Re: [Emc-users] remove unwanted copper between tracks and pads
Have you also tried CopperCam (http://www.galaad.net/coppercam-eng.html)? CopperCam can do both contour tracing (with a settable width of free space around the edges) and do a full area hatch. You can hatch using the same engraving cutter used to trace the contours but you can also specify any other tool you have. It is absolutely no shame to pay for software ;-) and with 80 EUR (ex. VAT) it is definitely worth the price. I have played around with the demo version for a few days and am quite impressed with the output - for me this is a must have. Regards, Rob Copper Bh FeRmi wrote: Thanks for all the replies. Before continuing, I have to said I am a newbie in cnc. Have been trying on EMC2 for the past 2 weeks, using Eagle and pcb-gcode-3.5.2.11 (went thru the tutorial). The current project I am working on (which happened to be an antenna) required all the excess copper to be remove. I am looking for a simple way to perform the task of removing the excess large copper area, not just cutting round the traces. Been to many sites, some are suggesting adding rubout layer, I am just hoping if there is an ulp option available. I am also looking at other option, such as the image-2-gcode. Thanks! bhF -- Join us December 9, 2009 for the Red Hat Virtual Experience, a free event focused on virtualization and cloud computing. Attend in-depth sessions from your desk. Your couch. Anywhere. http://p.sf.net/sfu/redhat-sfdev2dev ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] How to Correct Angular Axes Misaligment in Software?
Florian, I agree with Steve. If your Z-axis movement is not perpendicular to the XY plane you must fix this. The same for spindel alignment, that should also be perpendicular to the XY plane. Is this a home built machine? Any chance of changing it such that you can get rid of the misasalignment? That will certainly save you a lot of problems later on. Any chance of showing (larger) photos of your machine - maybe some of us have some good ideas. But bear in mind, it is only my third machine that will allow me to do the alignment in a very easy way without special tools (and I am currently building my second one ...) Rob Florian Rist wrote: Of course that was the first think I tried, but it's completely miss aligned and would be quite a hassle to aligned it mechanically. I have a deviation of 0.3mm on every 100mm. By the way, it's not only the angel between x and y axis that is not 90.0° but also the one between the x/y plane and the z axis and main spindle motors axis´ is not parallel to the z movement, too. I want a new machine... :-( -- Join us December 9, 2009 for the Red Hat Virtual Experience, a free event focused on virtualization and cloud computing. Attend in-depth sessions from your desk. Your couch. Anywhere. http://p.sf.net/sfu/redhat-sfdev2dev ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Got my first signal out...
Martin, I really don't mind being laughed at so much, just make sure you tell me about it so I can laugh too Been there - done that. No, not the laughing at part ... It is only due to this mailing list and the IRC channel that I got my system working. It has been working with stepper motors on a parallel port before I even considered a PCI card (I selected the Mesa 5i20 but there are also others) to control my stepper motors. Just recently I started to play around with servo motors. It took me some time - and (again) this mailing list - to discover that there are default configurations to start with duh... I am a computer engineer - educated in building computer electronics and attaching it to hardware like CNC machines, but I have gone through the same route you have been. Congratulations with your accomplishments, can't wait to see the results on your blog. Cheers, Rob -- Join us December 9, 2009 for the Red Hat Virtual Experience, a free event focused on virtualization and cloud computing. Attend in-depth sessions from your desk. Your couch. Anywhere. http://p.sf.net/sfu/redhat-sfdev2dev ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] newbie
Hi Martin, fully agree with David - nice photo - must almost depicts how you feel with your EMC test (so it is on topic) :-) You got me confused about the user manual and what should be in chapter 8 (about printer ports ? it's about G-code) But never mind, who needs manuals ... Reading from your email you already downloaded and installed EMC2 on a PC - congratulations, you are almost done! In the menu Applications - CNC there are some tools you need. First of all, you can just start EMC2 by running Applications - CNC - EMC2. You now get a window where you should select a configuration. From the sample-configs, expand the sim (by clicking the +), select axis and click on the OK button (it's almost like Windows). This starts a simulation system, so without any real hardware being used, for a 3-axis mill. Just play around with that one. Remember to toggle E-stop (X button or F1) and machine power (the button with the O and I next to the X or F2) to power the machine. You should be able to jog using the cursor keys (X Y) and Page Up/Down (Z) and load any of the example G-code or import your own G-code. EMC2 will only let you run a program after homing, which is done by pressing the Home button on the keyboard after setting any of the XYZ axes to their correct position. This may seem a bit overdone for a simulation but remember that this is actually a real config - there is just no hardware to control. Another program to run is the stepconf wizard, this nice program will let you configure your parallel port configuration for any 3 or 4 axis system. You do not need to know the actual I/O address of your printer port or the type of port (most printer ports are OK). You do need to know how you want to connect your stepper motor drivers and which inputs are connected to your homing switches - but to start you do not need to connect the homing switches. On the first entry screen of stepconf you must provide the Base Period maximum jitter - this number comes from the latency-test program. The driver characteristics should come from the documentation of your stepper motor drivers, or just leave them at their default (5,000 20,000) to see if that works. Just browse through the screens and set the values you need to. Most values are almost self explanatory so you should be OK on this one - if not, just ask ... or read the manual(s). And now it is up to you: Get a printer cable/connector and attach your stepper drivers and motors. The best thing to do is to test at least one motor without the mill attached. This is what I did after going through the same procedure that you have been doing (including the getting confused at 1 am part) and I am (supposed to be) a computer engineer ;-) Good luck, Rob P.s: do you still have Pretzel drills for sale ? P.p.s: I am jealous of the lake shore steamers track - nothing like that in the Netherlands David Braley wrote: Hey Martin, I know this is off topic, but I really enjoyed you blogspot site. I especially loved the end picture: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RpVasUGkRwM/R73gIIPqU3I/ACM/4DiC1-Q6yOs/S660/P1010098.JPG You do nice work! David Martin Pinkston wrote: Good morning list, I am in the process of changing over an old Centroid CNC3 controller (linked to a mini mill) to the EMC2 set up. I have read up to ch8 in the users manual. I am by no means this kind of a computer programmer, but I do have a few years of CNC and CAD CAM experience. I went through ch7 twice just to get a clearer understanding of what I don't understand. About the only thing I got out of the beginning of chapter 8 was that I need to find would what kind of printer port I have and what the Bios says about it. That was at 1 am and I'd had enough. I do know that my processor is fast enough 1.8 and I have plenty of RAM and I ran the flicker/twitch test twice and the highest number was just under 11. So this can should be good. So, that's my intro story and I'm sticking to it. I will appoligize up front because my ignorance in these waters runs deep. And if you wish to check out what I do in my little machine shop you can check out my blog at www.212steam.blogspot.com Questions soon to come...so stayed tuned... Later, Martin -- Join us December 9, 2009 for the Red Hat Virtual Experience, a free event focused on virtualization and cloud computing. Attend in-depth sessions from your desk. Your couch. Anywhere. http://p.sf.net/sfu/redhat-sfdev2dev ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Hostmot2 disabling download of FPGA configuration
Jeff Epler wrote: based on reading the source code, simply not specifying firmware= will skip loading a firmware: and as I remember this is confirmed by the documentation. Good to know that the documentation and the source code are in line :-) Just remember that specifying the firmware= will download the code directly into the FPGA. In order to have to FPGA download its config from the EEPROM on the board you need to program it first That is what I love on EMC; there is proper, up to date, documentation. As a minus one might state that there is too much documentation to absorb it all ... Regards, Rob -- Let Crystal Reports handle the reporting - Free Crystal Reports 2008 30-Day trial. Simplify your report design, integration and deployment - and focus on what you do best, core application coding. Discover what's new with Crystal Reports now. http://p.sf.net/sfu/bobj-july ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] P, I, and D variables adjustable while emc2 is running?
John, thanks - I've been wanting that - good thing I only did rough tuning just to see if my servos work. The machine is still in building/thinking phase so not too much time wasted yet :-) Cheers, Rob John Thornton wrote: You can go to Machine/Calibration and tune servos from there. John On 21 Nov 2009 at 15:20, Pat Lyons wrote: I think this may be a popular question but I couldn't find much at all on the idea of being able to tune the p i and d variables without having to quit and restart emc. so is it possible? or do I need to keep restarting? thanks -pat -- Let Crystal Reports handle the reporting - Free Crystal Reports 2008 30-Day trial. Simplify your report design, integration and deployment - and focus on what you do best, core application coding. Discover what's new with Crystal Reports now. http://p.sf.net/sfu/bobj-july ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] hostmot2 servo on 5i20/7i40 - cannot change INPUT_SCALE
Wow, I have seen the light: servos are now working as expected. Sebastian Kuzminsky wrote: The hm2-servo configs set both of them to 1.0, and that's probably a reasonable value. Reasonable value ... Big grin ... MAX_OUTPUT is the biggest value that the pid component can specify for the hm2 pwmgen value input. The hm2 pwmgen divides its value input by its scale (OUTPUT_SCALE, 1.0), and the result becomes the PWM duty cycle. So setting both the pid.maxoutput and the hm2 pwmgen.scale to 1.0 means that the pid output gets clipped to [ -1.0, +1.0 ], and directly corresponds to the PWM duty cycle. Thanks - all this stuff really helps me. The integrator manual talks about a lot of settings in the .ini file (in section 7.2.9). It mentions MAX_OUTPUT, which is quite different from the pid.maxoutput (that one is linked to [AXIS_x]MAX_VELOCITY). If the PID tuning is done for a given system I should be able to change the unit dimensions without touching the PID parameters: PID parameters are dependent on the electronic and the mechanical properties, not the unit size. The PID parameters in the hm2-servo sample config will be useless for your machine, and it's only coincidence that they worked at all. I know, but it worked. At least I had my servos rotating such that I could start PID tuning. And i am repeating myself when stating that I should be able to change the unit dimensions without touching the PID parameters. Finally I succeeded in this and it was simple and almost as stated in my previous mail: After changing the units from inch to mm I had this 0.025mm/rev system but it needed to be 2.5 mm/rev. Changing INPUT_SCALE from 81920 to 819.2 made the encoders report the correct travel, changing OUTPUT_SCALE from 1 to 100 made the same scaling on the motor control so that now a 1 volt signal resulted in 2mm/s instead of 0.02 mm/sec But ... after reading your previous mail and re-thinking about the FERROR and MIN_FERROR I have seen the light. The 0.025 mm/rev system had 0.12 mm/count on the encoder but with 2.5 mm/rev this now is 0.0012 mm/count. But a MIN_FERROR of 0.001 is then of course smaller than the resolution of the encoder. In order to have the same system as before I need to multiply both error values by 100. After a minute of P tuning I now have the MIN_FERROR back on 0.05 (mm), now I just have to the ID part and see if i can get the FERROR around 0.01 But take my advise with a grain of salt, since i've never actually tuned a servo... ;-) Tuning a servo system is easy (compared to what I've just done) but I needed to attach the motor to the mill to do that. Servo is now mounted on the machine and I started to increase P until I woke the neighbors. After handing them some coffee, showing them the machine and explaining what I am doing I can now finally continue to add some ID to my P and really tune the servos :-) Thanks for all the fish, Rob -- Come build with us! The BlackBerry(R) Developer Conference in SF, CA is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9 - 12, 2009. Register now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconference ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] hostmot2 servo on 5i20/7i40 - cannot change INPUT_SCALE
Stephen Wille Padnos wrote: Actually, it's not the encoder resolution that changed this, it's changing from inch to mm. FERROR is in user units, so you should scale the error limits by 25.4, not 100. Of course, 100 will work great, but probably isn't what you want :) - Steve YES - thanks for pointing that one out! I think I have been staring at the numbers too much. Rob Rob Jansen wrote: [snip] After changing the units from inch to mm I had this 0.025mm/rev system but it needed to be 2.5 mm/rev. Changing INPUT_SCALE from 81920 to 819.2 made the encoders report the correct travel, changing OUTPUT_SCALE from 1 to 100 made the same scaling on the motor control so that now a 1 volt signal resulted in 2mm/s instead of 0.02 mm/sec But ... after reading your previous mail and re-thinking about the FERROR and MIN_FERROR I have seen the light. The 0.025 mm/rev system had 0.12 mm/count on the encoder but with 2.5 mm/rev this now is 0.0012 mm/count. But a MIN_FERROR of 0.001 is then of course smaller than the resolution of the encoder. In order to have the same system as before I need to multiply both error values by 100. -- Come build with us! The BlackBerry(R) Developer Conference in SF, CA is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9 - 12, 2009. Register now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconference ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
[Emc-users] hostmot2 servo on 5i20/7i40 - cannot change INPUT_SCALE
almost works ... The 7i40 boards arrived today, hooked one up on my 5i20 card. I copied the hm2-servo config and this works - I can move my motors at slower speeds without any problem. But ... the config specifies LINEAR_UNITS = inch and INPUT_SCALE = 81920 and with LINEAR_UNITS = mm and my 512 cpr encoder this results in 0.025 mm/rev - which should be 2.5 mm/rev So I changed INPUT_SCALE to 819.2, this makes the encoder work as expected: with the motor not powered I can turn the motor 20 revs which results in 50mm displacement on screen. Somehow I can not get my motors working from this point on. Anything I do results in a joint following error. As soon as I power my motor the slightest push on the motor results in the error. I have been reading the integrators manual and tried different combinations of OUTPUT_SCALE and MAX_OUTPUT but nothing seems to work. Whatever I do, I keep getting joint follow errors. I thought it was simpel: recude the INPUT_SCALE by a factor 100 and also increase OUTPUT_SCALE but this does not seem to work. I know this is not much info but I am completely stuck right now.Any load on the motor will halt the system, I must be making one of those silly beginner errors (again ...) and I hope that one of 'you guys' has seen this before. Regards, Rob -- Come build with us! The BlackBerry(R) Developer Conference in SF, CA is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9 - 12, 2009. Register now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconference ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] hostmot2 servo on 5i20/7i40 - cannot change INPUT_SCALE
Sebastian Kuzminsky wrote: Sounds good. Your encoder has 512 lines, so it produces 2048 pulses per revolution. Your machine is metric, so INPUT_SCALE is counts/mm, which is 2048 counts/rev / 2.5 mm/rev = 819.2 counts/mm. Yes, luckily I was able to verify this with my logic analyzer - the company selling the units specified 500 lines ... Somehow I can not get my motors working from this point on. Anything I do results in a joint following error. As soon as I power my motor the slightest push on the motor results in the error. It's expected that with the machine *out* of E-stop, manually turning the leadscrew should cause a following error. After all, emc2 now thinks it's controlling the machine, and it made an un-commanded move. So that's good too. Anything includes doing a jog move. With INPUT_SCALE = 81920 everything worked. The motors moved as commanded even with jog speeds of 18 mm/min (which is 720 rpm with the incorrect 0.025 mm/rev). But as soon as I set the INPUT_SCALE to 819.2 (2.5 mm/rev) I can't get it to work. I thought that setting the OUTPUT_SCALE to 100 should do the trick since raw = output / OUTPUT_SCALE - at least that is how I read it from section 7.2.9.2 in the integrators manual. How I got this: with an input_scale of 81920 one rev = 0.025 mm and a certain output results in 720 rpm being 18mm/min. The new input_scale setting of 819.2 results in 2.5 mm/rev so the same voltage to the motors now results in 1800mm/min. Since voltage = (output - offset)/scale, the scale should be 100 times larger in order to create the same voltage for an output that is 100 times more. But it looks like the output_scale and input_scale are part of the whole feedback loop since increasing the output_scale reduces the force that is needed to push the motor out of the commanded position. Just in case I was wrong: I tried both output_scale = 100 and 0.01 (original was 1.0), both result in a non-working system. Now you're in the tricky world of servo tuning... This is something i dont know much about, but i would start here: http://linuxcnc.org/docs/devel/EMC2_Integrator_Manual.pdf Specifically, section 2.2 talks about servos and servo tuning. 2.2 explains the basic concept. Section 29 goes a bit deeper into tuning of the PID constants but OUTPUT_SCALE and MAX_OUTPUT are not mentioned over there. If the PID tuning is done for a given system I should be able to change the unit dimensions without touching the PID parameters: PID parameters are dependent on the electronic and the mechanical properties, not the unit size. Rob -- Come build with us! The BlackBerry(R) Developer Conference in SF, CA is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9 - 12, 2009. Register now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconference ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Laser cutters and engravers
Karl, a friend of me ordered one. http://www.lionlasers.nl/lasers.htm is the Dutch company importing them, he ordered direct from China - I don't have the web address of the Chinese company right now - have to with my friend. Price in the Netherlands 7800 EUR, direct from China (plus 2 extra laser tubes, plus 2 different 4th axis setups 3500 EUR, shipping not included). He has seen the Machine in the Netherlands, it contains standard micro-step drivers (like this one http://www.stappenmotor.nl/Datasheets/microstapdrivers%20info/MSD-50-5.6.htm). His machine has not arrived yet so I have to do this from what we know right now from emails with the chinese company. Interfacing of the stepper motors and end-switches is done via parport, laser power is controlled through some USB interface + parport signal - all connected to a windoze app. It should not be that difficult to interface to EMC from a hardware point of view - XYZ and laser on/off is all parport. But the software does more than just contour marking or cutting. It also controls the machine as a kind of a matrix laser printer where the laser just scans the whole surface and turns the laser on/off to 'print'. The silly thing is that even the expensive Trotec machines use this type of printing-engraving. Difference is that they use a real servo drive with brushless servo motors. We have been told that the (cheap) chinese laser tubes can have problems (gass leakage) and that there is a fair chance that a tube is not working when it arrives. More expensive tubes can be refilled with CO2 making them operational again, we are not sure about these chinese ones. So we decided to order a few extra tubes, one of them should be OK when it arrives ... I don't know if it is a kit or a complete machine - that info has to wait until the thing actually arrives. Exhaust system is a problem. There are some tubes and fans to suck the dirt out of the machine. Any filter (dust particle and/or active carbon filter to remove hazardous gasses) is _not_ included. More info will follow when the machine is installed .Sorry, my friend is not using Linux, he'll use the Windoze stuff all the way :-( Rob Karl Schmidt wrote: There are several Chines systems (Jcut) - less than $4000 BUT - they use proprietary windoze stuff and a dongle - no Linux support. Anyone know of something similar that is Linux based? ( I no longer run ANY Windoze systems) (It has occurred to me that the internal controller might be EMC in their firmware...) http://cgi.ebay.com/CO2-Laser-Engraver-laser-engraving-machine-laser-cutter_W0QQitemZ110411431386QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item19b508bdda Be aware that if you order it from China - it is sort of a kit - I've heard of them new and not working - there is supposed to be a guy in Canada that sells them assembled and working. Anyone here working on such things? Or has tied these into EMC? OR links that I haven't found? The core hardware - a CO2 LASER and a light weight X-Y - is not expensive - safety interlocks - tying it all together, exhaust systems is the hitch. -- Come build with us! The BlackBerry(R) Developer Conference in SF, CA is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9 - 12, 2009. Register now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconference ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Spindle Control
