here are first 3 pictures I have taken: http://www.cutting.lv/en/waterjet-pictures (if anyone is curious to look around my webpage, then LV version contains more pictures, showing different completed jobs, apologies for my laziness, but all my clients are from LV) What I have done: 1) first of all, a PCB was created that converts usual step/dir signal to a step/dir signal in a twisted pair (servo drives accept only 24 V step/dir signal or 5V step/dir signal in a twisted pair; 2) PCB with optoisolators was created to join existing limit and homing switches with EMC. All the existing hardware is working with 24V signal level, which is not directly compatible with LPT port; 3) relays for control of water jet and abrasive have been added. Water jet is a spindle for EMC and abrasive is coolant flood. 4) I installed EMC2 :); 5) I created new panel for control cabinet, where: 5.1) old 10" monitor is upgraded to 17", 5.2) I also have duplicated 2 buttons and 3 signal lights from the pump - it has made my life much easier, as I do not have to run to pump to switch it to high pressure and back to low pressure after cutting is finished (it is not recommended to stay in high pressure mode, when not cutting, as it puts a lot of stress to high pressure tubing - water pressure is ~ 4000 bar) 5.3) I have added 2 switches for manual control of waterjet and abrasive together and abrasive only. It allows me to turn off jet and abrasive manually, when running file as well as I can easily switch to "water only" cutting, because g-code always contains both commands - for water jet (M3 and M5 respectively) and for abrasive (M8 and M9 respectively). It can now be managed easily and effectively. 5.4) I cut, welded and painted the new sheet for a panel. It twisted during welding, so there are few dents from hammer as I tried to straighten it out :) Painting has not covered them completely. 5 axis cutting capability is still a work-in-progress due to different difficulties with stepper motors and my Gecko drives. I still owe a lot of thanks to Andy Pugh, who devoted a lot of time and effort to the kinematics module that handles all the compensating moves, as well as takes tilt angle from G-code (where it is included as a command for A axis), then calculates tangent of the nozzle's movement - C axis and then converts all that to actual commands for A and B axis. First tests indicate that the module is working, but more tweaking is necessary to make it more precise. One of the reasons I am sharing all this information is that I would like to sell this machine - my financial position is insufficient to cover my bank payments. If anyone is interested, please do not hesitate to contact me. If there are any other things that You would like to see - servo motors, pump or anything else, let me know and I will post the pictures in my homepage. Unfortunately max available size for pictures is 800 * 600 pixels. Viesturs ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sell apps to millions through the Intel(R) Atom(Tm) Developer Program Be part of this innovative community and reach millions of netbook users worldwide. Take advantage of special opportunities to increase revenue and speed time-to-market. Join now, and jumpstart your future. http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-atom-d2d _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
