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Hi MArk:

Just me opinion, some do use MachIV, but Ive found experiences seem to vary widely. IT really isnt ready for prime time by my estimation. The Next version will be, but it will take up to 3 months to complete to full status..

I recommend, if your ina hurry, that you use a breakout baord and printer port to do the control, its very easy to switch such a system to G100 when its ready for it. As long as you have the appropriate drivers, it wont matter if you use printer port or G100 for now, the port will simply be slower. All your other specs look good, I dont htink you shoudl hit any major snags..

Thanks,
Art
www.artofcnc.ca

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Hi Chris:

It's been about 6 months now I think since you retired, so I figure

it's time we all got an update on you :-)

My lord, it has been 6 months hasnt it. Time fly's. :)

How is the lathe conversion coming along - is it cutting parts yet?

It has cut quite a few. Unfortunatley, I destroyed the tailstock and am now rebuilding this one with parts from Emco. I have a new casting (the old one cracked off on an old crack.. The Slug was badly deformed and split the casting all to heck. However, another week or so and I can go back to playing, just waiting on final parts. I gotta say... I love my emco. Best tool Ive ever used. For a small lathe , its incredibly nice to use, and very powerfull. Never had a lost step, and its very accurate. I find Ive been enjoying it alot when I get a chance to use it. :)

How is the retired life treating you?

Is that what this is ,..retirement? As I know you probably did suspect, I got busier than ever. Of course, I took way too much on, figuring Id have so much more time. In actual fact I dug quite a hole. BUT now I seem to be filling it in nicely. LazyCam is starting to work very well, (Thanks to Brians hard work and efforts..), and now that PlugIns are promising to do fantastic thing with others being able to chip in, the workload is actually starting to reduce. Mach seems more popular than ever, now has over 5000 users , and I feel, for the first time in a very long time, a real pride in whats been done on a day to day basis. All in all, I have to say if this is retirement, Im all for it. Nothing better than doing what you really like to do.


I know you are probably spending countless hours out on the beach
sipping beers and spending weeks at a time riding the Norton and so
on, but if you have a moment, I sure would like to know how retired
life is treating you ;-)

Actually, its a Yamaha VStar 1100, but yes, Im actually riding it more than normal. (Of course till this year, normal wasnt alot. :) ), but Im looking forward to the summer, things are greening up here, and it will be my first summer in 25 years to myself, and while I dont intend to really take much of a break, I can say its been enjoyable so far, and promises to be for the next year. I find I can actually get things done these days, even support is much slower than normal, ( though thats something that varies from month to month. ). I now know why people like yourself and Mariss always sound so chipper, even when obviously in the heat of the virtual oven, being your own boss is an experience like no other.. hard to imagine being anything else. (Though the boss is still a prick and works me too hard. :) )

Thanks
Art


Chris

(knowing all to well Art is probably working more hours now than prior
to retiring)

You called that one right!.

www.machsupport.com - Web site Access
Yahoo! Groups Links

I have a large VMC I have retrofitted with mach as well. Currently
I'm using Mach3 with the LPT control, and will upgrade to Grex some
time after the new dll plugin control for it is released. I'm not
familiar with your anilam control, but I'd bet your existing servo
drives are functioning and it's your controller that's going on the
frtitz? If so, you can keep all the existing servo drives etc and
just run some step/direction to +/- 10v analog cards that your servo
drives likely take as direction input. This is what I did using cards
from skyko technologies. www.skyko.com great price and great product
if you're servo drives take +/-10v signals. You can use the printer
port for step/direction signals for the time being, and install a Grex
later for the increased speed as I will be doing. I have a
DirectLogic DL-06 PLC for the numerous I/O that my VMC craves. If
you're in a pinch for a few more I/O through the LPT, you can get a
parallel port expansion card (with 2 ports) for under 20 bucks at
www.tigerdirect.com

Hope this helps!