same over here. I've also been used to check the tool board and only start my lathe when the chuck wrench and other tools are there. One of my chucks was delivered with a wrench with a spring so it will not even stay in the chuck by itself - a safety feature that was developed to be removed ... Oh - also never ever remove the chips from your lathe or mill when it is running otherwise this may happen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nyj_6am7Q30 I had my mill running at 6m/min (240 /min), never tested but I am afraid it does not stop when my arm is in between parts of the machine: a 0.75 piece of aluminum just folded around the vise ... Rob Stuart Stevenson wrote: I was taught to never, never, never take your hand off a chuck wrench in the chuck (never leave the wrench in the chuck) and never, never, never start a scroll chuck without something chucked in the chuck (unless you want to eat a jaw). -- Come build with us! The BlackBerry(R) Developer Conference in SF, CA is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9 - 12, 2009. Register now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconference ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
[Emc-users] Advice for mesa 5i20 servo drivers needed
I got triggered by the mail from Klemen about his servo amplifiers. I own a 5i20 card, currently it is controlling my EMC mill using stepper motors. A conversion towards servo motors is on its way - the servos have been ordered (both 1.7 and 2.5 Nm versions to play with). The question now is what kind of servo drivers to use? I am looking at the 7i40 or 7i27 cards from Mesa electronics but the 7i27 is too small for the larger motor (60V motor where the 7i27 only goes up to 40V). I did not look at the 7i33 that Klemen used - this could also be an option. What is the way to go? PWM controlled servo drivers or analogue, go for the 7i40 or use the 7i33 (0-10V interface) with analogue servo amplifiers (and what kind of) ? The motors are brush type servo motors, the small motors are 48V 3.5A and the larger one is 60V 4.5A but these are nominal currents. My current best guess is that the 7i40 is a good card for the job and with 2 channels per card (of 149 USD) not expensive. Another card is the card from Pico Systems and with 20A it can deliver a higher current but this comes with a price (125 USD per channel). But ... the 7i40 HV version only goes up to 7A and the smaller motor specifies a max. current of 24A. So the big question is if the 7i40 is enough or should I spend more money on the Pico Systems PWM Servo amps or should I even go for another solution? Unfortunately the motors are still in the mail - as soon as these arrive I'll be testing them to see what the real power requirements are. Any input is greatly appreciated. Regards, Rob -- Come build with us! The BlackBerryreg; Developer Conference in SF, CA is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9#45;12, 2009. Register now#33; http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconf ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Engrave.py cuts deeper and deeper
Sven, that is good news. Good to hear that the motors are good - I would have gone for way bigger motors but then, the 6.4 Nm steppers on my gigantic mill are very strong (my scales stop at 130 kg, the motors did not ...). And I was the one thinking your motors were way too small for the job - Oh boy, was I wrong... Having solved this problem you can now go ahead and fine-tune your EMC settings ;-) I am now convinced that the motors on my mill don't have to be that big and am going to buy similar small motors - at least one to start with. Only thing to do is to find out what extra cards to buy on top of my 5i20 from Mesa and then I can start playing. I'd love to see some extra info on your machine. Some photos and a small description with approximate weights and thread pitch would be great. Regards, Rob (gigantic is 200 x 120 x 60 cm gantry router with a total gantry weight of ~ 80 kg) Sven Wesley wrote: Mystery solved. :) I made the cable right away and did the test run. Both Z and Y stop at dead zero measured with a micrometer. -- Come build with us! The BlackBerryreg; Developer Conference in SF, CA is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9#45;12, 2009. Register now#33; http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconf ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Engrave.py cuts deeper and deeper
Well, the figures do not compute, the spec tells me it's 18.2V 11A which would be max. 200 W. But I thing 0.4 Nm is very low for this wattage. As the spec also tells me it is meant for applications such as carriage of high speed printers and XY plotters. IMHO these are too small for a CNC router with anything bigger than the smallest dremel or proxxon drill. The Rutex card do not have any error outputs (none that I could find). My best guess is that the motors are not able to do what they are told to. Regards, Rob Andy Pugh wrote: 2009/9/28 Sven Wesley svenne.d...@gmail.com: The specification says 54.2 oz-in rated torque and 266 peak (0.4 resp 1.9 Nm). Could it be that they are too small? Possibly, I had 2.5Nm steppers on my mini-mill and upgraded to 4Nm (though stepper and servo torque requirements are not exactly equivalent) Do the Rutex cards have any error outputs? (eg do they indicate a following error in any way?). I think it is still unclear if the drives are not doing what they are told, or are being told to do the wrong thing. -- Come build with us! The BlackBerryreg; Developer Conference in SF, CA is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9#45;12, 2009. Register now#33; http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconf ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] srm?
Hm, I don't have access to my EMC system right now, but the webserve also runs Ubuntu, it does accept the ~ on the commandline - as you can also see from the error in Aram's mail (Error: file TR2~ - No such ...). Maybe there are unprintable characters in the filename? You could try name completion by typing the tab key, E.g: srm /home/aram/Desktop/T TAB Or just use the file manager to remove the file - that shoul work also. Rob a...@conceptmachinery.com wrote: I try with ~ and without and still No such directory I used rm and still No such directory I just type this into Terminals. Is this way to do that? thanks aram On Mon, 2009-09-28 at 22:18 -0600, a...@conceptmachinery.com wrote: hi will srm myfile.txt delete file? i have this file, and directory is right. a...@aram-desktop:~$ srm /home/aram/Desktop/TR2~ Error: File /home/aram/Desktop/TR2~ - No such file or directory a...@aram-desktop:~$ how i can use srm command? thanks aram My guess is, the ~ my not be a valid character on the command line, since the command line may interpret it to mean home directory. For instance, if my home directory is /home/kwallace, I could use rm ~/myfile.txt the same as rm /home/kwallace/myfile.txt. -- Kirk Wallace http://www.wallacecompany.com/machine_shop/ http://www.wallacecompany.com/E45/index.html California, USA -- Come build with us! The BlackBerryreg; Developer Conference in SF, CA is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9#45;12, 2009. Register now#33; http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconf ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users -- Come build with us! The BlackBerryreg; Developer Conference in SF, CA is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9#45;12, 2009. Register now#33; http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconf ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users -- Come build with us! The BlackBerryreg; Developer Conference in SF, CA is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9#45;12, 2009. Register now#33; http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconf ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] EMC2 SMP
As Chris Radek stated there is no SMP for EMC2 - the main reason for this (as far as I know) is the strict real time behaviour of EMC2. You could indeed put two machines on one screen but I would strongly advice against this. I have been working in the computer field and used to control two, or more, machines from one desk. Sometimes via ssh/telnet session as two or more machines on one desktop, sometimes using KVM and also with physical different screen/keyboards. If I had to count the number of occasions where I typed the wrong command in the wrong screen/window ... Doing this on a CNC controller could result in disastrous results: damaged workpieces, broken mills or even more expensive/painful results. I always have the controller's screen and keyboard located at the right of my machines. With the E-stop in between the machine and the keyboard. In that way I always know exactly which machine I am controlling. Therefor I , again, strongly discourage the control of two machines from one screen. Even in bigger production lines I have seen, where multiple machines interact, each machine has its own controller next to it. Regards, Rob Hubert Bahr wrote: I just noticed on another thread a reference SMP with EMC2. This has me wondering if it is feasible to have two machines controlled by one computer. Only one operator is planned. I have been thinking about using two computers with a KVM switch -- Come build with us! The BlackBerryreg; Developer Conference in SF, CA is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9#45;12, 2009. Register now#33; http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconf ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Another homing question, but mine is really irritating ; -)
David, you mention both home and limit switches. Note that with EMC you can combine home and (of of the) limit switches on one actual switch. The good thing on homing is that you can determine the position of your vise, a fourth axis and maybe other - special - workpiece holders. EMC, as other CNC controllers, has the possibility to use multiple coordinate systems each with its own zero (home) point. So if you once determine the location of the fixed part of your vise, the centre line of your 4th axis and more you can then easily set your workpiece edge and start milling. On the other hand it is good that EMC knows what the limits of the machine are. These are the soft-limits and allow EMC to slow down before reaching them. Hitting a hard limit switch results in a sudden stop of the machine, no ramp down or whatsoever and that is not good for the mechanics. The hard-limit (switches) are only there in case something goes really wrong to prevent extreme damage to the machine. Nesting programs is not done by EMC, that has to be done with your CAM software (or by hand with some simple G-code programming). In both cases the user is responsible for making sure that there are no out of bound XYZ position used. When trying to start a program EMC will warn you when the program contains out of bound coordinates. Regards, Rob David Braley wrote: Hello all, Working away at researching my Anilam 1100 mill retrofit. Started to read the EMC2 Integrators Manual V2.3. Seemed like the most useful document for me at the moment. Figured I might learn something, so I don't ask too many noob questions. So far so good. -- Come build with us! The BlackBerryreg; Developer Conference in SF, CA is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9#45;12, 2009. Register now#33; http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconf ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Engrave.py cuts deeper and deeper
Sven, I'm using Rutex 990H cards and Minerva (Yaskawa robot) servo's rated 67 V/10 A, and I have so much power in the electric feed I can use the control box as a welding machine . These Rutex drivers are step-servo drives, meaning that they convert a stepper output (from your CNC controller) into motor signals for a servo motor. I can't find much about the 990H, apparently Rutex is not selling those anymore and there is no documentation on their website. I hope you have all the docs and software to setup your system. I did a new configuration with Stepconf, will that really work with servo's? It says in the documentation that it should handle any step/dir config but I only see stepper motor settings and not really something that is servo related. Correct, that is the beauty of these system. It almost suggest you don't need to know about servo controllers and PID parameter settings. And that is true - for your EMC config. From the CNC controller software you only need to know about feed rates, and stepper timing - but you will need to program the PID parameters in the servo controller if that is not done by the machine provider. Please note that these type of servo drivers use mostly microcontrollers to convert the stepper signals. They may/will have special requirements on step timing and the moment when you change the direction signal. Do read the manual of the 990H very thoroughly and check your stepper settings. I'll try to test the encoders like stated here http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?Tuning_EMC2/HAL_PID_Loops later EMC sees your system as a stepper system (possibly with encoder feedback), all PID loop settings are done inside the 990H drivers (and should be tuned in there). Regards, Rob -- Come build with us! The BlackBerryreg; Developer Conference in SF, CA is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9#45;12, 2009. Register now#33; http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconf ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Engrave.py cuts deeper and deeper
Sven, Just try some fairly safe timings. On my drivers I started with 20 us step space / step time and 1000 us dir setup and hold. Those should be real safe values. I forgot, but is the problem only in the Z axis? With the axis always going down ? In that case could this be a mechanical slip? Happened once on my system and Oh, was I looking dumb ... Rob Sven Wesley wrote: Sounds good, then I'm at least closer to a working config. I did all the PID tuning, unfortunately I don't have the Step time-values but I hope someone at Rutex can give me them. I'm close to giving up on these controllers as I can't find info about them any longer except for the PID tuning. -- Come build with us! The BlackBerryreg; Developer Conference in SF, CA is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9#45;12, 2009. Register now#33; http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconf ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] [~OT:] Another Excuse to use EMC2
Kirk Wallace wrote: Oops, the first video is of a laser, I meant to highlight the electron beam welding. But also real nice stuff. Excuse ... That it's Linux - gives a lot of nice extra features. One - very silly feature is the support for digital cameras. I recently misplaced my cardreader and Windows could not directly connect to my Canon EOS 20D without all kinds of special Canon software. Ubuntu though comes completely configured with software to read from a wide range of cameras. A bit more on topic: EMC can handle large G-code files (I had files up to 400 MB running without too much problems). But it is just too bad that there is no real look ahead. I just found a CNC controller with a 40 lines lok-ahead path calculation with 3-axis continuous speed control - as they stated specially suited for mold makers but I only wonder how these mold makers would be able to fit a mold design in 64 MB ... Rob -- Come build with us! The BlackBerryreg; Developer Conference in SF, CA is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9#45;12, 2009. Register now#33; http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconf ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Mesa io card driving h bridge and counting encoders
Peter C. Wallace wrote: The three phase PWM generator does have high and low side drive and deadzone timers but a three phase drive is probably not a good beginner project :-) You can also count TTL encoder signals directly with the FPGA board. Hm, some good memories come back. My CNC days started with a flat-bed plotter with 400V 3 phase drives and resolvers for feedback. Three 19 full height cabinets full of transistor boards - Real transistor Transistor Logic :-) to do the math for circular and parabolic arcs. I was thinking along the same lines (create my own H-bridge) - I can get some cheap servos but did not want to spend too much money on a driver just to test if I will buy more to replace the steppers in my current mill and the new one; But... I think Rays suggestion of using a parallel port (or multiple ports) is a better starting point. If you use the bare FPGA card signals to drive a home-made HBridge, you risk damaging the expensive FPGA card instead of a $15.00 parallel port card. The magic word is Optocouplers. All the signals from my 5i20 cards run through opto's. Even the 10V signal for the VFD is opto-coupled and also all limit and home switches. As long as you can cope with a switching time of 10 us a cheap 4N35 opto is great. For less than 50 cents per channel I am not going to risk my fpga board or any other part of the PC. Some weeks ago I had a problem with a short circuit in the VFD (Toshiba VF S-11) resulting in a flash and a loud bang from the inners from the VFD - luckily all PC parts are still OK :-) Rob -- Let Crystal Reports handle the reporting - Free Crystal Reports 2008 30-Day trial. Simplify your report design, integration and deployment - and focus on what you do best, core application coding. Discover what's new with Crystal Reports now. http://p.sf.net/sfu/bobj-july ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
[Emc-users] Advanced stuff - was Re: Servo tuning--plot request
Robert, Forget the fancy math. Mostly CAM takes care of that. Complicated sub routines aren't used a lot either. Main reasons being, the operator is likely to know nothing more than the standard Fanuc stuff and if he doesn't understand the code your asking for trouble. Commercially, time is money, learning advanced math is almost certainly not high on a list of priorities. what is this advanced math? do you mean programing complex parts etc. Advanced math was a term I used. Meaning more than just a simple scale or add - although that's most of what I ever need. Subs we only tend to use these days when running large production jobs I have used subs to program tool changes and added this into a custom post processor. I like subs and loops to keep code small and compact. One of my CAM systems (FILOU) creates large files when milling pockets in multiple passes. I now use multiple passes using a while loop instead of repeating a lot of lines of G-code. The inability to feed hold and do other thing like, ... EMC can do all this, u just need to know how to operate the control. Up to now I have not needed this but it would be nice to know how to feed hold, spindle stop and jog during a program. My current machine is large, slow and has an open construction allowing me to clear chips with a brush while running but I may be doing a retrofit of a machining center where this is not what I like to do (somehow I value my fingers too much for this :-) ) Regards, Rob -- Let Crystal Reports handle the reporting - Free Crystal Reports 2008 30-Day trial. Simplify your report design, integration and deployment - and focus on what you do best, core application coding. Discover what's new with Crystal Reports now. http://p.sf.net/sfu/bobj-july ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Servo tuning--plot request
Dale, if the article is to show EMC capabilities in order to promote the retrofitting of EMC I am interested. I have a business relation with two of the same milling centers with very old Fanuc controllers. One is broken (PC problem) and repair will cost more than an EMC retrofit. Also the old Fanuc does not accept any parameters of math and a max. of about 2000 lines of code.So I am trying to convince him to retrofit to EMC to greatly enhance his possibilities. Regards, Rob Dale Grover wrote: I'm writing up a little article on EMC and would like to include a graphic image of EMC being used to tune a servo. Does anyone have a plot (before and after tuning) showing a step response for a servo? Also, would be happy to get feedback on the article so far. Email me if interested. -- Let Crystal Reports handle the reporting - Free Crystal Reports 2008 30-Day trial. Simplify your report design, integration and deployment - and focus on what you do best, core application coding. Discover what's new with Crystal Reports now. http://p.sf.net/sfu/bobj-july ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] OpenGL on EMC2? + 7i43
Richard, quoting from one of your earlier mails: Thanks to everyone who tryed to help, thanks to everyone behind such a great project. Dito! I had a bit more success than you had with the support from this list. I had some problems with the Mesa HM2 configuration files that were solved thanks to this list. I know there is a lot of people with functional machines, nicely done retrofittings, etc... but... Was all that applied to the industry, was all that applied to a real productive environment? o was as it seems applied to hobbyst environments where everything can work partially? My machine is a production machine and it is being used on a daily base. There are some limitations (like having only 8 palleting positions ;-) ) but I learned to live with those. Even commercial production machines have limitations. I have seen more LinuxCNC production machines, like a pipe bending machine, and I am now in the process of looking at EMC2 to control a plasma pipe cutter (to cut holes and 'V' shaped ends). The support on LinuxCNC is clearly the biggest weakness. I bought a card that EMC told me was fully supported and functional, the only reason i did it was because that was awritten in manuals and EMC people told it was supported. There is no EMC to tell you what is fully supported. Also there is no fully support. EMC is an open source project kept alive since 2001 (as far as I can remember). These guys did a good job of maintaining EMC and supporting people that join the mailing lists. Meanwhile I am becoming part of this community: I located some features that were not working correctly (for my situation) and these are now fixed, I helped out a few of the beginners with their configurations and am helping out a number of local EMC users with their problems. Telling me that the support is the biggest weakness hurts. There are a lot of persons on this list (including me) trying to help out where we can. 95% of all the EMC users are happy with their setup, 4% (or more) has problems that are fixed thanks to this mailing list and the remaining (1% or less) of the users have problems that are not solved due to different reasons. I (we) are sad to read that your problem is not solved and that you are an unhappy EMC user. Please let us stop this endless quarrel about EMC support. Regards, Rob -- Enter the BlackBerry Developer Challenge This is your chance to win up to $100,000 in prizes! For a limited time, vendors submitting new applications to BlackBerry App World(TM) will have the opportunity to enter the BlackBerry Developer Challenge. See full prize details at: http://p.sf.net/sfu/Challenge ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Beginner question
