Noob 1st Post - EMC and Pneumatic Roboarm

John typed faster than me.

i thought i attached the pdf to the last reply
but maybe not

hello again

my buddy and i successfully fired a couple of the solenoids the other day on the robot arm

running the emc2 axis preloaded program
outputting the raw step dir signals
so the solenoids and cylinders were pretty much just firing erratically


how are solenoids programmed in gcode by others?

anyone have any examples?

duly noted sir

maybe ill just post more screenshots of the manual if i need to


my buddy was over again today and we sort of formulated a plan
on what to reuse from the old control and how to go about wiring everything up

im still wondering about how to control the solenoids from gcode

we were thinking - 10 solenoids - 10 pins --- 5 positive direction signals and 5 negative

each axis named and assigned a positive and negative direction signal


the robot arm has 6 limit switches that are normally open and carry 115 vac
but were not totally sure we need to even use them
as all stops and distances traveled by the cylinders are mechanical in nature

im just thinking out loud here hoping someone will chime in with some comment
that will help me bridge the disconnect in my brain lol

here is a picture of a borrowed 1/2 ton chevy with a 2500 lb Wells Index 823 mill torn apart and overloaded into the bed
this will be next to be retrofitted after the robotarm

BigJohnT wrote:

Well you don't have to call me sir...

When you energize a solenoid what happens? Does it just go to full travel or is there some kind of position feedback and rod lock to stop a some position?

John

yes when solenoid energized it just goes to full travel where it meets adjustable mechanical stops and limit switches will close

but limit switches only postion feedback --- on grip for example there is no limit switch

i was thinking of setting up axes so they only had two positions - o and 1

- like arm forward/retract is x and only positions possible are X0 and X1 but x is comprised of 2 cylinders - 1 forward and 1 rertact etc

but im not really sure how this would translate into Gcode as i have about zero experience with it
but ive been reading the emc manuals lol

and sorry for calling you sir lol
just being respectful

heres another pic of the bot

when we put air to the thing when we had the grip CCW and CW

being fed from the axis engraving sample program that loads in emc2


the grip was flipping back and forth crazily
like the two solenoids were fighting each other

and i got to thinking that maybe by holding one solenoid and pulsing the other

speed control could be achieved and maybe position also

were still not really sure if we'll include the limit switches or not
as they may not really be necessary