--- On Sun, 3/24/13, Viesturs Lācis <viesturs.la...@gmail.com> wrote:
> From: Viesturs Lācis <viesturs.la...@gmail.com> > 2013/3/24 Gregg Eshelman <g_ala...@yahoo.com>: > > Looking into the possibility of fitting CNC to an old > oxy-acetylene pattern following torch. (It can also mount a > plasma cutter.) > > > > The torch mounts on the end of an articulated arm with > two joints. > > > > Can LinuxCNC run such a setup? > > > > The description really looks to me like a scara-type robotic > arm. > LinuxCNC already is supplied with appropriate kinematics > module. But it's not a robot arm. The two joints in the torch support arm are simple hinges, no provision to mount a motor and from what I've seen they're not super accurate. 'Course neither is a "gas axe". ;-) It's not used for precision work, the shop it's at uses it for cutting out one to a few pieces for rebuilding pellet mills. Either the pattern holder or the heavy slabs of steel have to be moved after each piece is cut. Being able to control it to cut and step over for 2 or more pieces would make it faster to use, so would not needing to first make the patterns and get the correct amount of undersize. To put motors directly on the arm joints would require first doing something to ensure they're more accurate. I haven't checked how much play the joints have, but I bet it's enough that there'd be significant slop at the end of the arm if there was a motor attempting to precisely move it. What got me thinking about using cables are those flying cameras used at outdoor sporting events. There are setups large enough to move a camera all over huge racetracks. A cable system for an old pattern follower torch would be quite a bit less ambitious. I figure the best location to attach the cables would be at the top, centered on where the magnetic drive spindle is, which is centered directly over the torch. The shop has welders (and a weldor to use them) plus plenty of steel on hand to add supports for the motors. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Everyone hates slow websites. So do we. Make your web apps faster with AppDynamics Download AppDynamics Lite for free today: http://p.sf.net/sfu/appdyn_d2d_mar _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