Peter, my driver is a CMD-50c which can handle 15-40v, and 3.5 amps, but I do not have access to anything above the 19v I currently have. Thanks for everything, it looks like I will be looking for other motors. Try to get hold of a power supply with a higher voltage. Coils, as used in the motors, will try to prevent any change in current. A higher input voltage for the driver will result in a higher current through the motor. The motor will deliver the highest torque with high current so if the motor should be up to the job, upgrading the power supply could do the trick. Larger motors with the same drivers may not change you current situation. So before buying new motors I would try a power supply with a higher voltage (borrow one if you can). Bigger motors have another disadvantage: due to the higher mass of the rotor speed and acceleration are limited. A larger motor than necessary is also not optimal. Good luck, Rob -- Enter the BlackBerry Developer Challenge This is your chance to win up to $100,000 in prizes! For a limited time, vendors submitting new applications to BlackBerry App World(TM) will have the opportunity to enter the BlackBerry Developer Challenge. See full prize details at: http://p.sf.net/sfu/Challenge ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
[Emc-users] Hostory of EMC / supported G-codes
I just got an email concerning the use of the G64 P... G-code I introduced in the output of the postprocessor in DeskProto. I found this to improve speed a lot and reported this to DeskProto about a year ago - they were happy to add this in their default post processor configuration. Apparently a user with a Sherline mill had to avoid an error (unknown G-code). On the website of Sherline there is an old (no, ancient) user manual dating back in 2003 and the latest release they refer to use BDI 4.51 (dated oct 23, 2006). In order to guide this use in converting his current setup into a new one (at least my suggestion is to update/reinstall using the live-CD) it would be good to have a historical overview of all the changes since then. I looked at the website but could not find a complete overview on feature base and introduction of new G-codes. Is such an overview available somewhere? Regards, Rob -- ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Hostory of EMC / supported G-codes
Chris Radek wrote: would be good to have a historical overview of all the changes since Thanks Chris, this may not be the comprehensive feature list I was looking for (I know the chance of having such a list is small) but it does allow me to track some of EMC's history. Something that is nice to know if users start reporting problems with G-codes. Jon Elson wrote: Yes, but the BDI predates EMC2, and a LOT of Sherline packaged systems were sold. Many of those users may not have the technical expertise to do a complete install of EMC2, and I'll bet those computers sold for this use don't have enough memory or CPU speed to install Ubuntu. Ray Henry knows, but I believe he told me a couple years ago that about 1000 of those packaged systems were sold! I have no idea how many older systems that are not able to run ubuntu are still alive. Even my old VIA EM600 board with an 800 MHz C3 and 1 GB, is able to run ubuntu. Although EMC performance is bad due to embedded video. But I don't think you need that much technical expertise to do a complete EMC2 install. With the Live-CD installing EMC2 is very easy and using stepconf gives a very fast way of configuring EMC2. I was able to get everything up and running within one hour - that is including the configuration of all axes and being able to jog the machine using Axis. Ok, I am not a good example 'cause I am(was) a Linux specialist; I used to do a lot of kernel and device driver programming for porting reasons. But that was all on embedded systems and I don't know anything about all these nice user-land features like cups, ssh, ftp and other goodies. I had to buy a book (a practical guide to ubuntu) in order to configure these services... Regards, Rob -- ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Bad character'\37777777757' used
to avoid a problem you need to know what is causing it. If the problem is on the first line, then use head as a filter to only show the first 20 lines of the output. Just type: od -a test.txt | head I am not sure what your linux/unix background knowledge is but in this line: 1. od -a test.txt prints the ascii content of the file file test.txt with all special characters visible 2. | (the pipe symbol) pipes, or redirects, the output of the previous command to the next one 3. head prints the first 20 lines of the given input I think that on this list it is often given that everyone knows (a bit of) linux - which is not always true. Rob a...@conceptmachinery.com wrote: Hi i be more interesting in how to avoid problem than see what causing it. suppose something there and i have 80 000 line of code and than i need look at each line and there 80 000 of them. i think need some kind filter. unfortunately CAM program windows type and it just creates every time new error. finding problem in each particular case do not solve problem. problem is in CAM program that output wrong stuff. i think i need filter that covert correctly and strict what do and dont, aram Again, it looks like you are getting non standard characters in your programs. Use 'od' to check the contents. The program file can only consist of regular character (a-z, 0-9, and some punctuation characters). Also, make sure the editor you are using isn't generating a UNICODE text file. Unicode uses 2 data bytes to represent a single character. If you run 'od' on a UNICODE file you will get this... fra...@workshoppc:~/src$ od -a test.txt 000 del ~ T nul h nul i nul s nul sp nul i nul s nul 020 sp nul a nul sp nul t nul e nul s nul t nul 036 If you post the file (or part of it) as an attachment, we can tell you exactly what is wrong. If you copy and paste the contents of the file into your email program, these special characters get removed, and we can't see the problem. Frank -Original Message- From: a...@conceptmachinery.com [mailto:a...@conceptmachinery.com] Sent: Tuesday, 30 June 2009 2:05 PM To: Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC) Subject: [Emc-users] Bad character'\357' used hi every time i load new program i am getting new error. now i have that one near line 2 of/.. Bad character'\357' used here is first lines #65279;% N2G90 G55X0Y0Z0 N4 G0 Z0.25001 N5 X17.41802 Y37.36987 N6 G1 Z-0.12328 F7.3 N7 Z-0.14828 F2.7 N8 X17.24044 Y36.61335 F3.7 N9 X17.09375 Y35.1536 N10 X17.08518 Y36.73141 thanks aram -- ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Error with new program.
Aram, i use text edditor. and file has extention .txt in file everything cleare and problem. i save file. when load into EMC2 lines 6 and 7 joint to line 5 in a terminal window type: od -c filename.txt (without the ). Copy/paste the output to this list, then I'll be able to see if there are unwanted characters in the file. Or post a link to your file somewhere on the web for us to download. Rob -- ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
[Emc-users] (Dutch) EMC for Dummies fest
Some time ago there were a few mails about an EMC Fest in Europe. Just this week another Dutch EMC user (Dirk) sent me an email to trigger me about the silence about the European EMC Fest. We both feel the need to do something - even if it is just the two of us :-} But I do not have that much EMC knowledge, nor a nice servo controlled mill to retrofit. I see lots of CNC systems being developed that use one of the Windows (USBCNC, PCNC) programs. Our idea is to host an EMC fest for ourselves (expanding and sharing our own knowledge) and to introduce EMC to those who are still looking for a controller. I got a set of linear drive units with stepper controllers and also have a spare 5i20 card (and a 7i43 card) to use instead of the standard parport config. So this winter, exact date still to be determined, we like to host an event, somewhere in the Netherlands, for guys like us. If it's just Dirk and Me we will call it a mini Fest, if there are 5 users it is an EMC for dummies fest, more than 20 we'll call a big succes ;-) If anyone is interested, wants to join or even has a location (or more donor material), just reply via email. Regards, Rob -- ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Using MDI during a Program?
Hubert, there is also the option of integrating a tool length sensor. With the first tool set the home position of the Z-axis and use the tool length sensor to record a tool-sensor offset. After changing the tool, go back to the tool length sensor and determine the tool length, minus the offset is the new home. This does involve some extra G-code after a manual tool change but it is a great way to prevent problems due to changes in the tool length. This is the way I like to use a tool sensor but it is still not done... I still use different files for different tools but this means I do make mistakes from time to time: Forgetting to load the new program, wrong order of programs or just forgetting to set Z=0 with a new tool. There is, as far as I know, no way to use MDI during a program. If it was possible then how would EMC know how to move back to the last programmed position/ Rob Hubert Bahr wrote: Is there anyway to use MDI during a program run. I would like to be able to move the work and adjust the zero of the Z-axis during a tool change. Right now I do this by turning off the drivers and manually moving the mill. This requires keeping manual handles available. I would prefer to do this using MDI. The only option I see is breaking the program in multiple pieces for each tool change. I guess I am using 2.2. At this time I do not have limit switches implemented. Hubert -- Are you an open source citizen? Join us for the Open Source Bridge conference! Portland, OR, June 17-19. Two days of sessions, one day of unconference: $250. Need another reason to go? 24-hour hacker lounge. Register today! http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;215844324;13503038;v?http://opensourcebridge.org ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Using MDI during a Program?
Andy Pugh wrote: 2009/6/20 Rob Jansen r...@myvoice.nl: how would EMC know how to move back to the last programmed position/ I don't think it needs to, it will either do the next G0 (which is no problem at all) or do a G1 which might get a bit boring. You do need to do something special. An automatic tool change would first move to a safe height (clear away from the work piece in the Z axis), move to the tool changer, grab the new tool, move to the safe height, move to the old XY position and only then move to the wanted Z position again before continuing the code. As least for simple 3-axis movements. For 5 - or more - axis movements the tool could even be in a side pocket and I have no idea how EMC could figure this out all by itself. So if you would stop and so some MDI actions you do need to bring the tool back to an approximate, or even the exact same, position before continuing. Otherwise your tool may collide with the work piece. This is especially true when current actions are taking place in small deep pockets - otherwise the tool or collet could come in unwanted contact with the work piece. I know - this happened to me a few times with desastrous results (not fun with EUR 200 end mills ...) I'll try to create the 'manumatic' tool change I suggested next week and post the results on this list. Things should be easy: zero the first tool, go to the tool height indicator and determine the offset (i.e. -5). Indicator and tool change position should be at a reachable location and such that all tools can be fitted (enough Z height). Now determine the offset with the new tool - for example +10 - this means the current tool is 15 longer than the old one and the Z=0 position should be moved 15 up. We now program the new position Z-height (for this coordinate system) to be the current height - (new offset - old offset). If we moved 10 mm clear of the tool indicator probe then this means Z-current = +5 and Z-new = 5 - (10 - -5) = -10 (new Z=0 is 15 higher than the old one). Now store +10 as the old offset to use for the next tool change. I know that doing this my result in longer milling times since the probing is taking place (at low speed) and the moves to the tool change/indicator position but when it prevents any stupid mistakes resulting in hours of lost work (or broken tools) it is worth the time. Most of my current milling involves the milling of molds for carbon products. Here (http://www.myvoice.nl/prototyping/prototyping.php#fork?lang=en) is a nice example of a mold that took about 3 days to complete (I know - my machine is too slow) a manual tool change followed by an accident after a full day of work would be a real waste Rob Note to self: add telephone allert to trigger the operator (me) to do a tool change :-) -- Are you an open source citizen? Join us for the Open Source Bridge conference! Portland, OR, June 17-19. Two days of sessions, one day of unconference: $250. Need another reason to go? 24-hour hacker lounge. Register today! http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;215844324;13503038;v?http://opensourcebridge.org ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Purchase of 7i43 and 7i33
You're kidding me right??? I called them today to figure out what cards do what and which is supported by EMC. We are looking for more than one... cough cough... That call was a pretty bad experience and after reading the above they're off the short list. No further information required. If they want safety, they should accept PayPal. Cheers Rainer Are you kidding us ??? Paypal is a company - not a bank - and if you have any problems with them; bad for you. Banks and credit card companies are safe (ehm at least as safe as you can get nowadays) and if there is any problem with a money transfer over credit card there is a good procedure to get your money back. I know ... I ordered for a few 1,000 Euro worth of computer equipment from a company and the parcel got lost in royal mail. Even after a number of phone conversations, postal investigation, a lot of waiting time and lack of response from the vendor I called my credit card company and they provided me with a form to fill out. Had my money back in no time - still waiting on a response from the vendor though. Vendor is a big computer company in the Netherlands and I found them to be very bad when money or warranty is involved. I once tried to get a paypal account in NL but I have to sign them an authorization form to charge my bank for all my financial transactions with them. Are they kidding ??? I will never give any firm an open offer to withdraw money from my account - especially not if there only way of security is a username/password combo on an open website. If you want security pay using credit card - paypal is for those who can/will not accept the professionalism of dealing with real banks (sorry but that's how I think of them) I found Mesa Electronics a professional company, dealing with customers in a professional way and handling my credit card information as I would accept. All they want is a proper written statement with number, security code and your signature. Mesa replied promptly and professional; I sent them a fax followed by an email that I faxed them - had a reply within a few minutes that my order was ok. I also ordered 'more than one... cough cough...' and would do so again if I am building another three machines. BTW: Delivery was as good as their way of accepting my order. Delivery via FedEx international parcel arrived within 48 hours after placing my order - I was not even ready yet to upgrade my computer at that time :-) Another plus on Mesa: they upgraded my 7i43 200k gates to a 400k gates for free - just because they did not have a 200k ROHS version on stock - on my first order. I did not ask them to, neither was I in a hurry Rob -- Crystal Reports - New Free Runtime and 30 Day Trial Check out the new simplified licensing option that enables unlimited royalty-free distribution of the report engine for externally facing server and web deployment. http://p.sf.net/sfu/businessobjects ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] EMC slowing down after large program
Rainer, I am more talking in the range of 650.000 lines.so about 40 times as big as the program you tested. l am milling Large molds with high precision resulting in these very large programs. Rob Rainer Schmidt wrote: 15K lines with 6 subsequent runs without exit or reboot and no issues... I recommend stopping to watch THOSE movies while engraving ;) Rainer On Thu, Jun 4, 2009 at 12:43 PM, Michael Jones ma...@michaelandholly.com wrote: Rob, I've been noticing the same thing lately. Very similar hardware setup.. very similar symptoms after a gcode file of about 20,000 lines (fine line engraving). Has anyone seen anything like this? Is there a solution? - Michael -- OpenSolaris 2009.06 is a cutting edge operating system for enterprises looking to deploy the next generation of Solaris that includes the latest innovations from Sun and the OpenSource community. Download a copy and enjoy capabilities such as Networking, Storage and Virtualization. Go to: http://p.sf.net/sfu/opensolaris-get ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] EMC slowing down after large program
Rainer, I am more talking in the range of 650.000 lines.so about 40 times as big as the program you tested. l am milling Large molds with high precision resulting in these very large programs. Rob Rainer Schmidt wrote: 15K lines with 6 subsequent runs without exit or reboot and no issues... I recommend stopping to watch THOSE movies while engraving ;) Rainer On Thu, Jun 4, 2009 at 12:43 PM, Michael Jones ma...@michaelandholly.com wrote: Rob, I've been noticing the same thing lately. Very similar hardware setup.. very similar symptoms after a gcode file of about 20,000 lines (fine line engraving). Has anyone seen anything like this? Is there a solution? - Michael -- OpenSolaris 2009.06 is a cutting edge operating system for enterprises looking to deploy the next generation of Solaris that includes the latest innovations from Sun and the OpenSource community. Download a copy and enjoy capabilities such as Networking, Storage and Virtualization. Go to: http://p.sf.net/sfu/opensolaris-get ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Rotary Axis Designs
The same procedure as Belli Button suggest is indeed standard. Two (half height) gears mounted on top of each other and interlocking the the driving gear to remove the play on the gearing. Easy for standard gears or trapezoid and ball screw axis (two nuts on one axis) but a bit more complex for worm gears. Most rotary tables (like the vertex one: http://hamilton-tool-supply.amazonwebstore.com/B000HRY444/M/B000HRY444.htm) have a little pin located next to the hand wheel. That pin moves the worm in an eccentric mount so you can move the worm closer to the bronze wheel - I found you can remove the play by moving this. But ... the problem is that the bronze wheel may not be fully centric mounted, resulting in a difference of the distance between bronze wheel and worm drive, resulting in too much friction or too much play. To fix this you'll have to reposition the bronze wheel. I guess the more professional and expensive ones will be using some way to center the wheel (using a conus) but on the Vertex rotary table there is a bit of play on the mount of the wheel on the rotating table. Still I managed to reduce the play on my vertex 4th axis to an acceptable level - but then I am not milling fine pitched large gears with it ... Regards, Rob Belli Button wrote: It can be done with the Bonfig style worm gearboxes. What you need to do is strip the gearbox, remove the bronze wheel and cut it in 'half' (slice?) with a wire cutter. Then mill three slots concentric to the centre on one half and drill and tap three corresponding holes on the other half. When you reassemble the gearbox, slide the one half relative to the other to take up the backlash. This seems to work really well but does require a bit of engineering. We have built some fairly large '4th Axes' like this for not a great deal of money. Clear as mud? -- Register Now for Creativity and Technology (CaT), June 3rd, NYC. CaT is a gathering of tech-side developers brand creativity professionals. Meet the minds behind Google Creative Lab, Visual Complexity, Processing, iPhoneDevCamp asthey present alongside digital heavyweights like Barbarian Group, R/GA, Big Spaceship. http://www.creativitycat.com ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
[Emc-users] EMC slowing down after large program
Hi all, I am not sure if it is just me or my Linux machine but I have a problem that looks like memory leaks or something like this. After running a very large G-code program (like 655,000 lines of code, 14 MB filesize) EMC becomes real slow. A clear live plot (ctrl-K) does not help but after shutting down EMC and restarting again the behaviour is as expected. With real slow I mean that it takes 1 - 2 seconds before EMC responds on keypresses to move an axis. In a normal situation the response is instantaneous and a short push on the page up key moves the Z-axis a bit (1 mm or so) but after running a large program a short press on page up results in a Z-axis move of 50 - 100mm. I tried both the clear live plot and loading another (small, few lines of code) G-code file but that does not help. Stopping and restarting EMC helps, then the system is in 'normal mode' again. The machines is a 1.8 GHz intel and has (only) 1 GB of memory available. I do see that there is about 1 MB of swap space being used but I cannot relate this to these slow response times. Regards, Rob -- Register Now for Creativity and Technology (CaT), June 3rd, NYC. CaT is a gathering of tech-side developers brand creativity professionals. Meet the minds behind Google Creative Lab, Visual Complexity, Processing, iPhoneDevCamp asthey present alongside digital heavyweights like Barbarian Group, R/GA, Big Spaceship. http://www.creativitycat.com ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
[Emc-users] Mounting PC boards for drilling/milling - was Re: cable shielding??
