[LeeWay]

Ray, I do see a similar thing. I know it's Mach related because I have used a couple different CAM's and produced similar actions by Mach. This is with two totally different PP's. I have searched for dwell actions and can't find any reason for it. It is dang sure a quirk. Minor though as quirks go in Mach. The major points are that it homes correctly and operates the spindle as it should. Not trivial when you consider it works right for rigid tapping. Granted I have only tried RT with Sheetcam and Les modified a special post to do it. I will soon see if Fusion 360 can handle it as well. I play with it (Fusion) every day for a little bit.

[neilw20]

Today I managed to make all the new tool receiver lock cams, despite some problems with Mach3 (I made the parts on the Pulsar, since the Pro is still in pieces....). Mach3 decided to, all by itself, switch the IJ Mode to absolute, which produced very strange results. Since these parts are very small (about 3/4" round) ather than the usual "crop circles", it just did all kinds of bizarre things, that were not obviously caused by IJ mode.

I hope tomorrow to get all the levers made, and have a 100% functional ATC!

...

Regards,
Ray L.

Some previous program LEFT Mach3 in IJ mode. Part of my initialization code sets correct modes.
Some modes are persistent so mach3 can be left in some unexpected mode, so adequate initialization line is good practice.

I once manually set a variable to dodge around a fixture bolt. Worked perfectly.
Next day, upon with a rebooted computer, and the same program, with a loud bang unscrewed the fixture bolt at 400mm/min feed, and shattered a 10mm carbide end mill, with flying fragments.

I ALWAYS initialize variables to some sensible value, even if I change them/it manually later. Same goes for modes, like relative, absolute, inch/metric and rotated coordinate systems. etc..

Cheers, Neil

[SCzEngrgGroup]

This was a case of Mach3 spontaneously modifying its own configuration. I have never run code that used absolute IJK mode, and Mach3 was configured correctly the last time I ran this machine. It had also managed to set itself into metric mode, which I've also never used. At least that was very easy to spot.

Regards,
Ray L.

[LeeWay]

That does not bode well for this version of Mach. I will let you guys know if I ever see this. I haven't yet.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Today or tomorrow will be a major step - actually using the ATC "in anger" for the first time! Yesterday, I used the Pulsar to make 5 of the 12 new lock cams and lever arms, and have them mounted on the ATC. Why only 5? Because that's how many tools are required to make the rest of the arms and cams, and I thought it would be fun to make that the first real-world test of the ATC! Those first 5 are working perfectly so far, so I think this is the last small step before building a second, pre-production prototype with all the latest design changes.

I may not quite get to the point of making chips today, due to other obligations, and the need to re-assemble the Pro and cobble up some shielding to protect the ATC electronics, motors and encoders from chips/coolant.

Regards,
Ray L.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Here is the latest video. Only tools 1-5 a working here, until I get the remaining parts made for the other 7. But, those 5 are working perfectly, and will be used to make the missing parts, probably tomorrow.

SAM 0413 - YouTube

Regards,
Ray L.

[ram48]

That is looking great Ray.
Smooth and fast, pretty quiet also. I'm impressed.
Ray Mc

[SCzEngrgGroup]

That is looking great Ray.
Smooth and fast, pretty quiet also. I'm impressed.
Ray Mc

Ray,

It's definitely getting there! I need to find some "mufflers" for the air cylinder, to reduce that noise, which is by far the loudest sound it makes. Operation will be even smoother when I get the new, much beefier, transfer arm drive assembly built. But even with the current kinda flexy one, it seems to work perfectly, day after day. As the parts wear in a bit, it should also get a bit smoother, just as with the PDB.

Regards,
Ray L.

[slowtwitch]

Wow!!!! That is really nice !!!! Great work, Ray.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Woo Hoo! The ATC just made its first part, and it worked perfectly! It's a small part, only 5 tools, 7 changes, under 5 minutes machining time, but the ATC performed flawlessly, and the part came out perfect! One down, six more to go!

If I can find a tripod, I'll post a video later today.

Regards,
Ray L.

[WOTDesigns]

I seriously hope you make back 100% of your R&D on this plus production! So damn impressive to take on something big companies with teams of engineers and designers can barely get together. The action and versatility is absolutely impressive! Hell if you make it work on my Tormach I might buy one if I keep it.

Brian
WOT Designs

[SCzEngrgGroup]

I seriously hope you make back 100% of your R&D on this plus production! So damn impressive to take on something big companies with teams of engineers and designers can barely get together. The action and versatility is absolutely impressive! Hell if you make it work on my Tormach I might buy one if I keep it.

Brian
WOT Designs

Brian,

The "R&D" is just my time, so probably comes to about $5 total! :-)

Regards,
Ray L.