Chris

--- In mach1mach2cnc@..., "Mark Vaughan" <mark@...> wrote:

Hi Guys I'm a newbie to the group, and Mach 3.



I have recently purchased an AVON 2200 CNC vertical mill with faulty

Anilam

Crusader M series controller. Have fixed much of it, but it's not

reliable.

This has massive 120V SEM 2000RPM, 15A servos on all 3 axis with 200

thou

pitch ball screws, and 254 pulse encoders.



I am looking to upgrade it to Mach 3, and then Mach 4, and use a

GRex G100

controller, but it would appear I have landed in the middle of a

development

phase.

It is important I can get something up and running as a basic 3 Axis CNC
mill (at least as good as a parallel port version) in a couple of

weeks. Hi

speed is not presently important.

Looking at Arts video's it would look as though I can connect a GRex

G100 as

a basic interface controller and it will work satisfactorily,

without all

the fancy capabilities of the GRex, Am I right in this assumption?

If not then perhaps I need to pick up a isolated serial port

breakout box to

get things going and run that in tandem with the GRex until it is fully
working.



Since my motors are 120V, 15A, the Gecko servo controllers only run

to 80V

so I will be looking to use either Rutex, or Teknix servo controllers, I
assume there is no preference between either of these, and no

problems to

interface to the GRex Rutex are similar price, and capable of a lot

more

current and I would therefore assume a little more bullet proof.

My present DC supply is 150V, which gives out about 120V to the

servo's, but

no problem to adjust this since I have a big multi tapped three phase
transformer.



I should also say, I have no 3 phase supply at my shop, this is being
generated from a 7.5HP TECO inverter / VFD and I may need to sine

filter it,

but have not at present. Motor runs fine, three phase transformer

wines a

little.



For encoders I am looking at 2000 pulse differential A+, A-, B+,

B-, and

N+, N-, this appears to be a common pulse count and should give

pretty good

resolution.



When it all starts to work, I will be adding forth axis to the knee.



I have to go away on business later this week for a few days, so I would
like to get parts ordered before I go, and start when I get back.



Can you please throw me your opinion guys both good and bad.





Thanks Mark



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I use CoralDraw and Adobe Illustrator, and I feel that Illustrator
works the best.
I just finished building my 1st homemade CNC machine and I just cut my
1st project with Mach 2 and VCarve Wizard and PhotoVcarve Wizard!
I am VERY impressed with Mach 2 AND Vcarve AND PhotoVcarve!!!
I was impressed enough to get licenses for all three!
I live in California but I am originally from Wisconsin...Oshkosh in fact.
Though I am sure being FROM Wisconsin doesn't help much... ;)
Bill

Hi Art,

It's been about 6 months now I think since you retired, so I figure
it's time we all got an update on you :-)

How is the lathe conversion coming along - is it cutting parts yet?

How is the retired life treating you?

I know you are probably spending countless hours out on the beach
sipping beers and spending weeks at a time riding the Norton and so
on, but if you have a moment, I sure would like to know how retired
life is treating you ;-)

Chris

(knowing all to well Art is probably working more hours now than prior
to retiring)

I changed the wiring of the Gecko fault to the breakout board and tried
different pin setting on the motors The original setting works the best. If
I run the Y axis back and forth 5-10 times the motor will stop and fault but
it won't do it all the time its the same with X axis. With the fault wires
changed to the breakout board when the buffer reaches 100% I see
all Axis stop, till the buffer goes down. My Question is, The buffer causing
the lost steps and if so How can I increase it capacity?