Gene, Gary, I use double sided tape a lot for milling EPS/XPS foam and sometimes for PCB milling. There is a problem with the tape wrapping around the mill when you mill through the tape, not that much of a problem for PCB material with a spade mill but it could be a problem with one of those combined engraver/drill bits for PCBs. Surely tape is a problem with foam, the tape will stick on the sharp edges and influence the quality of the cut. A vacuum table is the better solution and easy to make yourself. Although I don't like Andrew's design (it does not allow you to use smaller PCB material) it is nicely made. Check out this link http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33585page=2 http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33585page=2 in the cnczone, it shows photo's of a home made grid type vacuum table. Nice thing on the grid type is that you can use a silicone or rubber band to create a smaller vacuum area. Made out of PVC it is not expensive, not too heavy and very forgiving in case you drill or mill too deep. And yes, you do need a vacuum pump and the litter wonder that Gene has is a very nice humming pump. Most membrame type of compressor like used in a refrigerator are also a nice, they don't make as much noise as my vane pump (mostly being used to vacumize large 70 x 20 carbon forming molds). When buying a vacuum pump, be sure it is suited for this kind of continuous high vacuum load. Under load the motor may become hot and even a smaller pump may need a cooling fan to guarantee long life. Regards, Rob Gene Heskett wrote: On Thursday 14 May 2009, Gary Fiber wrote: I think some use double sided tape to stick down PC boards. I read on someone's site he used Scotch 667 double sided tape so I got a roll and will try it. Others use carpet tape. I may give that a shot. Obviously clean the table off with alky first so the tape will stick. :) Others use vacuum clamps. Have a look at http://www.drewtronics.net/ Neat, and wonder of wonders, I actually have one of those little pumps! Hu... -- Crystal Reports - New Free Runtime and 30 Day Trial Check out the new simplified licensing option that enables unlimited royalty-free distribution of the report engine for externally facing server and web deployment. http://p.sf.net/sfu/businessobjects ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Cheap MPG
Well, Kirk did it again! I think MPG's are too expensive, so I am trying to see if I could make one. What I have so far is at the top of the page here: http://www.wallacecompany.com/machine_shop/Shizuoka/ I found this MPG http://www.myvoice.nl/freesmachine/images/encoder-handwiel-voorkant.jpg at a local supplier. I thought that for 47 EUR (~ 60 USD) this was not too expensive to make a pendant with. But now, seeing these nice pics from Kirk my fingers start itching again. It is easy enough to make one myself and I should have some opto interrupters in my junk box. The MPG is 50mm with the knob being 38 round and 16 mm height. I've got enough pieces of scrap aluminum left to make the mechanics. Time is more of an issue so I will buy the 'proper' one and keep Kirk's pictures as a trigger to make a smaller MPG - I guess that a 1 sized knob could be just the perfect size. But first things first. I planned to mount all the limit switches beginning of this week but cables and connectors only arrived yesterday. I also promised Chris to look at a G73 issue he fixed 2 days before - but at this time the mill is still busy with a job that should have been finished yesterday morning (which should have been finished if not for a malfunctioning tool ...). Rob -- The NEW KODAK i700 Series Scanners deliver under ANY circumstances! Your production scanning environment may not be a perfect world - but thanks to Kodak, there's a perfect scanner to get the job done! With the NEW KODAK i700 Series Scanner you'll get full speed at 300 dpi even with all image processing features enabled. http://p.sf.net/sfu/kodak-com ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] I Need help optimizing the step generation
Michael Jones wrote: I'm not SURE about the Z axis variations, but things seem to be more stable - I'm doing an engraving right now, so the jury's still out, but it looks good. When setting up my machine I created a small G-code program to move the axis up and down at different speeds and different distances, returning to the same (bottom) position at the end. Then I measured the distance with a gauge to check for any steps being lost down the way. Regards, Rob -- The NEW KODAK i700 Series Scanners deliver under ANY circumstances! Your production scanning environment may not be a perfect world - but thanks to Kodak, there's a perfect scanner to get the job done! With the NEW KODAK i700 Series Scanner you'll get full speed at 300 dpi even with all image processing features enabled. http://p.sf.net/sfu/kodak-com ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] I Need help optimizing the step generation
Michael, the documentation is of course the first thing where to look for the information you need. But having been there myself I know it can be quite overwhelming ... I've been reading in parts of the documentation and troubleshooting pages that some of these issues could be due to step length and such being set up incorrectly. In you previous posts, beginning of April, you already mentioned that you changed the stepper timings and inverted the step signal. Step timings of 2,000 us (is that 1,000 for the step len + 1,000 for the step size or 2,000 + 2,000) are not that fast. Usable for most drivers and motors (I've got big (slow) ones driven at that (2,000 + 2,000) rate without losing any steps). As I found out inversion of the step (and dir!) signals may make the difference. Most stepper drivers use opto couplers connected between the I/O bit of the parallel port and the +5V supply (I took that from a USB port on the PC). As long as the stepper motors are not moving, the step signal is low and it is only being pulsed high if a step signal is needed - this means that there is a current flow through the LED in the optocoupler when the motors are idle. Having a (fairly high) current driving the opto couplers all the time may just be too much for the port. On my FPGA board I had to invert both the step and the dir signal - the dir signal only becomes active when driving the step signal. Do these numbers look normal? The MAX_VELOCITY and MAX_ACCELERATION look strange to me.. but then I don't know what normal is.. these values are in (inch?) per second and inch per second squared. MAX_VEL = 0.1 means 6 inch per minute - seems a bit on the slow side for my machine (I have 25 mm/s = 59 /min). With these values you should at least never hit The backlash is a little high - it's on the list.. but otherwise what should I be looking for here as normal. Backlash is what you would have to turn the handwheel before the mill starts moving. 0.008 inch (0.2 mm) looks OK - that is normal on my hand operated mill. 2)I seem to be having some issues with my Z axis loosing steps (X and Y seem to be pretty stable).When making a series of up and down moves for some engraving, the depth gets reduced as the program progresses. That is funny. Most of the times when loosing steps this is due to combined speed and load which would mean that loosing steps in the Z axis would mostly result in deeper engraving. But (see remark on the top of this mail) inverting the dir signal may do the trick. 3)Is the step generation dependent on the stepper motor driver, or the stepper motor itself? Both. The driver has maximum values specified, this mostly limits your step size and step len signals (and the max. stepper frequency) but the motor is mostly slower than this so the max accel and max vel are really determined by the motors. Any advice or pointers to any good resources would be greatly appreciated. Remember.. I'm a NOOB at this, detailed explanations would be GREATLY appreciated. The docs - I discovered that a lot of questions that I had would have been answered by reading the docs. Only problem I had was that there was so much documentation and so little time to read ... Good luck, Rob -- The NEW KODAK i700 Series Scanners deliver under ANY circumstances! Your production scanning environment may not be a perfect world - but thanks to Kodak, there's a perfect scanner to get the job done! With the NEW KODAK i700 Series Scanner you'll get full speed at 300 dpi even with all image processing features enabled. http://p.sf.net/sfu/kodak-com ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
[Emc-users] Probe design - was Re: unshielded cable
Gene Heskett wrote: They are now included at http://gene.homelinux.net:85/gene/emc as 'probe-*.jpg' These opto's I used have about a .150 gap. It holds the thing together when assembled. I don't recall now if they have schmidt outputs or not. Nice probe. I made one using the Renishaw patent using three carbide pins resting on steel balls. If one of the pins is lifted, the circle is broken and the switch (de)activates. My webpage (http://www.myvoice.nl/freesmachine/nulsteller.php?lang=en) shows it being developed as a tool-length probe but mounting it upside down in the spindle makes it a touch probe - only needs a different bottom plate (becoming the top-plate with a pin to fit in the collet) and a probe tip instead of a flat probing surface. The design is a bit complex but the nice thing is that it works great on curved surfaces as well. Regards, Rob -- The NEW KODAK i700 Series Scanners deliver under ANY circumstances! Your production scanning environment may not be a perfect world - but thanks to Kodak, there's a perfect scanner to get the job done! With the NEW KODAK i700 Series Scanner you'll get full speed at 300 dpi even with all image processing features enabled. http://p.sf.net/sfu/kodak-com ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] unshielded cable
Doug, I've seen the responses from other stating it's kind of OK as long as you watch out. Well, I can tell you it's not OK. Use the cable for anything but steppers, servos, encoders, limit or home switches etc. I have seen problems even when the spindle's VFD signals and stepper cables were all shielded - that's proper shielded Olflex cables especially made for machine controls - and things like unwanted limit switch triggers or steppers 'walking away' are not uncommon and very hard to fix once you have everything boxed and ready to run. Just last week I had some problems when I used an unshielded cable directly connected to my Mesa 5i20 board to the E-stop. This was a quick hack to see if I could use EMC's E-stop input. When the spindle started running, at specific speeds, the steppers started rattling randomly. A friend of me bought a commercial (hobby type) CNC controller and he had lots of problems in this same direction - in the end he replaced all his cables and fitted opto couplers on all the I/O lines - now his problems are gone. Regards, Rob Douglas Pollard wrote: I bought some cable to run stepper motors off of. I was told it was shielded. It is not. If I try to use this am I going to have problems caused by stray signals or static? Is it likely to be alright or am I looking for trouble?? Doug -- Register Now Save for Velocity, the Web Performance Operations Conference from O'Reilly Media. Velocity features a full day of expert-led, hands-on workshops and two days of sessions from industry leaders in dedicated Performance Operations tracks. Use code vel09scf and Save an extra 15% before 5/3. http://p.sf.net/sfu/velocityconf ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] unshielded cable
Gene, Can you describe this Olflex cable please? http://www.olflex.com.mx/clientes/estructura/img/administrador/archivos/olflex_classic_110_cy.pdf I use the 110 CY cable, the standard 110 cables has no shielding. The 21 AWG cable is perfect for signals, I use the 18 AWG for the stepper motors and 16 AWG for the spindle. This cable is number coded - all black with white numbers that are perfectly visible. This I would do, if I ever have the problem. I have also probed for contour several times and have not had any errors of more than a thou or two in the data. This using the sliding tube opto-interrupter device one of the guys here gave me a link to when I asked about that a couple of years ago. Home- made of course. :) Any pics ? To repeat, all grounds are done in 'star' fashion with the motor drivers being at the center of the star, and no cable shielding connected except at the star. Good work! That is the only way to prevent problems in grounding. For those who don't have a background in electrics/electronics: always ground cables on one side only. Grounding cables on both sides will introduce ground loops that act as coils - this may result in a bigger problem than the original one :-} Regards, Rob -- Register Now Save for Velocity, the Web Performance Operations Conference from O'Reilly Media. Velocity features a full day of expert-led, hands-on workshops and two days of sessions from industry leaders in dedicated Performance Operations tracks. Use code vel09scf and Save an extra 15% before 5/3. http://p.sf.net/sfu/velocityconf ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Touch off / workpiece home coordinate
Tom, The G53 command results in the following error: interp_error: Can use only G5.2 or G5.3 after G5.2 Is this a bug? - There is no G5.2 or G5.3, only a G53 and the manual does not mention any dependencies on G53. I also read the information on G92 - it sets global offsets and affects all coordinate systems. That's why I had problems understanding the touch off ... G53 not working is too bad, but for now I'll use coordinate system 1 (G54) as absolute system. That still gives me 8 fixtures to define which should be just enough ;-) Regards, Rob On Thu, Apr 30, 2009 at 9:07 PM, Tom kestrel...@yahoo.com wrote: In MDI: Move to the machine origin. G53 G0 X0Y0Z0 (A0B0C0) Clear the G92 coordinate offset.G92.1 Use the G54 coordinate system. G54 Set the G54 coordinate system to be identical to the machine coordinate system.G10 L2 P1 X0Y0Z0 (A0B0C0) (watch the screen (in Axis) when you do this and you'll see the work offsets move to the machine home position.) Turn off tool offsets. G49 Turn on Relative coordinate display from the menu -- Register Now Save for Velocity, the Web Performance Operations Conference from O'Reilly Media. Velocity features a full day of expert-led, hands-on workshops and two days of sessions from industry leaders in dedicated Performance Operations tracks. Use code vel09scf and Save an extra 15% before 5/3. http://p.sf.net/sfu/velocityconf ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Touch off / workpiece home coordinate
Chris, I downloaded a version from cvs about two weeks ago - in the speed of EMC development this indeed is 'a while back' :-) Based on your mail I did a cvs update / compile and now G53 works. Regards, Rob Chris Radek wrote: On Fri, May 01, 2009 at 09:39:07AM +0200, Rob Jansen wrote: Tom, The G53 command results in the following error: interp_error: Can use only G5.2 or G5.3 after G5.2 This was a bug in TRUNK but I fixed it a while back. What version are you running? -- Register Now Save for Velocity, the Web Performance Operations Conference from O'Reilly Media. Velocity features a full day of expert-led, hands-on workshops and two days of sessions from industry leaders in dedicated Performance Operations tracks. Use code vel09scf and Save an extra 15% before 5/3. http://p.sf.net/sfu/velocityconf ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Writeup on the CNC4PC MPG6 C22 pendant
Rainer Schmidt wrote: I just bought one from ebay for $15. A Logitech RumblePad... Probably it gives force feedback when you run the bit into a fixture... lol Rainer But probably the fixture will be dented- much like the car is dented when you bang your head on the hood afterwards;-) Rather than fumble around with a joypad I would buy a keyboard and use those electronics together with some good keys. For almost the same price you then have an industrial looking keypad controller. Or ... use a USB numeric keypad - you may have to reprogram some of the keys. Rob -- Register Now Save for Velocity, the Web Performance Operations Conference from O'Reilly Media. Velocity features a full day of expert-led, hands-on workshops and two days of sessions from industry leaders in dedicated Performance Operations tracks. Use code vel09scf and Save an extra 15% before 5/3. http://p.sf.net/sfu/velocityconf ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
[Emc-users] Touch off / workpiece home coordinate
I'm lost. I thought that the touch-off feature was for setting the workpiece home position. So I search for the side of my workpiece with one of these LED feelers (kantentaster in Dutch, don't know the English term) and perform a touch-off with 5mm. I thought this should set my coordinate (X or Y) at -5, but i get real strange results. After homing my machine, giving machine coordinates, how do I manually set the home coordinates of my workpiece to 0,0,0 ? Currently I search the sides of my workpiece and do a G92 X -5 / G92 Y -5 but that's not really a good and solid way to work. Regards, Rob -- Register Now Save for Velocity, the Web Performance Operations Conference from O'Reilly Media. Velocity features a full day of expert-led, hands-on workshops and two days of sessions from industry leaders in dedicated Performance Operations tracks. Use code vel09scf and Save an extra 15% before 5/3. http://p.sf.net/sfu/velocityconf ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Writeup on the CNC4PC MPG6 C22 pendant
Jon, same question as Gene. Pix would be nice. I was thinking of buying one from stappenmotor.nl, they are charging 41 EUR ex. VAT for a 60mm encoder. I did not even think about one-handed operation, sound very usefull though. With a custom made (3D printed) housing from shapeways this will look as good (or better) as the mpg4 but with all the knobs and buttons at the right place for me. Regards, Rob Links: http://www.stappenmotor.nl/Steppermotor/incremental%20encoders/rotary%20incremental%20encoder/rotary%20encoders.htm http://www.shapeways.com/ Gene Heskett wrote: On Tuesday 28 April 2009, Jon Elson wrote: Rainer Schmidt wrote: I made my own jog pendants for both my Bridgeport and minimill. I ... enable button and an estop button. I put those buttons where I can work them one-handed, while wrapping my thumb around to move the jog dial. Very convenient! Jon Got links to pix, Jon? -- Register Now Save for Velocity, the Web Performance Operations Conference from O'Reilly Media. Velocity features a full day of expert-led, hands-on workshops and two days of sessions from industry leaders in dedicated Performance Operations tracks. Use code vel09scf and Save an extra 15% before 5/3. http://p.sf.net/sfu/velocityconf ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Help configuring hostmot2 stepper system
Sebastian Kuzminsky wrote: Matt Shaver wrote: ... Are you running with the hm2 stepgen's maxvel and maxaccel 5% higher than the TP's [AXIS_?]MAX*, and still getting following errors? I changed the hm2 stepgen and maxvel to values that are a bit higher than the AXIS_ values - this works perfectly! Might be worth adding this to the manual, otherwise I might be seen as an hm2 guru :-) Thanks, Rob -- Stay on top of everything new and different, both inside and around Java (TM) technology - register by April 22, and save $200 on the JavaOne (SM) conference, June 2-5, 2009, San Francisco. 300 plus technical and hands-on sessions. Register today. Use priority code J9JMT32. http://p.sf.net/sfu/p ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Help configuring hostmot2 stepper system
