Generic CNC Controller
- willysnowman
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18 Sep 2015 02:28 #62729
by willysnowman
Generic CNC Controller was created by willysnowman
My company does the mechanical design for XYZ Test stages for electronics testing equipment and products. The general premise is move xyz, test, record.
The projects always starts out with a video of a simple Arduino XYZ. It quickly goes to we also need this, this, and this; the Arduino won't work. We then have to wait for a controls engineer to spec a motion control which are always different. There not only becomes confusion as to who is driving the car, I have to learn to drive again.
So,
I want to create a Generic CNC Controller. I would have everything ready just before the drives. I supply drives, motor, and hardware and the machine is moving. They would then call my LinuxCNC programs (from Windows machine). The CNC machine would move and they would get their readings. Repeat.
Size does not matter for the prototype/proof of concept. I want to use a desktop computer and Mesa cards.
After proof of concept, we can possibly look at moving it to a BBB with Machinekit. The products would probably get their own ICs. Both these are not within the scope of this controller.
For the moment, I am also limiting my scope to machine movement and not the data acquisition. But I would like to have a better understanding of what is available.
Thoughts? The bottom line for me is if I can get things to move by myself, I can test faster.
The projects always starts out with a video of a simple Arduino XYZ. It quickly goes to we also need this, this, and this; the Arduino won't work. We then have to wait for a controls engineer to spec a motion control which are always different. There not only becomes confusion as to who is driving the car, I have to learn to drive again.
So,
I want to create a Generic CNC Controller. I would have everything ready just before the drives. I supply drives, motor, and hardware and the machine is moving. They would then call my LinuxCNC programs (from Windows machine). The CNC machine would move and they would get their readings. Repeat.
Size does not matter for the prototype/proof of concept. I want to use a desktop computer and Mesa cards.
After proof of concept, we can possibly look at moving it to a BBB with Machinekit. The products would probably get their own ICs. Both these are not within the scope of this controller.
For the moment, I am also limiting my scope to machine movement and not the data acquisition. But I would like to have a better understanding of what is available.
Thoughts? The bottom line for me is if I can get things to move by myself, I can test faster.
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- tommylight
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18 Sep 2015 06:36 #62732
by tommylight
Replied by tommylight on topic Generic CNC Controller
there are a lot of options depending on what you exactly need. As you describe it, a computer with LCNC and a driver board is all that you need for a stepper setup, or a mesa card or two for the servo setup. Stitches you can attach to the combo driver board or to mesa inputs or even directly to parport if you know how. Some cheap chinese combo drives have a small LCD and some memory so you can teach movement and it will repeat that, but are very limited and practically unusable for anything with more that 3-5 movements.
With Lcnc and some persistence there is a world of what and how can be done, so it absolutely pays off learning Lcnc.
Regards,
Tom
With Lcnc and some persistence there is a world of what and how can be done, so it absolutely pays off learning Lcnc.
Regards,
Tom
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- willysnowman
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18 Sep 2015 08:45 #62735
by willysnowman
That is sort of the thing. I already have lcnc/mesa test machine set up for my mill retrofit. It runs servos, but I am sure I can make one with steppers. I have even read where you can do steppers and servos together.
What has always held me back is the Windows. Their programs are in Windows. I think the VNC will solve this issue. I would just use a separate cheap pc.
Replied by willysnowman on topic Generic CNC Controller
With Lcnc and some persistence there is a world of what and how can be done, so it absolutely pays off learning Lcnc.
That is sort of the thing. I already have lcnc/mesa test machine set up for my mill retrofit. It runs servos, but I am sure I can make one with steppers. I have even read where you can do steppers and servos together.
What has always held me back is the Windows. Their programs are in Windows. I think the VNC will solve this issue. I would just use a separate cheap pc.
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19 Sep 2015 04:45 #62774
by andypugh
I think that this can be done with LinuxCNC. I also think that it can be done without LinuxCNC. Mesa have their own motion control system (Soft DMC, I think), and that might well be worth a look.
As well as the monolithic LinuxCNC application that most people notice, there are all the parts that make it happen, and many of those can run separately. For example it is easy to think of LinuxCNC feeding position commands to unique driver hardware (it does that a lot) but it is also possible to just use the hardware drivers and feed them position commands from your own custom GUIs and code.
All that it takes to move a motor in HAL is for the value of the shared memory location that points to the step generator or PID component to change, and that input value can, in principle, come from anywhere.
Replied by andypugh on topic Generic CNC Controller
I want to create a Generic CNC Controller. I would have everything ready just before the drives. I supply drives, motor, and hardware and the machine is moving. They would then call my LinuxCNC programs (from Windows machine). The CNC machine would move and they would get their readings. Repeat.
I think that this can be done with LinuxCNC. I also think that it can be done without LinuxCNC. Mesa have their own motion control system (Soft DMC, I think), and that might well be worth a look.
As well as the monolithic LinuxCNC application that most people notice, there are all the parts that make it happen, and many of those can run separately. For example it is easy to think of LinuxCNC feeding position commands to unique driver hardware (it does that a lot) but it is also possible to just use the hardware drivers and feed them position commands from your own custom GUIs and code.
All that it takes to move a motor in HAL is for the value of the shared memory location that points to the step generator or PID component to change, and that input value can, in principle, come from anywhere.
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19 Sep 2015 16:16 #62777
by cncbasher
Replied by cncbasher on topic Generic CNC Controller
well lcnc can do all you require in one package , but i'd forget toys such as the beaglebone if you want reliability
stick with a atx mini pc and say mesa controllers and you wont go wrong
as far as remoting just use vnc or design a windows gui , if you are running as a test bench for machining tolerance test then
that has also been done , look at the probe functions etc .
learning one set of software has it's advantages . is that you can change everything to do as you wish from one setup to another
quite quickly as end up with a library of setups to either modify or use again
stick with a atx mini pc and say mesa controllers and you wont go wrong
as far as remoting just use vnc or design a windows gui , if you are running as a test bench for machining tolerance test then
that has also been done , look at the probe functions etc .
learning one set of software has it's advantages . is that you can change everything to do as you wish from one setup to another
quite quickly as end up with a library of setups to either modify or use again
The following user(s) said Thank You: willysnowman
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- willysnowman
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20 Sep 2015 04:35 #62798
by willysnowman
Replied by willysnowman on topic Generic CNC Controller
Thanks for the help! I think it is time to jump in and see if I can swim.
My goal is to just to test motion/controls so no BBB for me. It does give the customer a path forward for their future development. Some of these devices are very small so this quickly gets out of my wheelhouse. I will let the experts handle it.
I do need a new computer as I am currently using my CAD station. I am thinking mini ATX or mini ITX. The mini ITX has some advantages in size and not having to listen to a fan, but not sure it is worth it? I can make the room and will most likely have a fan anyways.
I think this is a mini ATX
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883798414
mini ITX
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138412
www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home...A&is=REG&A=details&Q
Any advice here? I have been confused about the computers and latency so I have not bought one. I don't think it matters as much with the mesa cards.
My goal is to just to test motion/controls so no BBB for me. It does give the customer a path forward for their future development. Some of these devices are very small so this quickly gets out of my wheelhouse. I will let the experts handle it.
I do need a new computer as I am currently using my CAD station. I am thinking mini ATX or mini ITX. The mini ITX has some advantages in size and not having to listen to a fan, but not sure it is worth it? I can make the room and will most likely have a fan anyways.
I think this is a mini ATX
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883798414
mini ITX
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138412
www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home...A&is=REG&A=details&Q
Any advice here? I have been confused about the computers and latency so I have not bought one. I don't think it matters as much with the mesa cards.
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