The Ball screws have no bind when turn by hand so I don't think there a bind
I was just cutting air. I can try to stop the head from moving it over power
me so it seems they have good power

Also X axis seem to dither when stopped not all the time I tried adjusting
it clears up and comes back the Y axis sings a little not bad like a pig
squeal turning down counter clockwise the limit on the current stops this.
I'm using Gecko 320. Are the trim adjustment clockwise for the limit or
counter clockwise? I turned the limit adjustment clockwise to max and still
loosing steps I believe it has to be in the adjustment of the motor causing
some of the problem. it still machinea a good period before it acts up .I
think the buffer has to do with this and the tuning.
Thanks Randy

Hi Guys:

For those with a PlugIn interest, I figured I'd post some things going on..and the results of current testing..

I have modified the SDK to have one Include folder for the MachIncludes that all plugins will share. I have found some pointer inconsistancies in the .h files and have been fixing them as I go. Shoudlnt be a terrible problem to fix any PlugIns in progress, but Ill re-release the entire SDK when the ModIO plugIn is done.

The ModIO plugin is now running extremely well with Inputs, Im just finishing up MPGs, and config dialogs. I have added multiple ModIO slave capability so in future more than one ModIO may be daisychained together for more IO. Slave 1 is pins 1-8 Slave2 is pins 9-16 ..ect.. This all seems to work well within the constraints of testing the singular ModIO capability at the moment. As each plugin is done, its likely the .h files will have to be updated for past plugins, but we'll fix that as we go.

A user in Brazil is working on a remote control web based addition to allow one mach user at home to run a machine in the wilderness. It sounds like an interesting project , and he's also working on a plugin to allow getting IO from a computer somewhere else as well. Another interesting wrinkle, might be good for remote support type of functions. (Be nice if I could simply take over your Mach3 and see the screen.. probably help quite a few..)

The PlugIns so far are proving to be pretty powerfull to program in. The ModIO is almost flowing together, so Im pretty happy. ModIO will be a good open source example of how to deal with generalized input and MPG inputs from various sources.

After ModIO, which should be done by late week, the biggest challenge starts. It will be the G100 plugIn. Its a major and complete rewrite, open source, of adding a G100 to control Mach3 from the ground up. Now that I understand the G100 enough to program for it, the work begins this weekend on it. My plan is first to clean up the connection and IP attaching proceedures to make it all automatic, then IO functionallity including the encoders, then Jog, and finally movement and homing routines. Expect it to take a while, but I will be releasing versions of the plugin probably weekly for testers. The initial testing of course will be limited to checking your IO, then Jogging, but then the movement will come and we'll be back to where we were, but with the difference that the source code will be available, and others can check my work to see if perhaps they can improve on it, or suggest or add additional functionallity. Its going to be an exciting project from the programming side. This should lead us to a working Mach3/G100 version within a couple months of starting, but with pretty good functionallity by mid July.

All this is truly necessary, and I appologise for the delay it meant to the G100 version of MachIV, but it seems a no-brainer to open it up, so i can get help when I need it, both from Steve, who writes the firmware, and from other C experts out there who may be able to see my logistical errors as I go. The ModIO Plug is well documented, and this doc'ing will follow to the G100, in hopes of making it bulletproof in a much faster time frame than before. Brian will be helping me with testing and code at the same time, so the code should fly faster than before as well.

The new ModIO Plug has a 40hz refresh rate internally, and seems very much faster than the macropump could ever be, this makes a big difference in performace. My Modio is running as I type this , at 40hz refresh on all registers, input and output. My CPU load on screen is currently 15% and it doesnt change if ModBus is on or off. Those who have used the old ModBus, know that 40hz refresh on the ModIO could jack up system usage as high as 40% , as I said, a huge reduction is systemic load on your system.
We've noticed this of course, could impact on many macropump type of operations. Rons encoder interface for example, would make an easy plugin, that would raise its performance to near closed loop speeds. (but not quite. :) ). It seems this new technology will allow Mach to do many things it could never do before in terms of IO devices. A drop from 40% CPU load to 15% (which is normal non-Modio load level) is pretty staggering statistically from a running ModIO card. I suspect we're only touching on the true capability of PlugIn vs MacroPump. I can see eventually a generalised Toolchanger PlugIn that will operate much more robustly, and Ill give that some thought as the G100 is done.