Sebastian Kuzminsky wrote: I'm glad that worked :-) I'm hoping that i'll get stepgen maxaccel=0 working soonish, then we'll make that the default and the user will just set [AXIS] stuff correctly and things'll work. Just let me know when it's done. I'd be happy to cvs the new sources and test this. Rob -- Stay on top of everything new and different, both inside and around Java (TM) technology - register by April 22, and save $200 on the JavaOne (SM) conference, June 2-5, 2009, San Francisco. 300 plus technical and hands-on sessions. Register today. Use priority code J9JMT32. http://p.sf.net/sfu/p ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] management of limit switches
Robert, as also written by others, the 'override limits' button on the (Axis) user interface allow you to back of from the limits. But in general, the limit switches should be placed at such a location that these are never hit during normal operation. On my machine the travel of the Y axis (that is what EMC will run as max limits while jogging or executing G-code) is 0 .. 1000 mm. My limit switches are placed at -5 and 1005 and are placed such that EMC stops the motors before hitting the physical limits. The lower limit switch also acts as a home switch (HOME_OFFSET = -5) with OVERRIDE_LIMITS = y this allows me to use the limit switch as a home switch also. I set my home to 20, just to be sure that I am within the allowable (software) limits. Now when I home the Y axis, the spindle moved forward until it reaches the limit switch and it then backs off and slowly searches the switch again. This is where my HOME_OFFSET is so Y == -5. After this the spindle is moved to Y == 20. Now, during operation the limit switches will never be reached. Hitting one of the limit switches mean that something went terribly wrong and the spindle is not where EMC thinks it is. The only thing to do now (for EMC) is to stop the machine and wait for the user to override the limits and start again (home location is lost). Regards, Rob robert melville wrote: Suppose I am running my XY-table in the positive X direction and I hit the X axis limit switch. I would like EMC2 to remember that I hit the limit while slewing positive in X and *only* disable further travel in the positive X direction. Movement/jogging in negative X would be allowed so that I could jog the table off of the limit. -- Crystal Reports #45; New Free Runtime and 30 Day Trial Check out the new simplified licensign option that enables unlimited royalty#45;free distribution of the report engine for externally facing server and web deployment. http://p.sf.net/sfu/businessobjects ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
[Emc-users] Help configuring hostmot2 stepper system
Hi, the past week(s) I have been working on getting my hostmot2 system running with the Mesa 5i20 card and stepper motors. Up to a certain point this is a success. But there still is this problem with joint following errors - whatever I try I keep having joint following errors. I tried different values for all kinds of parameters but things only seem to work reliable when I put in extreme high numbers for the MAX_ACCEL values (1000 instead of the wanted 100). Then I do not see any joint following errors but the abrupt start/stop of the machine is not good for the mechanics... The parport configuration on the same machine runs perfectly well with MAX_VELOCITY=25 and MAX_ACCELERATION=100 (mm/s) but the hostmo2 configuration keeps having problems. I tried lots of different timing where BASE_PERIOD,SERVO_PERIOD and TRAJ_PERIOD are small, larger, different values or the same but nothing seems to help. I am getting kind of desperate. With the 5i20 hostmot2 configuration things only are working as long as I keep my jog under ~400 mm/min as soon as I go higher (and up to the max 1500 mm/min) the joint following error appears on any of the axis as soon as I jog by repeated presses of the keyboard jogs quickly after each other. What causes this joint following error and how to fix it? Regards, Rob -- Stay on top of everything new and different, both inside and around Java (TM) technology - register by April 22, and save $200 on the JavaOne (SM) conference, June 2-5, 2009, San Francisco. 300 plus technical and hands-on sessions. Register today. Use priority code J9JMT32. http://p.sf.net/sfu/p ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
[Emc-users] Help configuring hostmot2 stepper system
forgot a link to my configs: http://www.myvoice.nl/freesmachine/configs/ The elan config is the old parport config, hm2-stepper the hostmot2 stepper motor config. Rob -- Stay on top of everything new and different, both inside and around Java (TM) technology - register by April 22, and save $200 on the JavaOne (SM) conference, June 2-5, 2009, San Francisco. 300 plus technical and hands-on sessions. Register today. Use priority code J9JMT32. http://p.sf.net/sfu/p ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Help configuring hostmot2 stepper system
Alex Joni wrote: You didn't say what emc2 version you're using. hm2-stepper has been reworked for 2.3.0, so you might have better success with that. Yes, I am using 2.3.0. The version I compiled from CVS end of last week so the one without the humming and dithering in the motors. * you can run the hm2 stepgen with the same limit as emc2 (this has caused some issues with jogging, where the machine accelerates at max_accel * you can run the hm2 stepgen with some headroom on accel (setp m5i20.0.stepgen.0.max_accel [AXIS_0]STEPGEN_MAXACCEL - or something like that). I got thinking about this when I walked home last night from my toolshop (even before reading the tips I got). Currently I have my m5i20.00.stepgen.0.maxaccel etc. settings all the same as the AXIS_0[MAX_ACCELERATION] setting in the ini file. I may have missed the part in the documentation where it is explained that the values from the AXIS setting sections in the ini file are used by the EMC trajectory planner and the m5i20.00.stepgen.0.maxaccel values are used by the stepgen controller in the FPGA. If there is a timing difference between the two, EMC could trip the joint following error when the 5i20 lags behing. This is explained in the servo section but not mentioned for steppers - and I now got to the point where I understand that the hostmot2 steppers are fully controlled by the stepgen controllers in the FPGA and act like a servo system towards EMC. I was tempting to walk back and try but at that time is was 11 pm. Now it is about 5:30 am and I still have to do some homework for a course I am having this week ... So next thing to do is to set the m5i20.00.stepgen.0.maxaccel/maxvel a bit bigger and see what happens. Thanks, Rob -- Stay on top of everything new and different, both inside and around Java (TM) technology - register by April 22, and save $200 on the JavaOne (SM) conference, June 2-5, 2009, San Francisco. 300 plus technical and hands-on sessions. Register today. Use priority code J9JMT32. http://p.sf.net/sfu/p ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Help configuring hostmot2 stepper system
Sebastian, Sebastian Kuzminsky wrote: Some other thoughts on the hm2-stepper config you linked in an earlier email: You dont need a BASE_PERIOD for hostmot2 - the base thread is in the FPGA. Your SERVO and TRAJ periods are both 100,000 ns, which is pretty aggressive, 1,000,000 ns is more typical. But if this works for you, great! I know, you mentioned the BASE_PERIOD before. I have been playing around a lot with these timings. I had the SERVO and TRAJ periods set to different values; all the same at 100,000 up to 2,000,000 or at different values (BASE SERVO TRAJ) as suggested by the manual and with/without the BASE_PERIOD. For AXIS_0, your steplen and stepspace are both 2500 ns, so your max step rate is 200 K steps/second. Your scale is 640 steps/inch. This gives a max speed of 200K/640 = 312.5 inches/second. Wow. But you're specifying an [AXIS_0]MAX_VELOCITY of only 25... Something's not adding up there. I didnt check the other axes. I wish that were true. The speed is in mm, not inches. The steplen and stepspace values are the max. values for the stepper controllers (400 kHz max. step frequency was given in the specs, I set my system to use 200 kHz max). These are the hardware limitations of the stepper controllers. MAX_VELOCITY is determined by the stepper motors which is set to 25 mm/sec (or 1.5 m/min) for XYZ axes. This is how I think the files should be set up: the stepspace/len values specifying the driver's limitations and the MAX_VELOCITY specifying the motor/mechanics speed. I am thinking of buying new motors/drivers that are able to run at higher speeds but with a gantry of about 60 kilos these will never reach the max 20 m/s (X travel is 2 meters). Thanks, Rob -- Stay on top of everything new and different, both inside and around Java (TM) technology - register by April 22, and save $200 on the JavaOne (SM) conference, June 2-5, 2009, San Francisco. 300 plus technical and hands-on sessions. Register today. Use priority code J9JMT32. http://p.sf.net/sfu/p ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Incorporation Donation [Was: Re: What's coming in manufacturing]
I would not mind saying thank you to the developers or the volunteers at the shows by buying them a beer, lunch or maybe even some hardware to play with. We do have nice beers in the Netherlands ;-) Cheers, Rob On Sun, Apr 19, 2009 at 7:36 PM, Stuart Stevenson stus...@gmail.com wrote: After I win the lottery I will pay people to develop EMC2. :) Talk about some focused development. thanks Stuart -- Stay on top of everything new and different, both inside and around Java (TM) technology - register by April 22, and save $200 on the JavaOne (SM) conference, June 2-5, 2009, San Francisco. 300 plus technical and hands-on sessions. Register today. Use priority code J9JMT32. http://p.sf.net/sfu/p ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Hostmot2 - stepper signal invert
On Mon, Apr 19, 2004 at 3:33 PM, John Thornton jet1...@semo.net wrote: I've added a bit to the manual on this after reading this... http://www.linuxcnc.org/docview/devel/html//drivers_hostmot2.html Heck it even makes sense to me now :) I think... It even makes sense to me :-) Most of this i read on different pages - and as comments in a source file in src/hal/drivers. One small typo: in the encoders - parameters section the first parameter is .couner-mode Small update from my side: all on the top of the hm2_stepper.hal files there is a comments section with links to the docs pages on cnclinux - I should have read the full file before starting my trial-on-error additions ... PWM spindle control is working but only linear between 10 and 100% but that I can fix in the spindle's VFD. I am now adding limit/home switches and probe. I plan to add the ini and hal files to a web-pages with links to explain the inner working and parameter settings. Cheers, Rob -- Stay on top of everything new and different, both inside and around Java (TM) technology - register by April 22, and save $200 on the JavaOne (SM) conference, June 2-5, 2009, San Francisco. 300 plus technical and hands-on sessions. Register today. Use priority code J9JMT32. http://p.sf.net/sfu/p ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Hostmot2 - stepper signal invert
Thanks, this works - I thought that only worked on standard output lines - not on special function pins. Sometimes I am thinking too complex... Meanwhile I also added spindle control with a PWM output. I think the docs are a bit outdated (or I just found the wrong ones).Some docs tell me the to use dac.0.value (where PWMs are used to create DACs), another one mentions pwmgen (but then use hm5i20 as a board type prefix whereas hostmot2 uses hm2_5i20 as boardname. Nothing which cannot be fixed with a bit of logical thinking. Only thing to do now is to build a proper filter to get a linear analog output - and publish my configs of course. Cheers, Rob On Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 6:56 PM, Sebastian Kuzminsky s...@highlab.comwrote: When you start emc2 and it loads the hostmot2 driver modules, it logs (in the syslog) the connector/pin and IO numbers it's using. It'll look something like this: IO Pin 048 (P4-01): Stepgen #0, pin Step (Output) IO Pin 049 (P4-03): Stepgen #0, pin Dir (Output) From this you can take the IO pin number for your Dir signal (049 in this example) and invert the signal on that pin with a HAL command like this: setp hm2_5i20.0.gpio.049.invert_output 1 -- Stay on top of everything new and different, both inside and around Java (TM) technology - register by April 22, and save $200 on the JavaOne (SM) conference, June 2-5, 2009, San Francisco. 300 plus technical and hands-on sessions. Register today. Use priority code J9JMT32. http://p.sf.net/sfu/p ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
[Emc-users] Hostmot2 - stepper signal invert
Hi, is it possible to invert the DIR signal of the stepgen output of the Mesa 5i20 board? On my old (parport) config I had the DIR signal inverted so I was looking for a similar option on the hostmot configuration. Otherwise I'd have to open the controller-box to change one of the phases of each of the motors. Rob -- Stay on top of everything new and different, both inside and around Java (TM) technology - register by April 22, and save $200 on the JavaOne (SM) conference, June 2-5, 2009, San Francisco. 300 plus technical and hands-on sessions. Register today. Use priority code J9JMT32. http://p.sf.net/sfu/p ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] compile emc2 in Glade or eclipse
Duc, I have to agree with Jeff. http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?action=browseid=Installing_EMC2revision=146 describes in good detail what to do to install EMC (from the Live CD), get the sources and the tools and compile everything. The EMC team did a real good job on this: I installed EMC on a new system, downloaded all the sources and tools and compiled the stuff from source. I suggest to start from the command line compile and then try to add Eclipse. Good luck and let us know the progress, Rob On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 2:28 PM, Jeff Epler jep...@unpythonic.net wrote: On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 10:27:53PM -0400, An Pham Duc wrote: I am a beginner in linux programming. Please tell me how to use the compiler such as Glade or Eclipse to compile emc2 source. emc2 compiles with configure and make as shown in our documentation. You should read the documentation of your preferred environment to find out how to have it execute those commands. If you determine specific steps for your preferred environment, please document them for others on our wiki. Jeff -- Stay on top of everything new and different, both inside and around Java (TM) technology - register by April 22, and save $200 on the JavaOne (SM) conference, June 2-5, 2009, San Francisco. 300 plus technical and hands-on sessions. Register today. Use priority code J9JMT32. http://p.sf.net/sfu/p ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users -- Stay on top of everything new and different, both inside and around Java (TM) technology - register by April 22, and save $200 on the JavaOne (SM) conference, June 2-5, 2009, San Francisco. 300 plus technical and hands-on sessions. Register today. Use priority code J9JMT32. http://p.sf.net/sfu/p ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
[Emc-users] converting parport to 5i20 config - joint following error
I started converting my EMC2 mill from parport to the Mesa 5i20 hostmot2 stepper and got stuck with a problem. The parport configuration works fine but the hm2_stepper config is having problems. I keep getting joint xxx following errors. I checked the docs but cannot explain this: ferror, min_ferror, max_velocity and mac_acceleration are the same in both cases and - although not necessary - I added the base_period to the hostmot2 configs. A second problem (maybe related ?) is seen during a manual jog. When an axis stops it keeps humming and the digital readout flips between the current position (e.g 2.001) and adjacent positions (e.g. 2.002). This was all done on 2.3.0~beta2 with the hm2_stepper config files from that release. Any ideas? All config files are available at http://www.myvoice.nl/freesmachine/configs/ Regards, Rob -- This SF.net email is sponsored by: High Quality Requirements in a Collaborative Environment. Download a free trial of Rational Requirements Composer Now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/www-ibm-com ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] converting parport to 5i20 config - joint following error
Sebastian, Another brave hm2 testing volunteer! Welcome! Yep, slow system, problems with parport and not enough I/O made me buy two 5i20 cards (and a 7i43) card. One 5i20 for the main system, one as a backup/second system at home and the 7i43 to play around with and try some FPGA programming. I set up a 'new' system with EMC2 (Ubuntu 8.0.4 LTS release) from the live CD, updated this to 2.3.0~beta2 and started to play around with it. Both with my existing parport and with the new hm2 config. In my situation (milling a curved surface with a radius around 30 cm in all 1mm long line pieces) the hm2 config is 10% faster than the parport one. One problem with the configs you linked below is that [TRAJ]MAX_LINEAR_VELOCITY is greater than [AXIS_?]MAX_VELOCITY. That means the hm2 stepgen will fall behind where the trajectory planner wants it to be, leading to following errors if it gets too bad. This did the trick. I changed/added the [TRAJ] parameters and now even tort.ngc works almost perfectly! Almost ... the first time I start EMC it still gives a joint following error on axis 0 but if I quit and restart it's OK. There is still a lot to do in cleaning up the configs and making sure that all my other I/O gets in there but this is a promising start. The humming and dithering across the setpoint is a known bug in 2.3.0~beta2, it's been fixed in CVS and will be in the next release. I could not resist; 30 to 45 minutes of downloading and compiling and I have the trunk running. Humming and dithering is fixed. Still works almost perfect. One very small thing is that the splash screen reports 2.4.0~pre and the title bar of axis 2.3.0~beta1 but I think I can live with that ;-) Thanks, Rob -- This SF.net email is sponsored by: High Quality Requirements in a Collaborative Environment. Download a free trial of Rational Requirements Composer Now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/www-ibm-com ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Users Locations
I have to agree with Aaron, a job well done! I think we are the lucky guys. User density in England and the Netherlands is higher (per square mile) than in he US :-) There are 408 registered users on linuxcnc.org but still less than 60 users on the map so there is still some work to do - for the users of linuxcnc that is. Cheers, Rob aaron moore wrote: Hi EMC Guys Really like the map, many thanks to to all those responsible. However I do feel a bit out on a limb down in Cornwall UK,but if anyone comes for a seaside holiday do drop in ; Cheers Aaron -- This SF.net email is sponsored by: High Quality Requirements in a Collaborative Environment. Download a free trial of Rational Requirements Composer Now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/www-ibm-com ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] What's coming in manufacturing
