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Thanks a lot for the detailed description and the offer – that's exactly the kind of machine I'd like to test with.

Your setup is actually a very good candidate, even if it's not a classic swiss. A main spindle with its own X/Z, plus a parting slide and a subspindle that need to synchronise for the hand-off, is precisely the situation where a second channel makes sense. Sequential operations are fine – the interesting part is the synchronisation at the hand-off point, and that's what I want to validate on real hardware. Step/dir with glass scale feedback is also a good test case.

Regarding axis names: the 9-letter limit stays as it is inside each channel. Every channel has its own task, interpreter and trajectory planner, so each channel has its own XYZABCUVW namespace. A G-code program running in channel 2 simply uses X, Z and C – the interpreter doesn't need to know about "C2". The names C1/C2, X1/X2 etc. are the global, channel-qualified identifiers used in the configuration, the HAL side and the GUI, so a swiss with C1/X1/Z1 (main) and C2/X2/Z2 (sub) is no problem. In your case the sub would become a real C axis in channel 2 and take part in that channel's trajectory planner, instead of being an extra joint.

Axes are assigned to a channel in the configuration, and the idea is that an axis can be handed over from one channel to another at runtime (e.g. for a transfer move). That part is still being worked on.

No coding needed from your side – I'll prepare a configuration for your machine and walk you through it step by step. To get started, could you send me:
- your current INI and HAL files
- which hardware/FPGA card you use
- a short sketch or photo of the machine layout (main, sub, parting slide)
- a typical part program, especially the parting/hand-off sequence

Then I'll come back with a proposed 2-channel layout and a test plan. I'll also share screenshots and a short video of the current state soon.

@spumco – thank you very much for the offer, I really appreciate it. I'm based in Austria, not in the US. However, I'll be in California from October 17 to November 17. I'm tied up with an important project during that time, but I'd be glad to meet up while I'm there and talk about how we could move forward – whether that's a machine from HGR or another way to get real swiss-type hardware for testing. I know California isn't exactly next door for you, so a video call would work for me as well. Just send me a PM and we'll find a date.

Thanks again – and thanks @tommylight for the support!

Yes, it will be open source. I’m just still finalizing the first proper release before publishing everything.

At the moment I’m integrating a lot of functionality inspired by industrial CNC systems such as Siemens, especially channel synchronization, spindle/axis synchronization and transformations for turning/milling centers, including face and cylindrical surface machining.

Another major part is the simulation system, including material removal, machine visualization and collision/crash detection.

The tool management is also being heavily extended with a proper tool database, sister tools, lifetime monitoring and 3D models of tools and fixtures.

I’d rather release a solid first version with a clean structure and documentation than publish something half-finished. Once that first release is ready, the source will be made available.

The error messages indicate that transaction 1 & 2 are bad but in reality all are bad.
the first register is a single 16 bit register. I would map functions to decimals. looks like it will become 0=off, 1= on
0 000 stop
1 001 run enable
2 010
3 011
4 100 coast stop
You don't have any hal plumbing.
You need to scale the desired speed to be a frequency in hal so S12000 should resolve to 200 Hz (2000 in register) - assuming normal 400 Hz VFD

Thank you very much for investigating this further and for explaining what you found.

You are absolutely right.

With 400 steps/mm and HOME_OFFSET = 6, the corresponding physical home-switch position in the simulator is:

With the previous switch position at 4000 steps (10 mm), the difference is:

which explains almost exactly the offset you observed between AXIS and the simulator.

So this is not a problem in the switch implementation. The important point is that the positions in virtual-io.conf describe physical switch positions in the simulator's step coordinate system, while HOME_OFFSET tells LinuxCNC which machine coordinate corresponds to the home-switch position.

I agree completely that this is not explained clearly enough at the moment. A user should not have to discover this relationship by trial and error.

I will add a clear explanation and an example directly to virtual-io.conf and also make sure the documentation describes the relationship between the virtual switch position, steps/mm and HOME_OFFSET.