Anyway, all signs are that we're on the right path for drastically increased reliability, and many more functional items over the next while that were previously impossible. I thought Id fill you in on what Im seeing so far. Im amazed and very pleased at the prospects this is opening up..

Thanks,
Art
www.artofcnc.ca

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Scott:

Send me your xml as it stands now. We may have gotten crossed on it, Ill make sure that as it stands now, the step/dir works on the spindle..(here anyway. :) )

Thanks,
Art
www.artofcnc.ca

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I still have a dead spindle on a machine I am upgrading from M2 to
M3. Art tried my XML file, and it works for him......but I get no
response from the spindle motor. Interestingly, it still runs fine in
M2 though. Anyone else ever encopounter this, or have any ideas? I
think I am out of options other than to totally reload M3, although I
don't know what that will help.

Thanks in advance
Scott

I changed the wiring of the Gecko fault to the breakout board and tried
different pin setting on the motors The original setting works the best. If
I run the Y axis back and forth 5-10 times the motor will stop and fault but
it won't do it all the time its the same with X axis. With the fault wires
changed to the breakout board when the buffer reaches 100% I see
all Axis stop, till the buffer goes down. My Question is, The buffer causing
the lost steps and if so How can I increase it capacity?

The Ball screws have no bind when turn by hand so I don't think there a bind
I was just cutting air. I can try to stop the head from moving it over power
me so it seems they have good power

Also X axis seem to dither when stopped not all the time I tried adjusting
it clears up and comes back the Y axis sings a little not bad like a pig
squeal turning down counter clockwise the limit on the current stops this.
I'm using Gecko 320. Are the trim adjustment clockwise for the limit or
counter clockwise? I turned the limit adjustment clockwise to max and still
loosing steps I believe it has to be in the adjustment of the motor causing
some of the problem. it still machinea a good period before it acts up .I
think the buffer has to do with this and the tuning.
Thanks Randy

Thanks Guys for the info on the 5 phase stuff. Now I can proceed without worrying about that.

Jerry

Hi Justen:

The LED's may not light, if noise triggers an estop, then it can be very fast. Check the History button to see if its indicating an Estop or External Estop. If so, then there is a setting called "Debounce" in the config/logic. Set it to 2000 to see if it helps.

Thanks,
Art
www.artofcnc.ca

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I have one of those 5-phase Vexta motor with corresponding driver and they
do work very well with Mach3.

--- In mach1mach2cnc@..., art <fenerty@...> wrote:

Thanks for the reply Art,

When the program E Stops there are no limit led lit at all if I
hit reset the program will run again. I have run the ocx driver test
a number of times but I must not be the sharpest knife in the drawer
as i dont get the idea of it at all. When I run the test it runs
fine and reports that the test is finished Is there a pictorial
example somewhere of what a good waveform looks like so i can
compare? The frequency remains fairly constant throughout the test ie
23 600 +or -.
Sorry to be a pain in the %$#@ you must have answered thousands of
questions like this before.
Thankyou very much, Justen

Hi Junsten:

When it Estops, do you get a limit switch error? As to the speed,

make sure

you run the drivertest.exe program and see that its got a good

waveform.

Thanks,
Art
www.artofcnc.ca

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----- Original Message -----
From: "callum002c" <callum002c@...>
To: <mach1mach2cnc@...>
Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2006 11:31 PM
Subject: [mach1mach2cnc] gecko 201 slipping/losing steps

I am running a 3axis gantry with gecko 201's and a 750 mhz laptop.
The steppers are Mclennan nema34 triple stacks 72 volts.
The axis run 5mm pitch ball screws, mach2 is set to drive at

45000 Hz

Hi Junsten:

When it Estops, do you get a limit switch error? As to the speed, make sure you run the drivertest.exe program and see that its got a good waveform.