Hear hear, These little home shops don't have to pay employee healthcare nor pay corporate taxes. They can likely pay the lower capital gains taxes on what their robots, cnc mills and Fab machines build. Things are not that different on the other side of the world (the Netherlands). Some guy in his back yard may well cast the parts in his back yard for me out of scrap metals. Well, there are all kinds of environmental issues on this. I do remember that a steel construction company in my old town used to produce a lot of welding fumes but nowadays due to law they have to filter all their welding fumes (so the smell of burning brakes really were burning brakes last week ...) These same people will not have to drive 20 miles to work everyday and may not wear out a car every ten years making that trip. Mass transit may be an idea that has come and is now going. During the industrial age we noticed that a lot of the small companies where vanishing and people started working at large companies. In the beginning these persons got housing nearby there workplace but meanwhile this changed and now the Dutch government finds it normal to have your work on an hour travel distance from home. Rush hour, traffic jams and air pollution are partly because of this. Things are changing; there is a tendency to return to our roots. Start your own small company or work for smaller companies in the area - as it used to be years ago. Thanks to the current financial crisis I am now getting a chance to contribute to this change; ST-Ericsson was kind enough to 'set me free' with a bit of capital to invest into my own future but without EMC2, and the machine I built, I would never have made this step. I am presently repairing microscopes but will soon be making medical parts for hospital beds, Xray machines etc. These will go freely all over the world where they are sorely needed and a big part of this will be, because of EMC 2. In my case EMC2 is an enabler to get started. I am not starting a production company - there are some CNC companies in my area able to do a better job (in larger series) than I am. I am doing the design and part of the programming and EMC2 is used to control my large gantry style machine to do some prototyping only. Still an amazing job, the last two weeks the machine was running 24/7 to create some very large foam plugs and MDF molds. I have also decided that some of this money needs to go to the writing of software like Emc 2 so I plan to donate some of what I make to help develop. Sounds a good thing. There is nothing about donations on the cnclinux website (actually there is; some python scripts state you must donate to a local food bank :-) ) except for donating your knowledge and sharing your experiences with other users. I agree with Kirk Wallace that bringing money into the game is a tricky thing. It will change the rules we play by. My donations go to the local food bank and to 'customers' who are starting up their own small company and cannot (yet) afford the investment in the sometimes expensive prototypes. Also the enviroment is a goal I am donating to in a direct way: almost all my transportation is done by bike or via public transportation and when possible I use materials that are recyclable. While the EMC2 team thinks about accepting donations, I will continue donating to our local community and the environment. One other thing we can do to donate is to enlist ourselves as an EMC2 user on www.linuxcnc.org by creating a user account and make yourself visible on the user map. On one side it is an acknowledgement to the EMC2 developers that their system is being used world wide, on the other side it is nice to see for ourselves where other users are located. Regards, Rob -- This SF.net email is sponsored by: High Quality Requirements in a Collaborative Environment. Download a free trial of Rational Requirements Composer Now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/www-ibm-com ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] syncing two motors to one axis
Len, you give me too much credits. I don't know that much about the HAL and to be honest, I am just able to understand the HAL files that I got as samples. Did this all with a bit of standard logic gates since my PC does not have enough I/O to capture all the signals. But my 5i20 and 7i43 Mesa cards are about to arrive so next week I should be able to start converting one system from 2.2 to 2.3 and start implementing all these extras in HAL. I'll post my progress over the next few weeks; I've leeched enough from this list. Time to contribute ;-) Cheers, Rob Jon and Rob, You guys obviously know a lot more about the inner working of HAL than I. I am still no closer to understanding what lines of code I need to put into my HAL file. Can you please translate this simple boolean text notation... -- This SF.net email is sponsored by: High Quality Requirements in a Collaborative Environment. Download a free trial of Rational Requirements Composer Now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/www-ibm-com ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] using a 5i20 for stepper motor control
Matt, I finally found some time to look at your files. Thanks, the files look great - well documented so this should get me going without any problems. I just ordered 2 5i20 boards so I have a spare or a second system to play with. This will also give me enough I/O to add all the extra I/O I wanted (all separate limit switches, home switches, probe input, E-stop input, full spindle control, MPG pendant, coolant control and motor driver feedback) Electronics hardware is cheap compared to milling cutters. I just ruined a 10mm end mill with a cutting length of 100mm and a flute of 200mm used especially for milling foam. A 240 dollar piece of carbide converted into 12 pieces of worthless junk due to a 0,10 dollar screw that came loose ... Position feedback encoders on the axes should have kept the value of the carbide at a proper level :-} Regards, Rob Sorry I'm so late noticing this e-mail! Here are the config files: http://www.mattshaver.com/emc2/configs/smithy/ You'll be most interested in 1240.* and 622.*. the 924.* files are for a lathe. -- This SF.net email is sponsored by: High Quality Requirements in a Collaborative Environment. Download a free trial of Rational Requirements Composer Now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/www-ibm-com ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Latency Test Result Questions
Don, good thing you kept the .ini and .hal files - reminds me to make backups once again cause I think I changed the files since the last backup ... I copied my working config for the mill to 3 different machines (one active, one backup and one to play with at home) by comparing a setup generated by stepconf and changing the proper timing and addresses. Still, remember that the jitter, although it is an exact number, depends on what you do with the machine at a given moment and therefor is just a guidance number. At least this is how I see it: start the test, do all kinds of weird stuff that keeps the computer busy and get the worst number. In that case you will most likely never hit the edge in real life. But then, when the mill is running I never do all this weird stuff. This is a production machine and when it runs I do not touch mouse or keyboard. A 10% difference in jitter value is not that big. I've seen differences like this on different occasions that I ran the jitter test (on the same machine with the same software - no updates in between). This does bring up a new question: Can (will) the jitter test report different values after a software update? Since I configured my machine more than one year ago there have been some updates (I'd even say my EMC2 PC is more up to date than any of my windows machines). Rob - almost ashamed to admit still using Wingoof XP ;-) don wilson wrote: My box recently went down, and I had to re-install everything. I thought it would be a good idea to run another latency test after this fresh install. My max Jitter came out to 20,602, while my previous max jitter was 18,592. I have looked in the .ini and .hal file for a location where I can just put the new number in but have not found one. When using stepconfig, does it just take the jitter and calculate numbers based of of it. -- ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Users Locations
Great idea. Might be nice for regional gatherings. Time to point to http://www.frappr.com/emc2 again, there's a nice map of EMC2 users - but are there really only two users in the whole of the Netherlands? We're not that small a country !? Cheers, Rob On Fri, Apr 3, 2009 at 9:43 PM, Jim Combs jco...@lexmark.com wrote: What about posting a section / page on the WIKI site of users who would not mind having someone contact them for a visit now and then. It could be sectioned off by country, region or state. Jim Combs - Lexington, Ky -- ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Users Locations
Alex, I think the webpage could be a better place than the wiki. If there are enough people out there who are ok with doing this, we can add a community-module to linuxcnc.org, so every registered user can set up a profile with pictures, links, personal information, etc. Let me know if there are people who would consider doing such a thing, and based on the feedback we'll be looking if it's worth the trouble ;) I will definitely add my credentials. Question is who else will. The frappr map has been there for some time but there is only a very limited amount of users on the map. Rob -- ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Bug in stepconf?
Peter, this is mainly to the EMC developers. I am not an EMC developer. I am a challenging user, just like most of us :-) Seriously: After all my efforts I am inclined to exclude all other causes of the misbehaviour than stepconf. Is it really true that nobody ever reported problems with the test axis function of stepconf? Maybe it has been fixed in 2.3? I have the impression that it must be a minor bug when counting the pulses because there is a connection with the microstep feature. Yes, I reported on this list that the step rates that were being used by the test axis function in stepconf is different from the step rate being used by Axis. I am not sure if this has been picked up. I did not look at the exact pulse width and pauses between the pulses. I could do this next week since I do have a logic analyzer that can be hooked up to my PC. You should however be aware that stepconf does indeed (as far as I know) not acknowledge any manual changed in the HAL files. I am aware that expositions now have caught all the attention of the gang. But when NAMES and EMC expo are over, please someone would have a look at this? I almost showed up in Names (Namur) in Belgium. It took me some time to realize this was a TLA and not the name of the city Thank you for the learning Wow, with your wife almost throwing out all your stuff that's very nice to write ;-) I will also start learning again. Somehow my stepper motors stall already at low speeds whereas I think they should be able to run faster - improper timing could be an explanation for this. Regards, Rob -- ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] syncing two motors to one axis
Len, steppers makes this problem very easy and it has indeed been discussed before. Searching on the term two motors I was able to retrieve a number of my own posts about this. http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.distributions.emc.user/8147/match=two+motors is an older post describing a possible solution in words. http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.distributions.emc.user/10276/match=two+motors is a later posting with some boolean algebra (not HAL though - I decided to use standard 74LSxx gate logic). There are more mail about this. Use http://news.gmane.org/gmane.linux.distributions.emc.user to search the archives - it's nicer than the sourceforge archives ... Regards, Rob Len Shelton wrote: So, are you saying that it can't presently be done because no one has written the hal components to do it? I have searched the archives and found very little. FWIW - this machine uses steppers and no encoders. -- ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
[Emc-users] Soft/hard limits homing (was: Re: emc2.3.0beta2)
Steve Blackmore wrote: Softlimits? I don't use them. I have limit switches, I don't use them either, I think since the eighties I've hit them twice. They are simply there to stop the machine ramming the end of the ballscrews ;) I don't directly use machine coordinates either, they are meaningless to me as an operator. I, and many others, are only interested in work coordinates. What the Controller thinks they are is irrelevant to me, as long as I've told it where the work zero's are that should be sufficient. All I want is to simply tell it where X0 Y0 Z0 are in relation to mill stock, Don't confuse limit and home switches. Limit switches prevent damage to the machine (but should never be hit in real life). Home switches determine where your machine's zero location is. Machine coordinates are very useful for me. From my machine's zero I know exactly where the top-left position of my mill stock is, the center of my 4th axis and the left bottom position of the bottom left stop for large foam/wood blocks. And machine coordinates also determine where the tool changer is located. I plan to add more mill stocks so I can link multiple programs to make multiple parts without having to stop in between to insert a new blank (and do homing). So machine coordinates are very useful. One company I know does a lot of production of the same parts and the rely fully on machine coordinates in order to know where the blanks are located on their palleting system. They start of with a large block of aluminum in which a number of plugs for the palleting system are mounted, then they mill one side of the block, mount the half finished workpiece in a countermold (which is placed on the palleting system) and mill the other side. Here the zero point of the workpiece is solely determined by using machine coordinates and making multiple of the same parts would be hardly possible without it. Regards, Rob -- ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] using a 5i20 for stepper motor control
Roger, Eric, Personally, I think the best way to cut insanely small segments is not to generate them. Instead of doing a P0.1 on the machine side change your tolerance on the CAM side. I do a lot of contouring in using VisualMill and the size of the G-code varies in direct relationship to the tolerance. I'm not doing high precision molds in a climate controlled shop so a couple of thousandths of an inch on contouring is usually fine. I have this problem with the insanely small (0.1 mm) segments. The problem is that I can not set the tolerance on the CAM side the way I like. I use DeskProto and DP uses a raster to 'scan' an STL model and create the G-code from there. There is no way to tell DP to follow lines in the Z-height with a certain precision, it just follows lines in the X direction with a given step size in the Y direction to derermine the Z-height at each point. If only they would have made it such that I could create lines in the X-direction and tell DP to follow the contour with a given precision that would have been great. DP has different algorithms for different purposes but just not the one that I mostly use. I already thought of writing my own software for this special case and maybe I should just try. Regards, Rob -- ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] using a 5i20 for stepper motor control
Sebastian, Alex, Eric, Jon, (did I forget anyone who responded, then I'm sorry) Thanks for all the tips. As Sebastian suggested I will definitely do a system analysis before spending money but spending 200 USD on a 10,000 EUR machine is not that high an investment. I will not opt for the 7i43 on the parallel port, I was looking at th 5i20 just to get rid of the parport which is not on all my mother boards. The question then is if PCI is the proper choice (will there also be a PCI express version of the card?). I will also re-read the manual, but I thought the section quoted by Eric was only true for exact path or stop mode. The use of G64 Pxxx should prevent a full de-accelerate / accelerate cycle between two vectors - but I do vaguely remember that I also read [on this list] that EMC only looks ahead one vector at a time. So testing on a sim configuration seems a good thing to do and with motherboards / memory sizes and PC configurations this is something that I can do with the 10,000 G1 segments that Jon used. The machine will be used for prototyping / small series production. Speed is kind of important, amongst others I am milling large wooden molds that are used to create two carbon fiber parts. One mold has a calculated milling time (retrieved from both my G-code generator and the file - properties from Axis) of 3-5 days but with current performance of my setup this seems to be more in the range of 2-4 weeks of real milling time (estimated from running a small section of the program that should take 1 hour). This is for an insane hobby project but the machine also has to be put to commercial use. Thanks for all the hints, these will keep me busy for another few weeks or so before making final decisions. Regards, Rob -- Apps built with the Adobe(R) Flex(R) framework and Flex Builder(TM) are powering Web 2.0 with engaging, cross-platform capabilities. Quickly and easily build your RIAs with Flex Builder, the Eclipse(TM)based development software that enables intelligent coding and step-through debugging. Download the free 60 day trial. http://p.sf.net/sfu/www-adobe-com ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] using a 5i20 for stepper motor control
Thanks, Peter C. Wallace wrote: We will have PCI express versions of Anything I/O cards later this year ... That said, I would not worry too much about PCI dissapearing, I expect Motheboards with PCI to be available for at least 5 more years That is what I would expect. But I hope my machine will last longer than 5 years :-) and somehow that one free PCI slot on my current mother board is already taken by another card ... Regards, Rob -- ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
[Emc-users] using a 5i20 for stepper motor control
Hi, I have an EMC2 controlled CNC mill with stepper motors but I am not too happy about the parallel port being used as stepper signal generator. My current configuration is a standard one generated with the step configuration wizard but I am guessing the PC uses quite some time to calculate the appropriate timing signals for the stepper control. The max. usable frequency reported by stepconf is 25 kHz (based on the latency results) and the max.frequency used to control the stepper drivers is 24.3 kHz. A lot of my programs consist of 3D curves built up out of small lines and even with a G64 P0.1 (or larger in mm) the system never reaches the programed feed rate and the CPU load reaches of up to 95%. Reading about the possibilities of the 5i20 card from Mesa I got wondering if this could solve part of this problem - I already tried a faster PC but that does not help as much as I thought. Is it possible to use the 5i20 as stepper controller (using hostmot2) with EMC2 and am I correct in thinking that this relieves the PC of calculating all the timing signals for the stepper signals? Even if it just solves half of my problems; using the 5i20 removes the dependency on parport hardware which I need to install to do the extra I/O that I need. Are there any 5i20 / stepper motor users out there? and are there any sample HAL configurations to use as a start? I googled around a bit but did not find what I was looking for. Regards, Rob -- Apps built with the Adobe(R) Flex(R) framework and Flex Builder(TM) are powering Web 2.0 with engaging, cross-platform capabilities. Quickly and easily build your RIAs with Flex Builder, the Eclipse(TM)based development software that enables intelligent coding and step-through debugging. Download the free 60 day trial. http://p.sf.net/sfu/www-adobe-com ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] EMC and auto/manual mode
