Hi Gene, Original ELS project was started back in 2004. By end of 2005 I had written a short article on it for Circuit Cellar Magazine that was published in Nov 2006. Here's my signature which takes you to a very old non-updated web page. There are links to the source code too.
"ELS! Nothing else works as well for your Lathe" Automation Artisans Inc. http://www.autoartisans.com/ELS/ Ph. 1 250 544 4950 Cheers John > -----Original Message----- > From: Gene Heskett [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: October-14-17 1:42 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Emc-users] MachineKit on the BeagleBone Black > > On Saturday 14 October 2017 16:14:20 John Dammeyer wrote: > > > Hi Gene, > > > > When I developed the ELS I didn't have a CNC mill nor even an indexing > > chuck. For me the primary motivation was that I had just finished > > building the Gingery Lathe and hadn't built any of the other tools to > > make gears for thread cutting and certainly wasn't going to buy them. > > > > I also didn't want a PC, and at that time huge Glass Monitor, keyboard > > and mouse all of which even surplus was still in the $500 range plus > > MACH2 at the time being larger and taking up more space than the lathe > > itself. > > > On TLM it still takes more room than the lathe does. :) And on the > micromill its about a tossup, half stacked on top of the mill. > > > So I set out to build a $150 ELS. That project exploded, as do so > > many, with featuritus and the next thing you know I had two axis, > > tapering etc. and a production run of 200 boards. > > URL plz? > > > > At the time the design decision was that a 1000 line (4000 quadrature) > > would be the maximum supported in order to get decent closed loop > > performance. The PIC couldn't do it so even though there's a menu > > entry for number of pulses per rev, it's locked in at 1. > > > > Shortly after that the Olympic Rings Project came along (and ballroom > > dancing with my wife) and the shop has been mostly dormant other than > > building up the JGRO CNC router and the occasional bit of this and > > that. > > Chuckle, and as has been said many many times, life gets in the way. But > OTOH, this stuff does keep me out of the bars. :) And being diabetic, I > can't do their hi alky stuff anyway, not without committing suicide, so > I tell myself the one Miller64 I drink of an evening is all that I need. > > > Now I have the pieces for the Y axis on the mill. I've drawn out the > > X with Alibre. Just doing some final checking on that and then I'll > > make patterns. Still need to assemble the extra HP_UHU drivers. I > > have Servo Gecko's but they can't handle the 105VDC power supply and > > therefore can't run the 90V motors. > > Jon has a pwm driven servo amp, 20 amps at 160 volts, I'm using one on > TLM to do a 1 hp treadmill for the spindle, and another to drive the 1 > hp oem spindle on the G0704, but I thinks its brushes are about fini. > > > Also up to my ears in trying once again to relearn Altium (now 2017 > > where my original copy was 2009) since that project was also put onto > > the back burner. For almost 20 years I've been able to work with > > Protel 99SE but the point has been reached where the clients want the > > 3D Step files of the populated PC board. And the newer Altium does so > > much more anyway. > > > > And I keep getting pulled into doing other interesting work-work > > projects which generally tend to be all encompassing. > > Theres an echo in here. :) > > > > But the SD card with MachineKit is plugged into a Beagle black Rev B > > behind me here. I've added an ImageViewer, Glade, ksnapshot which > > appears to need to be launched from the command line and finally the > > Lazarus Pascal environment. > > > > Anyway, times have changed. Now the LCD displays are small and light > > and there are all sorts of other things. That's why the interest in > > the Beagle. Where LinuxCNC or MACH wasn't an option 15 years ago after > > I finished the Gingery Lathe I now have a much better outfitted shop, > > still no time, but it's time to revisit stuff. > > And make it better... > > > John > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: Gene Heskett [mailto:[email protected]] > > > Sent: October-14-17 9:39 AM > > > To: [email protected] > > > Subject: Re: [Emc-users] MachineKit on the BeagleBone Black > > > > > > On Saturday 14 October 2017 04:38:57 John Dammeyer wrote: > > > > As I recall, there was a specific comment that lathes were not yet > > > > supported. For now I think I'll leave it alone because even if it > > > > were supported there are so many things on my plate that I > > > > wouldn't be able to test it anyway. Unfair to put pressure on > > > > Charles or anyone to get something working and then not use it. > > > > > > > > Going way back 10 years to when I first started the E-Leadscrew > > > > project, cost was a factor to adding electronic gearing. One of > > > > the costs was a decent quadrature encoder with 250 lines to fit > > > > the spindle. Turns out the encoder disk wasn't that expensive for > > > > the size spindle of the SB 10L. Only about $70. But I'd have to > > > > buy 100. That put it out of reach. > > > > > > John, who buys this stuff?, Make it, that IS what we do. I found > > > some code in our wiki.linuxcnc.org for an optical interrupter style > > > of encoder that I used for a model to make wheels for TLM, then > > > added a slot because there was room for it, to the G0704's encoder > > > wheel. I had put ball screws in the xy of my expanded micromill > > > quite some time ago, so I had fair accuracy there, and I made the > > > wheels for both TLM and the G0704 on the micromill. Bought a sheet > > > of brass intended for door kick plates, and experimented with mill > > > sizes, and slot spacings until the output was usable. IIRC the slots > > > are actually wedge shaped. I put the index slot inside the circle of > > > outside slots so the opto's could all be in a row on the board, even > > > made the dbl sided pcb's on the micromill using eagle to generate > > > the gcode. That way the center opto is the index. > > > > > > One