Retrofit a solder robot?

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16 Jul 2017 13:25 #95845 by yello
Just wondering, is it possible to retrofit a Chinese solder robot, similar as the picture, with LinuxCNC?

Is has following moving parts:
X, Y, Z and a rotational solder head.

There is also a stepper to feed the solder wire.

I would have 5 stepper to control.

The Chinese robots come with a handheld controller - but they have no I/O! So if your PCB has 200 solder spots you need to put it 200 coordinates by hand.

The inner parts are standard stepper driver (M542C)

In case LinuxCNC can't do it, is there a CNC software that might can?

PS: I am using LinuxCNC still on my Chinese 6040 CNC router.

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17 Jul 2017 15:26 #95906 by andypugh
Replied by andypugh on topic Retrofit a solder robot?
I can't see any reason that a conversion to LinuxCNC couldn't work. I think you would need to replace all the electronics up to the stepper drivers, though. Do you know what the data format is from the handset to the machine? It might be cheaper and easier to intervene there, maybe with a Raspberry Pi or similar and a custom solution.

LinuxCNC is a motion controller, and you already have one of those, in the existing hardware. Have two motion controllers is not likely to work well.

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18 Jul 2017 00:59 #95952 by yello
Replied by yello on topic Retrofit a solder robot?
Well, the XYZ are pretty clear. Then I use A for the solder tip rotation. So far all is fine.

But how would I control the solder wire feed? Like, each solder point needs some solder wire, some more, some less, depending what you solder.

Stepper drivers are M542C (or something similar to that).

Many of those chinese machines use a ready made hand held controller, often this one:
www.quanzhicnc.com/index.php?m=content&c...=show&catid=35&id=32

or this one:

www.szolks.com/data/upload/image/20151210/1449718301171369.jpg

I guess I can't use that controller (no idea how standard that is) and need to use something different, like TinyG (any other suggestions?)

But I this point I mainly wonder about the solder wire feed and how to do that.

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18 Jul 2017 11:39 #95967 by andypugh
Replied by andypugh on topic Retrofit a solder robot?

Well, the XYZ are pretty clear. Then I use A for the solder tip rotation. So far all is fine.

But how would I control the solder wire feed?

You could use another linear axis, U, V or W.

Such a config is fairly easy, but the G-code would be slightly less so, as you would probably need to switch to incremental feed before feeding a fixed length of solder wire, then switch back to absolute mode for the the move to the next component.
So, probably a job for a remapped G-code.

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