I also have to do manual tool changes and was thinking to do this with a simple subroutine in my programs. Combined with a tool-length probe which can be a simple industrial push button with stainless steel button (the ones I've seen are accurate within 0.02 mm) 1. move up and stop spindle 2. save current coordinate 3. move towards the 'convenient location' 4. present a popup box to the user telling it's time to change the tool 5. after pressing OK move down with a probe 6. Set this as the zero (with offset) Do remember that in the beginning of the progam the offset from the tool probe towards the zero of the workpiece has to be measured. So these are all automated procedures, as a user I only have to change the tool and press OK on the screen. Just make sure that the move up towards convenient location are such that you do not hit the workpiece or vise ... Up to now I have been doing manual tool changes using separate programs for each tool. This involves manual tool allignment for each tool - something I do forget from time to time resulting in broken tools ... Rob Steve Blackmore wrote: On Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:49:51 + (UTC), you wrote: When running jobs in Mach I often pause or stop to clear chips, move clamps, look to make sure I generated the code right (love CAM but sometimes it does what you tell it and not what you want), grab lunch or refreshments and perform mandatory pit stops. When paused I almost always stop the spindle and sometimes manually jog the machine around. On tool changes I move the table to a convenient location, change the tool, manually touch off and reset the Z offset. For the kind of work I do its not worth it for me to preset tool lenghts. If I'm paused or on a tool change I just restart the spindle and resume. If I'm stopped I restart from the prior G0 or G1. Can I do this in EMC? No :( Steve Blackmore -- -- Open Source Business Conference (OSBC), March 24-25, 2009, San Francisco, CA -OSBC tackles the biggest issue in open source: Open Sourcing the Enterprise -Strategies to boost innovation and cut costs with open source participation -Receive a $600 discount off the registration fee with the source code: SFAD http://p.sf.net/sfu/XcvMzF8H ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users -- Open Source Business Conference (OSBC), March 24-25, 2009, San Francisco, CA -OSBC tackles the biggest issue in open source: Open Sourcing the Enterprise -Strategies to boost innovation and cut costs with open source participation -Receive a $600 discount off the registration fee with the source code: SFAD http://p.sf.net/sfu/XcvMzF8H ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] CNC 101
Raymond, as you will understand from the other positive mails it is definitely worth the effort. Almost any stepper driver/motor combination is possible. I am using an old Compaq PC, slower than 1 GHz and 512 (or 1 GB - I forgot) MB of memory. I am using stepper drivers with optical isolation on the inputs (using opto couplers) and the 5V to drive the opto couplers I get from a USB port using a cable that I cut in half (the red wire is the 5V line) and the signals come from the printer port (data lines). The live CD contains a setup environment that can install Linux, including all applications needed, in just a few clicks and there is a configuration program (stepconf) to do the basic configuration of your setup. If it is just for 'fun and learning' anything is possible from the machine side. I have plotter from Fisher Technik (this used to be the popular technical build-toy 'in my days') but this will of course be no comparison against a professional built model with linear guide rails and ball screw. This is just the start. Tuning the motors to their maximum speed and acceleration is not an easy task to do, including limit sensors and a homing sensor does require some reading and testing before you'll have it working to your likings and if you want to compensate any back lash in your system you need to consult the manual or the wiki. The manual is a real good thing to read. It contains a lot of information about different hardware setups that you may just skip when installing EMC for the first time (but maybe it is worthwhile reading at a later stage to get an idea of the possibilities). To give you an idea: I spent about 8 weeks of designing and drawing in the evening hours (including selection of all the parts, motors, drivers, linear guide rails, ball screws etc). After a few days of building and a few hours of installing and configuring EMC this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRhcYF9Vfbk) was my first test. Now, a year later, the system still runs with almost the same setup. I tweaked the timing of the stepper motors a bit, added a real T-grove table and a 4th axis but that's about it. Meanwhile I connected the system to my local network (with internet gateway) making sure the system stays up-to-date using the automatic updates and I've added a samba share which was just a matter of running an install program for samba that is already included in the EMC distribution - something I though could be complex but after reading a bit in A Practical Guide to Ubuntu Linux by Mark G. Sobell this was again one of those 5 minute jobs. In general: the more complex your setup gets, the more complex it is to find the correct information but following this mailing list and browsing the wiki reveals a lot of information. But if you know a bit about machine design and a bit about Linux then a machine based on stepper motors is easy to get started with and see some results quickly. Running you machine and figuring out what kind of cutters, spindle speed, feed rate etc. to use is the big challenge (but that's true for every CNC stystem). Have fun and watch your fingers ;-) Rob -- Create and Deploy Rich Internet Apps outside the browser with Adobe(R)AIR(TM) software. With Adobe AIR, Ajax developers can use existing skills and code to build responsive, highly engaging applications that combine the power of local resources and data with the reach of the web. Download the Adobe AIR SDK and Ajax docs to start building applications today-http://p.sf.net/sfu/adobe-com ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] 4 to 5 axis milling SW Re: Testing
Dirk wrote: Yes, this sounds very simple. So, maybe I have to imagine parts as if they are trapped in a sphere and only the outside has to be removed. Something like Michelango did: he only had to remove the marble on the outside because the statue was already on the inside. Sorry, can't find the exact quote. Also milling from different faces is easy: Just rotate your drawing, export as DXF, use something like dxf2gcode and glue the whole thing together with some manual G-code to rotate the workpiece to show the correct face to mill. But finishing the inside of a cylinder with a conical mill is a bit different: you need to rotate the AB axes in such a way that the wall of the cylinder is in line with the angle of the conical cutter. Milling pockets with an undercut is also not possible using Michel Angelo's rule since you need to remove material on the inside. Being able to think in 3D is a must - I guess that's what Michel A. means: once you know how to handle 5 axes it is easy but for someone who does not it looks like magic :) Regards, Rob -- SF.Net email is Sponsored by MIX09, March 18-20, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The future of the web can't happen without you. Join us at MIX09 to help pave the way to the Next Web now. Learn more and register at http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;208669438;13503038;i?http://2009.visitmix.com/ ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
[Emc-users] 4 to 5 axis milling SW Re: Testing
Risto, dxf2gcode will not get you 5 axis milling If you use Rhino 3D there is MadCAM, (link on the rhino3d.com website http://www.rhino3d.com/resources/display.asp?language=listing=460). The German Rhino agent FILOU has some more info stating that version 4.1 has 4 5 axis milling support. This page http://www.filou.de/madcam/ contains some information in German. Kostenlos testen on the right means Free trial ;-), a link to the 30 day Rhino 4.0 demo version is 3 lines below the bullet. There are two videos on 4 and 5 axis milling. The narrator is a German guy but the language is English. Looks promising and I am looking at buying a Rhino/Penguin/Flamingo/MadCAM (totals around 2800 EUR) as soon as I can afford it ... There is more software available on both Windows and Linux. Mastercam and EdgeCAM are examples of (expensive?) Windows software. I am not a Linux CAD user (I stick to Embedded Linux, EMC and web/file/mail-servers), all my CAD is done in Windows (sorry). Regards, Rob ftec wrote: Hello folks, Testing if I'm on the list now but I also have a question. Was looking for 4 to 5 axis cnc sw for a home built cnc machine and found this list making me very interested. What I would like to know is if there is a way to combine emc and cad designs done with win based cad sw. If so, how? I can export part files in IGES, STL, STEP, Catia, ProE and a few other formats. I have never used Linux but then there always must be the first time, right? Thanks, Risto -- SF.Net email is Sponsored by MIX09, March 18-20, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The future of the web can't happen without you. Join us at MIX09 to help pave the way to the Next Web now. Learn more and register at http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;208669438;13503038;i?http://2009.visitmix.com/ ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users -- SF.Net email is Sponsored by MIX09, March 18-20, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The future of the web can't happen without you. Join us at MIX09 to help pave the way to the Next Web now. Learn more and register at http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;208669438;13503038;i?http://2009.visitmix.com/ ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] 2.2.7, no touch-off available after M00???
Hi, I'm not sure this is related to M00, I have a similar problem on my 2.2.2 system. At a sudden moment touch off won't work anymore. As soon as I enter a value, the OK button is grayed out. Rob On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 12:21 PM, rtwas [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hello, I upgraded to 2.2.7 and noticed that I am no longer able to execute the touch-off menu or even slew the axis manually after an M00 is encountered in the g-code program. Is this intentional? Basically I wrote my code covering several files and labeled them stp0. stp1. etc. With stp0. use to pre-position the table for touch off. Is my modus operandi flawed? Are we not supposed to manually execute g-codes in the middle of an executing program? Thanks. Robert W. - This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100url=/ ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users - This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100url=/ ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
[Emc-users] Subject and quoting please?
Guys, I am definitely not a moderator but ... I see lots of posts that have subjects not matching the content and complete quoted emails. Could we please try to get the subject of emails matching the content and quote only the necessary lines of the original email. Things are getting impossible to follow. Regards, Rob - This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100url=/ ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Pissed off snip
Thank you Greg, but I have had some unrealistic expectations placed on me at work (my meat and potatoes job) recently which I stood up against (successfully) My MPJ just told me that I may get loads of time for my hobbies (they call it 'resturcturing' and 'making people redundant', I call it 'big layoffs' and 'fire people'). I am still not sure if I should be happy or sad ;-) thinking you could slap together a machine to allow you to perform the task and make some money. While that is a commendable aspiration, with two family members who work RD, specifically in process automation and material handling/quality inspection disciplines, the tool to complete the task typically goes through numerous simulations and revisions before it even sees it's first 'trial run'. Rarely is a one-shot attempt even taken, let alone successful unless it's the tinyest thing. My experiences with EMC2 are the exact opposite. I have a friend who built a machine using a commercial (hobby) controller. He had loads of problems and it took him months to get the thing to work - that mainly had to do with the hardware that came with the software though. I started collecting stuff and drawing in October last year and building started just after christmas. I had to wait until February for the milling spindle to arrive but at that time everything was working reliably and I could even do some real milling jobs. Main problem was financing the whole stuff so it took until May for the T-groove plates to arrive. This is only my 2 cents, and in the current economy, that certainly isn't worth all that much.. plus 2 more from me :-) And to round out my message on a positive note - THANK YOU TO EVERY VOLUNTEER WHO HAS DONATED TIME AND MONEY TO THE EMC2 PROJECT AND TO EVERY MANUFACTURER WHO HAS MADE AN EFFORT TO PRODUCE HARDWARE TO WORK WITH EMC2. YOUR HARD WORK IS NOT UNAPPRECIATED. Hear hear! Thanks again to all who contribute to EMC2, being as core developers, maintainers of the web-stuff, mailing list and all who take the time to answer all our questions. Thanks again for the perfect work you all do. As users of EMC2, contributing to the mailing list, we are all part (if even a minute one) of this whole team. It is OK to be p.. o.. with the product (being your complete setup :-) ) but let us try to keep this list clean and usefull. During last 'season' I skipped a lot of emails and I am sure that some of those could have helped me with some little problems I still have. Have to go now, we are leaving for a visit to a supplier in 15 minutes for a small hand operated mill. something tells me this machine might be a victim for EMC2 in the near future ... Regards, Rob - This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100url=/ ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Homing
Jack Coats wrote: I heard that Mach3 has a facility to 'home' an axis that has multiple stepper motors on it, designed for gantries with two motors on the X axis, where each leg of the gantry has ahome switch. Ok, finally, the question. How can we do that with EMC2? A few hints how would beappreciated Gmane mailing list archives - but it took me some time to find my own posts again ... http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.distributions.emc.user/6158/match= was one of my posts on this subject. During homing EMC reaches the home switch, backs off and then very slowly goes back to home until home is found. You can do this in EMC (using classic ladder) but then you need 2 step outputs for both axis, I preferred some simple logic gates. In simple boolean text notation I found the following solution: home_en1 = dir OR NOT home1 home_en2 = dir OR NOT home2 step_1 = step AND home_en1 step_2 = step AND home_en2 home = ( ( home1 AND home2 ) AND NOT dir ) OR ( ( home 1 OR home2 ) AND dir ) dir is 0 in the homing direction, the home_en signals are only true as long as the motor is moving away from homing or (towards homing) while the home switch is not active. So there are only step signals when moving away from home or when the switch is not activated. The home signal (towards EMC) will only be active when both home1 and home2 switches are triggered when moving towards the home switched but when moving away from the home position it will move away until both switches have disengaged. So in this way, both motors will be homed but as soon as one of the motors reaches its home position it will stop. EMC will continue driving the other motor. When both motors are 'homed' they may actually have traveled too far (a bit) due to the ramp down. Now EMC will get the motors away from their home position (both motors) and then slowly go back until (both) motors are homed again. I have forgotten how this homing sequence is called, it should be in section 6 of the user manual but somehow in the current manual on wiki this chapter got replaced by keystick ... Please note that this homing sequence only works for a home position at the limit of the machine outside the normal working area of the mill. It does not work for a home position within the working area (since the motors will be stopped by hardware or HAL). If someone converts this into classic ladder code, I could change my setup and test the classic ladder version. It could then be placed in the wiki as a reference to others. Regards, Rob - This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100url=/ ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Control panel vs GUI interface
It has occurred to me that there is no reason that I couldn't use two keyboards - one actual and the second wired to push buttons. (Has anyone done this?) Sure, there are things for sale that will do this but I just took an old USB keyboard (one that had seen too much coolant ...) and wired the electronics to some switches. Remember to only use those for human inputs, never for machine inputs. But I think that is clear already. X,Y,Z,Spindle HOA Jog axis selector Jog rate selector Jog wheel Use an MPEG-4 pendant or something similar. You really want these controls at your fingertips when walking around your machine. Looking at the mill from left, right or top side and always have to jogs at your fingertips. The pendant also contains an E-stop button. Plan to have one at the pendant, one next to the keyboard and one at the machine. I had to learn the hard way that the E-stop was not at the right place ... I've got a friend using a numeric keypad with labels attached to it. puzzling over - Keyboard covers, where to put the mouse etc.. Depends on your setup. Small desktop mills mostly have to keyboard/mouse next to the machine. Larger machines have it mounted such that you can use it standing next to the machine. Keyboard covers are OK but it has to fit and I found it's not a good thing when you have to do typing. Industrial keyboards are expensive so I found one of these cheap (silicone) roll-up keyboards - it works but it needs cleaning too often. Regards, Rob - This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100url=/___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Following error joint 2