Thanks,
Art
www.artofcnc.ca

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Art, You called that one right...scared..are we going to have to start X-Rating
Mariss do to the Graphical Blood Letting Scenes!

On Sun, 04 Jun 2006 22:34:00 -0300
art <fenerty@...> wrote:

See, I was right to be scared..:)
Thanks,
Art
www.artofcnc.ca
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Mariss Freimanis" <mariss92705@...>
To: <mach1mach2cnc@...>
Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2006 7:55 PM
Subject: [mach1mach2cnc] Re: A really fast Gecko
Not so sure you want that:-)
In the previous run I had the G201 cranked up to 75VDC; the motor develops 165W+ at that voltage. On the 1-TPI screw it developed 22lbs (10kg) thrust at 10 meters/min.
It took a nice gouge out of my thumb, the kind it takes super-glue to close up and stop the bleeding.
Furthermore I had a brick instead of the "action figure" as the load. The brick was duct-taped to the stage; it flew off and destroyed my PC keyboard upon the 2-G deceleration I had programmed.
I decided to play it safe one bloody thumb and and new keyboard later when I ran the video. I hit the mouse key to start things and it darn near took another bite out of me. Deleted cussing ensued.
Moral: Stay clear of fast-moving stuff unless you want to shed a little unplanned blood.
Mariss
--- In mach1mach2cnc@..., Wayne Weedon <wayne@...> wrote:

Mariss Freimanis wrote:

Hi,

Cross-posted from the geckodrive group. I thought people here

might

be interested in it.
--------------------------------------

I uploaded a short video that has an axis tooling along at 3,932

IPM.

Please go to:

Great stuff Mariss , but I think at least we should of got the full

gory

version Swearing, Blood n all!
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------

-------

Wayne M Weedon Email: wayne@...
Fdos Design Poole UK Tel +44-1202-677025 Fax +44-1202-770515 Mobile: 07774

439915

Specialists in small batch & Production Mechanical/Electrical

Engineering

--------------------------------------------------------------------

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I am running a 3axis gantry with gecko 201's and a 750 mhz laptop.
The steppers are Mclennan nema34 triple stacks 72 volts.
The axis run 5mm pitch ball screws, mach2 is set to drive at 45000 Hz

Problem 1)
If I run the macine at 30mm a sec or over i get lost steps and some
times the steppers will make a noise like they are slipping. I am
having trouble tuning the motors to a reliable setup. Will the machine
run faster or more reliably with a faster computer? Or is there a
ceiling to how fast you can run a 201 regardless of computer speed.
Problem 2)
program e-stops now and then seems to run well with spindle tuned off.
Any help would be much appreciated,
Justen

Mike:

The OEM may have slower opto's in it. Try a wider pulse width..

Thanks,
Art
www.artofcnc.ca

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Well be careful, go out a buy you a set of X-Gears.... you know shin
guards, helmet, etc!
I am trying to protect my selfish interests here as well.


--- In mach1mach2cnc@..., "Mariss Freimanis"
<mariss92705@...> wrote:

It's obviously a pointless stunt as presented. At 24VDC the motor

was

developing 55W and most of that energy went into accelerating and
decelerating the screw.

At 75VDC I was getting 2.5 meters/sec (100 IPS) but it was hurting
the stage by being beyond the screw's critical RPM. No video on

that

because I didn't want to repeat it numerous times.

What matters is the stage is going to be equipped with rate-damped
compression spring loads next. This will be to test and run data on
the "unstallable stepper project" algorithms for when a closed-loop
stepper runs into a load beyond what it can sustain at the

programmed

velocity rate.

This was all fun in videoing what the axis can comfortably do at
moderate speeds. Next comes dealing with the adaptive algorithms
which are supposed to slow the G100 down during high-speed

overloads.

Mariss

See, I was right to be scared..:)

Thanks,
Art
www.artofcnc.ca

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