of the later versions of that code for a smaller wheel is here: > > > > > > <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene/Genes-os9-stf/LCNC/genes-encoder > > >.ngc> > > > > > > And thank Lester of course. > > > > > > Then for the Sheldon, I just put some (mumble)667's on an alu > > > carving that matched the OD curve of the big 60 tooth bull gear, so > > > I have 240 edges per rev to drive the rest of LCNC with. I gooped a > > > screw to the side of the gear for an index pulse generator and put a > > > 3rd 667 offset sideways to make that pulse. > > > > > > I'm retired, on SS and can't afford to buy that stuff, and 99% of > > > the time I'd have to make adapters anyway, so why not just make the > > > whole thing? Time is the one thing I usually have enough of as I've > > > got till whenever I miss morning roll call for good. Thats my only > > > deadline. > > > > > > > An alternative was an encoder driven by a toothed belt and pulleys > > > > from the SB spindle. Again, cost of all the bits and pieces for > > > > that came close to the target price for the ELS which back then > > > > was only $150. This was all before Beagles and Pi modules. > > > > > > I think I have less than $200 for raw material in all 3 encoders > > > that I've made so far. > > > > > > > At this point if I did add a Beagle to do CNC on the lathe I'd > > > > want to include the 4.3" touch screen cape and use a similar > > > > interface that I have for the ELS. I just don't have a need for a > > > > CNC lathe. > > > > > > CNC on the lathes, both of them, has been a net time saver for me > > > once the code is written. It took about a week to write the code, > > > and 10 lbs of scrap steel carved up for test fits, and a day to fine > > > tune the cutting tool, to swap the about shot out and pitted 30-06 > > > Ackley Improved barrel in old meat in the pot out for a fresh SS > > > barrel in 6.5mm tight twist and chambered for a 6.5 Creedmoor. > > > Hornady's new 143 gr ELD-X bullet works well, in bad windy weather, > > > the first group will put venison in the freezer on any day of the > > > week, from any range I can guess accurately enough. And its a heck > > > of a lot easier on an 83 yo shoulder than the Ackley-06 was. Old > > > meat in the pot is a P-17 Enfield, with square 10 tpi threads. You > > > can't buy a tool to carve that. And you don't want to write code > > > thats carving up a $500 barrel, without being sure it fits by > > > carving scrap shafting first. That was harder stuff than the barrel > > > itself was. > > > > > > > And to be truthful, for the amount I use the lathe and the number > > > > of metric threads I cut the ELS is the perfect solution. Perhaps > > > > one day I'll find a project that requires both Z and X to be > > > > powered and has to do more than what my ELS does. But for now, > > > > the biggest issue with turning is pulling out the spiral bits of > > > > metal as the lathe cuts. > > > > > > > > Thank you for the suggestion. I know it's something that should > > > > be followed up. > > > > > > > > John > > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > > > From: Jon Elson [mailto:[email protected]] > > > > > Sent: October-13-17 10:01 PM > > > > > To: Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC) > > > > > Subject: Re: [Emc-users] MachineKit on the BeagleBone Black > > > > > > > > > > On 10/13/2017 05:13 PM, John Dammeyer wrote: > > > > > > The desire for the Beagle with me was originally that with > > > > > > LinuxCNC and > > > > > > > > a > > > > > > > > > quadrature encoder on the spindle along with the hardware QEP > > > > > handled by > > > > > > > > the > > > > > > > > > PRU we'd have an awesome little lathe controller. Alas, that's > > > > > the one > > > > > > > > thing in > > > > > > > > > MachineKit that hasn't been addressed yet. > > > > > The PRU code by Charles Steinkuehler definitely supports > > > > > encoders, if you tell it to instantiate one or more. > > > > > I don't know the particulars, but they are in the PRU code. > > > > > You might send Charles a message, he is VERY helpful. > > > > > Once the encoder is instantiated, it is just a matter of > > > > > hooking the right hal pins to the pins exported by the PRU > > > > > driver. > > > > > > > > > > Jon > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > >---- ------ -- > > > > > > > > > Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most > > > > > engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > > Emc-users mailing list > > > > > [email protected] > > > > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > >---- -------- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the > > > > world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! > > > > http://sdm.link/slashdot > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Emc-users mailing list > > > > [email protected] > > > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > > > > > > Cheers, Gene Heskett > > > -- > > > "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: > > > soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." > > > -Ed Howdershelt (Author) > > > Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene> > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >------ -- > > > > > Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most > > > engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Emc-users mailing list > > > [email protected] > > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >-------- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's > > most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot > > _______________________________________________ > > Emc-users mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > > > Cheers, Gene Heskett > -- > "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: > soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." > -Ed Howdershelt (Author) > Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene> > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- > Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most > engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
