Re: [Emc-users] Jogger wheel + switches
Why not just use a MPG their only $69? http://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/index.php?cPath=40osCsid=1ca8337053a45568 412b85dd908faac4 John - This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2008. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse012070mrt/direct/01/ ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users -- --- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2008. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse012070mrt/direct/01/ ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users - This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2008. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse012070mrt/direct/01/ ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Jogger wheel + switches
On Tuesday 25 March 2008, John Thornton wrote: Why not just use a MPG their only $69? cuz we've already got stacks of the old floppy drives? And either will need an interface to shrink it down to a quadrature pair. An lm-339 makes that very easy. Needs ground, 5 volts, outputs the quadrature pair, 4 wires total in the cable. -- Cheers, Gene There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order. -Ed Howdershelt (Author) AWAKE! FEAR! FIRE! FOES! AWAKE! FEAR! FIRE! FOES! AWAKE! AWAKE! -- J. R. R. Tolkien - This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2008. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse012070mrt/direct/01/ ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
[Emc-users] Please critique my custom toolchanger strategy!
Hi all, After reading (and (for the most part) understanding) the integrator's manual, I have come up with the following plan for constructing and controlling a custom toolchanger. The changer will use three steppers, one to spin a carousel of sorts and two to operate a scara-type arm to place tools from the changer somewhere that they can be taken up by the spindle. 1. obtain and set up a second pc running EMC2 2. connect the mill's pc and the toolchanger's pc via ethernet cable 3. determine the correct NML messages needed to carry out the steps for a toolchange 4. add a button/code to AXIS using pyVCP to generate these messages 5. figure out how to send the messages by connecting the button to the parport with HAL Pretty simple, right? My rationale for this somewhat convoluted sequence of events is that I think I can get all that going with what I already know how to do with HAL etc. Based on my reading of the manual, it's going to take a good while before I can get pull it off with straight HAL/ClassicLadder objects. I'm going to work on that at the same time, so I'll probably get it to work the right way at some point. Comments? Thanks, Pat ps - It often occurs to me when I'm generating these posts that a twenty minute conversation with one of you EMC gurus would be worth about a month of back-and-forth on the list. Unfortunately, the NAMES show happens right in the middle of exam week for me, so that's a little tough. If anybody would be willing to try a brief phone conference please email me privately...! Patrick Ferrick Town of Webb School Main Street Old Forge, NY 13420 (315) 369-3222 (315) 369-6216 - This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2008. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse012070mrt/direct/01/ ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Please critique my custom toolchanger strategy!
Patrick Ferrick wrote: Hi all, After reading (and (for the most part) understanding) the integrator's manual, I have come up with the following plan for constructing and controlling a custom toolchanger. The changer will use three steppers, one to spin a carousel of sorts and two to operate a scara-type arm to place tools from the changer somewhere that they can be taken up by the spindle. 1. obtain and set up a second pc running EMC2 No problem. 2. connect the mill's pc and the toolchanger's pc via ethernet cable No problem. 3. determine the correct NML messages needed to carry out the steps for a toolchange Not simple, but not a big problem. Tool change messages have a separate nml command/status channel (I think). I believe you can get the messages going to the other machine by changing the NML files. This will cause all tool messages to go there, but that's probably what you'd want anyway. 4. add a button/code to AXIS using pyVCP to generate these messages It's automatic - T6 causes a tool prep message to be sent to the toolchanger (prep tool 1). M6 causes a change tool mesasge to be sent, etc. 5. figure out how to send the messages by connecting the button to the parport with HAL Again, automatic. Pretty simple, right? My rationale for this somewhat convoluted sequence of events is that I think I can get all that going with what I already know how to do with HAL etc. Well, the part above is simple, but it doesn't actually get the tools to change. You still need a way of making a tool change message turn into motion commands for the 3 motors. Either you need to change NML (I wouldn't even consider doing that) so there's a way to send arbitrary commands to a remote machine (while still operating the local machine), or you still need to get some HAL-foo working to do the tool changes. Actually, I think you'd need the HAL-foo anyway. Based on my reading of the manual, it's going to take a good while before I can get