[HawkJET]

Woo Hoo! The ATC just made its first part, and it worked perfectly!

I know what it must feel like to have a machine you designed and built, do its job flawlessly for the first time. Congratulations Ray! It's definitely a professional job. I can't wait to see a video....

[SCzEngrgGroup]

I know what it must feel like to have a machine you designed and built, do its job flawlessly for the first time. Congratulations Ray! It's definitely a professional job. I can't wait to see a video....

Cris,

Thanks! It's exceeded my expectations on its "maiden voyage". I got all 7 parts made, and the ATC performed flawlessly throughout. My last ATC didn't come up this easily, and it was MUCH less complex than this one. I'm pretty happy right now!

Regards,
Ray L.

[ram48]

Cris,

Thanks! It's exceeded my expectations on its "maiden voyage". I got all 7 parts made, and the ATC performed flawlessly throughout. My last ATC didn't come up this easily, and it was MUCH less complex than this one. I'm pretty happy right now!

Regards,
Ray L.

You should be happy Ray,
Having worked alongside you in the Novakon Booth at Cabin fever last year, seeing the first model of the ATC and installing your PDB on my machine, I am truly impressed at your knowledge of electronics, mechanics and your ability to build what you design.
Your a pretty smart guy lol
Ray Mc

[AUSTINMACHINING]

Looking great Ray!.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

I spent today working on something new in the ATC firmware. I've setup a web browser in the Arduino to provide part of the UI. There will, of course, be a Mach3 plug-in for handling toolchanges, and a few other basic operations that will be initiated through Mach3, but I am considering using a web interface for configuration, status monitoring, debugging, etc. The advantage, of course, is much less application code to write on the PC, and the ability to access the Arduino remotely to help with debugging customer problems. I have the web server up and running just fine, and am now starting on coding the actual web pages to implement the UI for the first few functions. I haven't written any HTML in close to 20 years, so I have to re-learn a few things, but I think I should have it largely working in just a few days, and will post some screen shots.

The ATC itself is working just great, and all 12 tool receivers are now operational!

Regards,
Ray L.

[daniellyall]

can you add the kitchen sink to that joke

that's getting very fancy you could add a camera as well so you can see what the machine is doing and I hope novakon give you a good xmas bonus for all your hard work

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Just added one more thing to my list of things I hate doing: Writing HTML! What a PITA! But, I'm making progress. I have the first few pages prototyped, and working as web pages served up by the ATC controller. It took a while to remember/re-learn enough HTML to be dangerous, and then to learn CSS. The only real hard part is getting things to look as I want, especially positioning and sizing of objects on the page, without using scripting. What I have now is plain, but can be "dressed up" later, with some color and other decorations. It is, however, perfectly functional. Just a few more pages to do, then it's on to the code that actually does something when the user clicks a button.



The "actions" on the main "Operations" page are pretty simple: Select a tool number, and click "Mount Tool", and that tool will be loaded into the spindle. If there is a tool already in the spindle, it will be put back in the carousel first. Clicking Un-Mount Tool will remove any tool from the spindle, and put it back in the carousel. Selecting a tool number and clicking "Load Tool" will remove the tool, if any, from the corresponding carousel "slot", and bring the arm straight toward the user. The user can then remove the tool from the arm, and replace it with another one. That tool will then be put into the carousel, and the tool number will be incremented, so clicking on Load Tool again will repeat the operation for the next tool. This provides a quick and easy means of loading all tools for a given job.

The first row of four buttons are, I think, fairly self-explanatory. Home ATC will re-home the carousel, arm, and lift. Park ATC will move the arm to the Park position, behind the spindle, and fully up. Halt ATC will abort any ATC operation in progress and Resume ATC will be used to resume normal operation after any fault has been cleared.

The second row of four buttons are for accessing the other pages of the "web site". Tool Mapping allows setting up the logical-to-physical mapping of tools in the carousel, so any tool can be placed in any "slot" in the ATC, with having to be sequentially numbered. ATC Status provides a status display of many ATC internal variables, and the state of all the servo controllers and sensors. ATC Tuning is for tuning the servos, and other ATC operational parameters. ATC Debug gives access to a Debug mode for the ATC that allows low-level control of all the ATC "axes" for diagnostic purposes. For example, the carousel can be positioned to any "slot", or the lift function tested, without doing a full toolchange. It will also provide "torture tests" for the individual "axes", as well as one for the entire ATC, to verify proper tuning of the control parameters, proper operation of all the mechanical and electronic bits, and verification of system reliability.

Regards,
Ray L.

[Tkamsker]

Nice Idea and Good work happy Christmas ,..


Gesendet von iPad mit Tapatalk