Retrofitting a CNC machine is comparable to retrofitting the drive train of an automobile (or even just it's control systems). Doing so in a modern car requires quite a lot more technical knowledge than doing so with a vehicle from 50 years ago. It is a complicated task and no advances in technology I can for see are going to change that. Simply using Linuxcnc doesn't require much knowledge about its inner workings or any special skills, no more than running any other CNC, and less than many.
Todd Zuercher P. Graham Dunn Inc. 630 Henry Street Dalton, Ohio 44618 Phone: (330)828-2105ext. 2031 -----Original Message----- From: Chris Albertson <albertson.ch...@gmail.com> Sent: Friday, February 14, 2020 3:54 PM To: Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC) <emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net> Subject: Re: [Emc-users] Open source CNC architecture [EXTERNAL EMAIL] Be sure links are safe. On Thu, Feb 13, 2020 at 11:43 AM Gene Heskett <ghesk...@shentel.net> wrote: > On Thursday 13 February 2020 12:51:26 Chris Albertson wrote: > > > When designing something new one must be VERY careful not to be one of > > Henry Ford's customers. In an interview, someone asked Henry Ford > > (Who was famous for saying "You can have the Model T in any color you > > like, so long as you like black.") Mr. Ford said that if he had > > listened to his customers that would have told him all they wanted > > was a faster horse. > > Don't forget Younger women and More money ;-) [...] > > Back to CNC. Step back and people just want to make parts, not > > fiddle with 100 details of how the CNC machine works. That is > > setting the bar really high. > > But in a one man shop in a pond full of frogs, I have to either know > all that, or pester you kind folks for pointers from the real experts. > And I appreciate the brain pool this list is, a lot. > No. You should not need to know anything. The fact that you do need to is a sign that the technology is immature. Back when cars were a new and immature technology drivers had to know what a "spark advance" was and also understand the effect of the mixture controls and how to use a clutch and shift gears. In 20 years a small child will be able to operate a car by sitting in the back seat and saying "Take me the gramma's house" All tech works that way. At first, it is usable by experts then it gets easy. Hobby level CNC has a LONG way to go before it gets easy. As I pointed out before a good example to follow is "cleanflight". It lets anyone with minimal tech background configure the software inside a multi-copter drone and download it onto the chip. They do not need to even know the system uses an RTOS. http://cleanflight.com It is all open source and is easy to use There is no good technical reason a CNC machine can't connect to a normal desktop computer or phone over WiFi and "just work". > > I've done this for other projects at work. The first step is to fly > > out to where your users live and watch them work. See what they do > > and how they spend their time. The low-hanging fruit are tasks that > > take a lot of time but not much brainpower. User productivity goes > > up when you automate those tasks. > > This is one of the things I have done several times as a tv engineer, > look the operation over and see where the big time sink is, and fix > it, often with a very low powered computer because it still works > faster than a human. But it can replace that human and his reaction > times by something many times more consistent with any human that can > push a few labeled buttons. > > 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) > If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable. > - Louis D. Brandeis > Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene> > > > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > -- Chris Albertson Redondo Beach, California _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users