pull it off with straight HAL/ClassicLadder objects. I'm going to work on that at the same time, so I'll probably get it to work the right way at some point. I'd strongly suggest going straight to the right way :) HAL has all the motor limits already - stepgen won't do anything beyond the limits you set, and you can use a limit3 block if you want to use servos. Kinematics for an R-theta robot are trivial, and they're really unnecessary anyway since you can just specify the positions you want in cylindrical coordinates. You only need the motion controller and its kinematics if you want to specify cartesian coordinates for non-cartesian actuators. It's very easy to write a HAL component that outputs a sequence of positions whenever it's clocked - this can be done in comp I think. There are only a few positions anyway - you could almost do it with mux4 blocks as was suggested before. Comments? If you haven't already, I think you should define what the motions and I/Os for the toolchanger will be: what needs to happen at start-up? (homing ...) what needs to happen to take a tool out of the spindle? what needs to happen to put a tool in the spindle? what needs to happen to get the right tool in the robot pickup position? what does the robot need to do to grab the tool from the holder? what does the robot need to do to place a tool in the holder? Once you know all the actions needed, you can start to think about how they need to be sequenced: at tool-prep: rotate carousel to correct position (or not - can the robot hold two tools at once? do you need to put away the old tool first?) at tool-change: rotate carousel to slot for tool in the spindle (closest direction or always forward?) stop spindle position robot to grab tool in spindle transfer tool from spindle to robot move robot to carousel drop tool in carousel move robot clear of carousel ... You get the idea :) Once you know exactly what has to be done, it's a lot easier to decide how to implement it. Thanks, Pat ps - It often occurs to me when I'm generating these posts that a twenty minute conversation with one of you EMC gurus would be worth about a month of back-and-forth on the list. Unfortunately, the NAMES show happens right in the middle of exam week for me, so that's a little tough. If anybody would be willing to try a brief phone conference please email me privately...! http://www.cnc-workshop.com could be a good opportunity - it should be after exams. Then you can talk to almost all of us, so you can pick whichever person tells you what you want to hear ;) - Steve - This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2008. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse012070mrt/direct/01/ ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net
Re: [Emc-users] Jogger wheel + switches
Hi I want to buy [EMAIL PROTECTED] from http://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/index.php?cPath=40osCsid=1ca8337053a45568 I want to know if that pendant will be compatible with EMC2. Honestly $180.00 is a lot of money but use motors from some old machine will not create dissent machine that anyone will be interesting to use in real production. Please give me all warning sign about those pendant, please. Thanks Aram Why not just use a MPG their only $69? http://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/index.php?cPath=40osCsid=1ca8337053a45568 412b85dd908faac4 John - This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2008. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse012070mrt/direct/01/ ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users -- --- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2008. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse012070mrt/direct/01/ ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users - This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2008. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse012070mrt/direct/01/ ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users - Check out the new SourceForge.net Marketplace. It's the best place to buy or sell services for just about anything Open Source. http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;164216239;13503038;w?http://sf.net/marketplace ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] How to set certain AXIS settings to defaults?
On this page you can find the thing you seek. http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?Simple_EMC_G-Code_Generators Wow! I've been learning Python lately for my job, which will entail creating UIs, and such, and I'd been planning to build some things like this. I have a notion about how to tie all of this kind of stuff together into a fairly powerful toolset, but it will take me some time to get proficient enough at all of this, and I recognize that my crazy notions may be just that: crazy :) Still, not only are these tools very helpful, but reading through their source will be very informative, both in using Tkinter for UIs, and in having my UIs communicate a bit with EMC. Thanks, John! This is great stuff. -g - Check out the new SourceForge.net Marketplace. It's the best place to buy or sell services for just about anything Open Source. http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;164216239;13503038;w?http://sf.net/marketplace___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] How to set certain AXIS settings to defaults?
