Collecting data with Arduino and Python

A 5' X 10' x 2" die shoe that I bolted 2-12' of THK rail to. I bolted 1.5" Thompson rails to a ST-4x10 for the gantry. (4'x10' work area) Originally, I had a Bridgeport head on it for 2.5 axis CNC work. I built an arm for it that I could reach over a burn table. I would buy bridge drops at .05 $/lb to burn parts for oilfield I priced at $.40/lb. Mostly burnt 2" plate, but I have done 4" plate with it. (That is exciting!!!) . BTW, I have a few tons of various circle drops from 1/2" to 2" thk that are 8" to 10" in diameter.

The Bridgeport could mill mild steel with a 3/8" cutter, carefully.
I was using a Baldor NextMove. It was ok, but no RS-274 interpreter. I had to custom write all toolpaths in a BASIC like language.

It started after 9/11/01. I ran out of work, had a little money, a Baldor parts connection, and needed to keep an employee busy. I've got about 12 grand in it. It has been a good support piece of equipment for my mostly manual machine shop.

In 2005, I was going to have to expand my operation to serve my sole customer(oil field). I decided that I had my shop, my truck and my house paid off, and a big wad of cash. I didn't want to expand.

I had graduated with a BS in Mech Engr in 1990. I always wanted to go to grad school. I completed a MSME in 2010 and went over to the dark side (Industrial Engineering) to work on a PhD. Now, I am using the Whopper to do research applying to roboticly sanding military vehicles.

Mark

andypugh wrote:

The Mesa 7i87 might have worked for you, plugged into the 7i77 smart-serial port.

However, the Arduino should work too. Have you seen: emergent.unpythonic.net/01198594294

I set up a UART on my Mesa card and have the Arduino talking 1Mb serial to a realtime HAL component. That was quite involved (custom Mesa firmware and changes to the Hostmot2 driver), but might also be an option.

Can this be done with a cheap cpld like these ?
www.ebay.com/itm/MAX-II-EPM240-CPLD-Mini...ard-5V-/181441010315
www.ebay.com/itm/1PCS-New-MAXII-EPM570-C...d-JTAG-/271037690097

vre,

I think so. As I recall, I was just using the A/D on the Arduino to read a voltage then send it to a digtial pin of the 7i77 with a serial handshake.

Mark