On Mon, Jan 29, 2007 at 11:38:13AM -0500, Michael Dubno wrote: > To be honest, I am trying to make an automated pumpkin carving machine. > The mechanism would be a custom built rotary stage and a horizontal arm > mounted on a vertical post. (Custom built because I don't want pumpkin > goo all over my metal mills). Obviously all pumpkins come in different > shapes and sizes and they also have ridges. I would like to use existing > software to convert images and patterns into g-code. A small program to > post process the g-code before it is run would be easy for me to write. > The idea of a cutting tool who's depth is controllable being held in > place by a spring loaded "follower" or "leader" might work out as well. > I suppose the resolution of the pattern might make a difference. > I think the way to look at the problem is 2 1/2 axis or 3 axis. Treat > rotation as x, the vertical axis as y and the cutter as z. > Thanks for all of the suggestions, they are quite helpful. > - Mike
Thanks for being brave and telling us what you are doing, it sounds really fun. This reminds me of the torch height controller Dallur made. The basic problem is to have a height sensor, and make your requested Z relative to that height. I'm picturing that you could sense height with a spring loaded arm with a roller on the end. You'd have the roller "close" to the tool, and the arm pivots on an encoder. If the arm is relatively long, the movement of the end will be fairly linear. You would derive height from the encoder counts. At the HAL layer, you would add this to EMC's requested Z. (You may have to subtract it back out for feedback to the motion controller.) That way Z becomes relative to the pumpkin surface. Now your gcode is very simple... Chris ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share your opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys - and earn cash http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
