Input/Output Miscalculation Problem

I've mentioned previously that I'd built a small number of machines in the past, just never one like this.
And in truth, I'm trying very hard to do this one "right" and not so much "just get it running and working now" fashion as before.

So, having been muddling my way through the control cabinet and pendant for the last few weeks, I decided to start working on designing my control's panel. ( LCD, buttons, MPG, etc... )

Holy Bumper Crop of Buttons, Batman!

Even though the 7i77 has a fair amount of places for Inputs and Outputs, I am now thinking that there is not enough... This is a simple 2 axis turning center and I've already 34 buttons on the panel.

Seems to me, that with the adding the buttons to the limit and homing switches, the power chuck, the tail stock, the parts catcher, lube pump, & coolant pump, I'm WAYYYY over on inputs...

So it occurs to me to ask - Is this normal, or am I overlooking some reason that one doesn't really need to occupy so many I/O spots?

I think I am going to need to find out what card to add to gain more I/O... Sheesh.

Example of what I'm looking at -

And this doesn't even account for the 4 proximity switches and 8 relays for the pneumatic solenoids...

Thoughts? Input? ( no pun intended )

Thanks.

EDIT - just bend your head over to the left since I cannot figure out why it won't come in straight up.

Hi John,

I had originally planned on either touchy or gmoccapy, but will very likely start out with a normal LCD and convert later. I have given the issue some thought, and even with a touch screen, I'm not sure how comfortably "safe" I feel with not having hard, physical buttons for some of these inputs... just for the sake of "what if" and "emergencies". But you have been doing this and doing it well for a while, so I am completely willing to listen to any inputs and reasons you may have!

Thanks.

whilst it's good to have buttons ! mostly for the older generation , try and look at your switches and panels in groups , emergency = hard wired and nothing else !
auxilary use i.e pumps chucks , feedrates etc , now group into catagorys such as 1st use , or secondary .

you'll find you can get the uses sorted into groups , then you'll know which you can use a softswitch or screen button to do , as against real time use such as mpg as a hardware control
hardware buttons cost money , soft buttons cost nothing but time ..

the problem is a panel can become cluttered very quickly , and detract from use because it's complicated
i'm starting to use soft panels in gmoccapy and leave the control panels for mpg and jog , the joy of using soft panels is you can hide buttons not needed in that mode
or if for say the machine needs a position setup , you can switch off and grey out for example a start button , until a specific check is done and correct .

use an additional pendant card for the added switches for the 7i77 their serial and just plug into the smart serial see 7i73 give you gpio and a few more handwheels

cncbasher wrote:

whilst it's good to have buttons ! mostly for the older generation , try and look at your switches and panels in groups , emergency = hard wired and nothing else !
auxilary use i.e pumps chucks , feedrates etc , now group into catagorys such as 1st use , or secondary .

you'll find you can get the uses sorted into groups , then you'll know which you can use a softswitch or screen button to do , as against real time use such as mpg as a hardware control
hardware buttons cost money , soft buttons cost nothing but time ..

the problem is a panel can become cluttered very quickly , and detract from use because it's complicated
i'm starting to use soft panels in gmoccapy and leave the control panels for mpg and jog , the joy of using soft panels is you can hide buttons not needed in that mode
or if for say the machine needs a position setup , you can switch off and grey out for example a start button , until a specific check is done and correct .

use an additional pendant card for the added switches for the 7i77 their serial and just plug into the smart serial see 7i73 give you gpio and a few more handwheels

Dave - thanks so much. Good advice, to be sure. I'll go look at this stuff again and see what I can move around. Obviously, my panel layout is colored and jaded from using Mazaks and Okumas... Maybe I need to learn to think differently... Thanks!

andypugh wrote:

Zahnrad wrote:

Thoughts? Input? ( no pun intended )

That's exactly the sort of thing that the 7i73 is for. It supports matrix-wired switch arrays which can save a lot of IO, and can also handle a few mpgs to save on real encoder counters.
(I actually have a 7i73 _just_ counting one MPG, it was either that or use a resolver as an MPG on my system)

Thanks, Andy. Good to know. Are you referring to the membrane type, or the PC board with actual push buttons? How are you labeling them? I'll go look at a 7i73 right now. I will likely order one to have here anyway, but John and Dave are correct - I found a lot that I can off load into soft keys in the GUI. Thanks.