On Tuesday 25 March 2008, Gary Fixler wrote: One of the reasons I often drill a useless hole someplace at the start of the project, and write my code with that as the 0,0,0 point. That makes getting back to within a couple thou a bit easier. That's a great idea. I would love an absolute positioning system - something that was always the same for the mill, at least between full strip-downs, and rebuilds. Definitley test the ones you are going to use, if its not up to that sort of music, there's always that 45 gallon roughneck cannister just outside the door to store it in till the truck comes by. I'd run these on a bit less, but that is what happened to be available. One of the reasons I've been out of the list since last week was that I was running my first intricate project, at least for me. It's a very simple thing - two rings cut out of 1/4 aluminum to raise my coworker's Jeep suspension by that much, but the ID needed to be radiused, and as they were too big for my mini mill, I had to design the code to work by moving the rotary table diagonally, doing the radiused hole with diagonally-incremented steps, which makes all the radii actually the inverse of the square root of 2 times those radii, used to offset both X and Y. I got it all right, but it kept failing. I finally did a full strip-down of the mill, polishing away all rust on my Z column with a Dremel polisher, and recalibrating everything, especially with the help I got in here to get values dialed in properly, and the parts came out great. Back on topic, I could definitely have used some cooling. I can only dig through aluminum in 0.001 vertical increments, without stressing things, or tearing apart my clamping assemblies, so it takes forever. .001? Ouch. If I watch the feed rates, my micromill will cut the alu I have at .5 deep while moving against the side of a 1/4, 4 flute TiN plated carbide bit, but more like .010 at decent feed rates in the 10 ipm range. But for plunge cuts with std end mills, it seems to take some sideways motion too.ATM its busy taking .190 off the top of a 3x5 piece of alu, at .005 per pass and feed rates of about 7ipm. I can go faster, but the darned screws start squalling and they are up to their collective chins in oil, so its slow going for that much, so it will be about 2am to complete. The shavings, when its working against the side of the bit at a .050 minute feed rate, are very dangerously thin and sharp, I've picked many of them out of my hands. I was cutting the slots for the holddown bolts when I was doing that this afternoon. What its doing right now, with the spindle at maybe 300 rpm, is rooting through all the swarf its already cut, but that pile of swarf has a couple of tablespoons of cutting oil soaked into it, and the finish when brushed clean is quite good. The oil not only keeps it from piling up on the bit, it helps to seal the alu against atmospheric oxygen, so alu oxide doesn't form near as fast and bits stay sharp many times longer if they don't have to cut that oxide film everytime a flute comes by. Alu oxide is the second hardest substance, second only to diamond. Without that oil, the oxide film re-forms less than .001 seconds behind the edge of the bits exposing it, alu is a VERY reactive metal. With the oil wetting everything, the reaction is slowed quite a bit, not stopped, but slowed. But the Z axis on that micromill is my own design, see it at http://gene.homelinux.net:85/gene/emc that is a 425 oz/in motor on the Z, and I can run the bathroom scales up to 155 pounds under the spindle before the motor slips a cog. I can drill a 1/4 hole in steel 1/4 thick without using a peck cycle, just set feed to about .5 minute, spindle to a couple hundred revs and tell z to go down to the desired depth. Those pix are somewhat dated, the keyboard shelf is now bigger, there is a sheet of acrylic between the machine and the computer stuff, and a box with the spindle controling stuff in it is now mounted to the clean side of the plastic just above my standing line of sight, right behind the strut holding up the front of the keyboard shelf. And the strut has been pulled toward me about 5 from where it is in that dated pix. That big black UPS up on the shelf with the cpu now has its own shelf up on the ceiling beams a couple of feet out of sight. The weather had turned that day toward summer-like, and I had the mill's motor, 4 steppers, and a shop vac going for 8 hours! It got really hot in that room, and I couldn't even touch the motors. I'm actually thinking of running some pipe from the portable A/C unit in the next room into the mill enclosure I'm building, because putting it in a box like that will only make things worse. Watch your store bought cabling for the parport, make sure the cable you use actually has all 25 wires in it. Will do! Thanks for the tip. I have a knack for excitedly running home, only to find I've gotten the