Andy, could it be that my z-axis is too slow for a certain movement? i think the errors happen on g0 commands after about 40mm of movement. if there is a time constraint, the software could trap into a timeout and answer with a following error - but, to be hounest, this sounds ridiculous to me... Is the error signal output of the Whale2 connected back to EMC2? If this is true then yes, you may detect that the Z-axis is too slow for certain movement. What happens if you use a G1 command with the same movement? Try to increase the feed rate until you hit the max. velocity. If the error output is fed back to EMC2, then on a G0 move the motor will start and use the acceleration set in your ini file to reach the max. velocity. Now, if the max. velocity is too high the motor cannot follow the programmed movement andthe error output of the Whale2 is pulled low and that triggers a following error. Also, if the acceleration is too high you run into the same situation. on the other hand, can some high interrupt latency cause the problem? i know i have one with that epia-v motherboard - but as long as i don't move any windows... i've a new (old) vga card ready, this will be my next test for the latency problem tomorrow. Ah, I tested with an EPIA board also - If I remember well a V1 (a 1 GHz board). I did not have much luck with that one, after configuring it for my basic mill (stepper motor drive, no encoders, position or error feedback) I had lots of following errors. This is due to the fact that the embedded video is snooping too much time of the processor and then EMC2 is not able to produce the step pulses fast enough. I do not remember if I tried this board with a VGA card, I do remember trying an ASUS M2A-VM with both the embedded VGA and a PCI-VGA card but I had no luck with that system. If possible try another board. In the end I discovered that my older Compaq (Athlon XP 2600+ with 768 MB) delivers almost the same real-time response as my brand new Asus Striker-Extreme with Core Quad 6600 with 4 GB. There is of course a difference when you start playing doom with EMC2 running (you're doomed if you try ;-) ) Take any, almost any, board without embedded video to create a system being more stable than the EPIA. Rob P.s: Don't get me wrong. The EPIA is a very good board, I have 2 EPIA boards running web servers with scripting, SQL server and subversion server for 7 years now and they never failed on me (except for that one time where Typo3 went berserk ), it's just not EMC friendly. - This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100url=/___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
[Emc-users] Touch off / G92 headaches
I know this is probably my own fault for not having limit and home switches (yet) But I keep getting headaches from the Axis behavior of the touch off function in Axis. When I move my zero position finder and then try to do a touch off with 4mm to get the home coordinate, suddenly the OK button in the touch off window becomes grayed out. It works sometimes but not ever. Is there some kind of dependency on previous homing sequences? having this problem I started to use the G92 in the MDI window. I wanted to try this anyway because I want to automate this procedure using a probe to prevent any future problems (I just crashed my $75 LED homing sensor due to having the wrong increment set when moving ...). It looks like this made the problem worse: I can't even do a normal homing anymore after using G92. A short example: I switch on the machine and do a normal homing using the home button, now X=0. I do a touch off (using G92 X-4), do my milling and prepare for a second job. When I now press the home button then X becomes -4 (the value of the G92 command) This looks OK but when I now move the X-axis 1 mm further and do a new G92 X-4 command then pressing the home button sets X to -5. Some of my work involves a concatenation of multiple milling programs (using absolute coordinates) where I placed a sequence like G0 X100, G92 X0 on two lines in between the different programs. in this way I get multiple parts out of one sheet. Things get worse now. When I stop in the middle of a program using multiple G92 commands, the home position is not what I expect it to be (i.e. the one defined by the last G92 command). Am I just misusing a feature here or is this something which is fixed in a newer release? Regards, Rob - Check out the new SourceForge.net Marketplace. It's the best place to buy or sell services for just about anything Open Source. http://sourceforge.net/services/buy/index.php___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] EMC Fest
http://linuxcnc.org/compile_farm/festcam.shtml HUH! Bunch of pikers - where the heck are you? All I see are empty chairs! Jon Agree, it's only 2 at night and already everyone has gone of to bed ? :-) Think this is good though, you need to be fully awake when operating these powerful machines. Making a mistake can damage machine and/or operator. When operating my machine I always make sure it has got my full attention. And never drink and drive or operate a milling machine!!! OT: I saw a youtube video some time ago with a few guys who created a kind of fairground attraction with a chair mounted to a 6-axis robot. I think this is insane. One wrong move or a glitch in the system may damage the person riding the attraction. Always use proper safety measures when working on a mill, a lathe or a 6-DOF robot! And yes, I'm a piker too. I once saw a chuck flying by, hitting a hole in a steel cupboard. Since then I make sure I am safe in case the impossible becomes possible. Walking into the work area of a bit (6 x 12 meters) 5 axis CNC milling machine was not something I liked doing when making photos of my workpiece under construction ... (I was told the mill cannot reach below 1 meter from the ground so in case of emergency just lie down) Rob - Check out the new SourceForge.net Marketplace. It's the best place to buy or sell services for just about anything Open Source. http://sourceforge.net/services/buy/index.php___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Wax
Kirk, I have some stuff called Spann-Folie in German. I bought this from Sartorius in Germany. I friend of me used it also to create round disks of a few milimeters thick on his lathe. The label on the packaging tells me it's called Mitee-Griphttp://www.miteebite.com/products/mitee_grip_e.html. Works perfectly well. This stuff makes milling small or thin pieces an easy thing to do. The only hassle is that you first need to press workpiece and sacrificial plate together and heat then to about 90 Celsius. Regards, Rob - Check out the new SourceForge.net Marketplace. It's the best place to buy or sell services for just about anything Open Source. http://sourceforge.net/services/buy/index.php___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] E-stop Surprise
I agree with Jon: You really HAVE to have a hardware E-stop! The business with the pointer focus on the GUI is pretty dangerous, and I run into it all the time. 'In the Beginning' I just used the E-Stop input pin from the HAL, but I was wondering if this is safe enough so I now added a 'real' E-stop. I have a simple machine switch (one of those solenoid controlled Red/Green button things) and just placed an E-stop button in the feed line to this switch (it is a normal closed switch). This combination provides power two relays: one 3-phase relay to provide power to the servos and VFD for the spindle and one relay connected to the E-stop input of EMC2. So hitting the E-stop both cuts power to the power parts and also signals EMC that the machine is stopped. I thought that installing an E-stop was more important than limit switches but I guess I was wrong: I need both ... Regards, Rob - Check out the new SourceForge.net Marketplace. It's the best place to buy or sell services for just about anything Open Source. http://sourceforge.net/services/buy/index.php___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Encoder with 5 000 000 pulses/rev
Aram, i talk to company that manufacture encoder with 5 000 000 pulses per rev. the problem is that that encoder has MAXIMUM rpm less than 200 rpm!!! so that encoder can be speen faster than 200 rpm because frequences not enogh to keep so much pulses. if you want speen faster get lower resolution incoder 1 000 000 pulses per rev. I am not sure which way you are going. 5,000,000 pulses per rev at 200 rpm gives a 16,000,000 pulses per second which means you have to handle 32 MHz signals to be able to count the pulses. These are (sorry for the wording) insane data rates. This makes me wondering what you are trying to do, with a 2 inch ball screw this gives you 0.4 micro inch resolution. 200 rpm, 2 inch == 400 inch/min or 10 meters/min (380 mph or 600 kmh). With a 0.2 inch ball screw speeds would make sense again, and in that case I'd love a higher speed, but a 0.04 micro inch (approx 1 micro meter) resolution on a ball screw rotation measurement is very high, most likely much higher than the precision of all separate components. is this possible to build electronics gear box that at lover rpm will use encoder with 5 000 000 pulses per rev and when rpm increases electronic gear box will switch to encoder with lover resolution that is 1 000 000 pulses per rev? You could stick two encoders together and switch from high to low(er) precision when you reach a certain speed but you will always loose precision while doing this. If your design needs such high precision combined with high speeds then you'll need to think of another way of designing your machine. Regards, Rob - Check out the new SourceForge.net Marketplace. It's the best place to buy or sell services for just about anything Open Source. http://sourceforge.net/services/buy/index.php___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Thread Milling
Is tapping obsolete? http://www.emuge.com/carbide_thread/ Nope, tapping is still useful, these tools need space (try making a 2 mm thread this way - the tool is larger). But this is really useful, there are different tools. Threading mills like the one shown in the picture give a fixed pitch where you can vary the diameter: just mill a helix with the proper radius and you're done. There are also single thread mills. It takes some more time to make a thread this way since you have to repeat helixes until you have enough length on the thread but with a single mill you can also vary the pitch. I'm going to experiment with this type of thread miling since I need to create a 6 fold 36mm thread with a pitch of 1mm. This is easy to do using a simple procedure: go to the starting height, make a thread with a 6mm pitch, go back to the starting point but 1mm higher and make a helix. repeat this 6 times and there is my M36x1 6-fold thread. But it's not the ultimate machiner's dream. See: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3101/is_1_78/ai_n13809324 - Rob - 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] How does EMC build bicycles / Re: Scale and Rotate
How does EMC2 build bicycles? John Easy, just write G-code to mill a mold, apply carbon cloth and epoxy resin in the mold, inser a tube (a bike's inner tube) and bolt the mold together. Then apply pressure to the inner tube and let the epoxy harden. This is how I make bikes. Until now the molds have been created by hand from plugs (a model) created by another company (or hand made ones). In a few weeks I'll start making my own plug and molds using EMC2 to build a new bike that will be used for record attempts. - Rob - 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] .deb of CVS?
Matt, My purpose is to be able to have easy to install updates or hot fixes, in between released versions if required, without emc2-dev/CVS/run-in-place. Good question, up to now I just waited for a new LiveCD. I think the answer is on: http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?InstallingUpdates I just plugged in the network cable and noticed the update popping up - but since I have to do some money making this week I did not yet dare to do this ... But I am a software engineer and I was the one to blame for the OMTI 5510 harddisk driver in Minix, way-back in 1988 or so. I've ported Linux to a number of targets, did some device drivers and much more stuff that I don't even remember. But I am just too scared to ruin my running EMC2 system so I had a second system installed when 2.2.2 came out and just replaced the hardware. But ... I want to be able to do these simple updates. The easy to install .deb would be an option (why recompile if it's already been tested, the developers know best what they changed and may even know how to test :o) ) Another option (I do have this second PC anyway) would be to install a development PC. I can compile, test, mess around, try out some new HAL stuff, even hook it up to the machine and even replace my 'live' EMC2 system on a sudden death. So another question is how to install updates that I compiled myself on another system. Rob - 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] .deb of CVS?
Alex, On Thu, 2008-05-15 at 10:13 +0300, Alex Joni wrote: https://www.myvoice.nl/horde/imp/message.php?index=49388# Hi Rob, updates which you get automagically won't screw your install. We only provide automatic updates for the same release branch of emc2 (so if you have emc2.2.2 you'll get automatic updates for 2.2.3, 2.2.4, 2.2.5, etc, but you won't get automatic updates from 2.1.x to 2.2.x, or to 2.3.x - manual intervention is required for that). That's what I had expected: only update within the 2.2.x branch, I am more concerned about what I could do wrong myself (not that much - I know). It is just that I needed to do some productive milling today and I did not want to get into any possible problems. If you produce deb's from your local testing dir, then you can surely install that deb on another system. If you only use checkout, compile (with run in place, as to not mess an installed system), then it's a bit harder to move the work. Then I'll start reading the documentation and check the Wiki on how to do this. Last time I made a .deb file it was called .rpm (on RedHat) and that was about 7 years ago ... Regards, Rob - 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] segmentation fault
I'm building a little cnc router with EMC2 as the controller software running with Xylotek steppers and everything works fine but when i try to reboot or shutdown ubuntu it stops with a segmentation fault error. This only happens when i run EMC2, if i run any other program from ubuntu except EMC2 then it behaves normally. I see the same problem. Never tried a reboot, but at a shutdown the system may end up with a segmentation fault. But this is only after the message that the system is halted (and after the harddisks are parked / stop spinning) so I do not worry about this too much. Note that this never happens while Ubuntu is uprunning: I can start and stop any program I like (including the EMC2 Axis interface), it only happens at shutdown. This also does not happen always, I got the feeling it's about 50% of all shutdowns that does this. Regards, Rob - 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] newb question: coordinate spaces and setup
It makes me wish I had a nice granite surface plate, and height gauge. I used to wonder what people did with those, but lately I've been finding lot of uses for them. I've got a friend who makes carbon disc wheels for bicycles. He uses one to check if the rim is perfectly round and flat. But indeed, a granite plate is a cool tool to have - and not too expensive (compared to other tools). Problem is where to put it; it's heavy and not something you move around when it is not being used. I have a thin granite plate that I use to knead dough for my pasta :o) A friend made a probe that measures the height, connected this to the probe input and added a zeroing macro to his machine. How possible are zeroing macros like this in EMC2? I believe I can do it manually by touching-off from a manually found zero point, but I've been seeing a lot of automated zeroing with things like what you mention on YouTube lately, especially in Mach 3, and I've wanted similar. Hm, let me quickly check the EMC2 manual ... In section 14.19: To make the current point have the coordinates you want (without motion), program G92 X- Y- Z- A- B- C- Use the probe command G38.x to measure the length of the mill, this returns the position in parameters 5061 and further. Doing a simple touch off measurement (with a height gauge placed on top of your workpiece) you don't even need the result of the probe command. After probing the current position is exactly x mm or inch above your workpiece so you only have to do a G92 Z 2 (if your gauge is 2 inch). With a second gauge fixed on your table, you can probe for the offset (top of workpiece to reference of gauge) and save that value (lets say this is #5 Then replace the mill with a new tool and probe again, now this position must be made #5 (using G92 Z #5). Wow, this looks even simpler than I imagined (my friend uses WIN-PCNC). I think I'll hunt on ebay for a few of those vandal proof switches to use as height gauges. I've been getting closer to using the tool table concept lately. I haven't had any fixed-length tools, though, and no automated changer, so it's been mostly pointless. I did finally buy a few more end-mill holders, so I can devote a couple to common tools, meaning I can get some repeatable tool lengths on the mini mill, but no more than probably 2, maybe 3 [image: :)]They're just so pricey for me for the Sherline, at $30/ea. I'm sure that's very low when compared to big machines, but it is just a hobby, after all. $30/ea. adds up quickly when you want handfuls of them. Lucky you! My milling spindle has a fixed ER25 collet and there is no way to change tools with a repeatable height :-( - Rob - 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] newb question: coordinate spaces and setup
Gary, I think this doesn't even have to be mounted. It could simply be a little device you place on the table whenever needed, though it wouldn't be quite as fast as a prox switch. I just found this while poking around the net: http://www.industrialhobbies.com/howto/production_notes/height_gauge/height_gauge_pt1.htm I'll just need a parallel block, a height gauge, a little block for the gauge tip, and some epoxy. This looks like an easy thing to make. Just make sure the top surface is a perfect level, if it's not then the height will change with different diameter cutters. A friend made a probe that measures the height, connected this to the probe input and added a zeroing macro to his machine. His height gauge is just a simple industrial switch based on a micro switch, it's accurate within about 2/100 mm. I decided to go for a design using the Renishaw patent, see link for an exploded view, but I'm too busy finishing the milling machine to finish it. (http://www.myvoice.nl/freesmachine/photo.php?name=nul-steller-explodeimg=6) I think a slotted optical switch will be good enough. I'll be using two height gauges, one to determine the top of my workpiece and one to measure the offset between the different mills. I envision a automatic procedure where G-code macros are used to automatically correct the tool offset after each change: 1. insert the first mill 2. set x,y,z = 0,0,0 to the top left of my workpiece 3. move the milling spindle to the center of my height gauge (which I'll place close to my workpiece) 4. start the program which will then: 5. determine the tool offset for the current mill 6. run and stop for a tool change 7. a manual tool change 8. move to the height gauge, determine the new tool offset and calculate the new Z=0 (or program the tool length) This will have to do until enough money flows in to buy an automatic tool changer :-) Regards, Rob - This SF.net email is sponsored by the 2008 JavaOne(SM) Conference Don't miss this year's exciting event. There's still time to save $100. Use priority code J8TL2D2. http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;198757673;13503038;p?http://java.sun.com/javaone___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