Thank you for taking the time to investigate this instead of simply reporting that something was wrong. Your observation identified a real weakness in the documentation, and your explanation makes the intended behavior much clearer.

This kind of feedback is extremely valuable for the project. Thank you.

Material movement won't work in `machine_test`; it is just a simple configuration for testing purposes. In my configuration, I write the following code in the custom qtdragon handler file:

if (hal.component_exists("vismach")) == False:
    c = hal.component("vismach")
    c.newpin("mat_X_min", hal.HAL_FLOAT, hal.HAL_IN)
    c.newpin("mat_Y_min", hal.HAL_FLOAT, hal.HAL_IN)
    c.newpin("mat_Z_min", hal.HAL_FLOAT, hal.HAL_IN)
    c.newpin("mat_X", hal.HAL_FLOAT, hal.HAL_IN)
    c.newpin("mat_Y", hal.HAL_FLOAT, hal.HAL_IN)
    c.newpin("mat_Z", hal.HAL_FLOAT, hal.HAL_IN)
    c.newpin("mat_X_max", hal.HAL_FLOAT, hal.HAL_IN)
    c.newpin("mat_Y_max", hal.HAL_FLOAT, hal.HAL_IN)
    c.newpin("mat_Z_max", hal.HAL_FLOAT, hal.HAL_IN)
    c.newpin("hide-chuck", hal.HAL_BIT, hal.HAL_IN)
    c.newpin("hide-konik", hal.HAL_BIT, hal.HAL_IN)
    c.newpin("os3", hal.HAL_BIT, hal.HAL_IN)
    c.ready()


STATUS.connect('graphics-gcode-properties',lambda w, d: update_gcode_properties(d))
def update_gcode_properties(props):
    if props != None:
        print ("update update_gcode")

        s = linuxcnc.stat()
        s.poll()

        print("MatPoz        :", s.g5x_offset[2])   

        property_names = {
                'x': "X bounds:",'x_zero_rxy':'X @ Zero Rotation:',
                'y': "Y bounds:",'y_zero_rxy':'Y @ Zero Rotation:',
                'z': "Z bounds:",'z_zero_rxy':'Z @ Zero Rotation:',
                'a': "A bounds:", 'b': "B bounds:",
            }
        #print (props)
        X_poz_min = float((props.get('x_zero_rxy').split())[0])
        Y_poz_min = float((props.get('y_zero_rxy').split())[0])
        Z_poz_min = float((props.get('z_zero_rxy').split())[0])
        X_poz = float((props.get('x_zero_rxy').split())[4])
        Y_poz = float((props.get('y_zero_rxy').split())[4])
        Z_poz = float((props.get('z_zero_rxy').split())[4])
        X_poz_max = float((props.get('x_zero_rxy').split())[2])
        Y_poz_max = float((props.get('y_zero_rxy').split())[2])
#        Z_poz_max = float((props.get('z_zero_rxy').split())[2])
        Z_poz_max = (s.g5x_offset[2])

        # G20 -> G21
        if props.get('gcode_units') == 'in':
            X_poz_min *= 25.4
            X_poz *= 25.4
            X_poz_max *= 25.4

            Y_poz_min *= 25.4
            Y_poz *= 25.4
            Y_poz_max *= 25.4

            Z_poz_min *= 25.4
            Z_poz *= 25.4

        print ("mat_X_min =", X_poz_min,"    mat_X_max =", X_poz_max,"    mat_X =", X_poz)
        print ("mat_Y_min =", Y_poz_min,"    mat_Y_max =", Y_poz_max,"    mat_Y =", Y_poz)
        print ("mat_Z_min =", Z_poz_min,"    mat_Z_max =", Z_poz_max,"    mat_Z =", Z_poz)
        hal.set_p("vismach.mat_X_min", X_poz_min)
        hal.set_p("vismach.mat_X", X_poz)
        hal.set_p("vismach.mat_X_max", X_poz_max)
        hal.set_p("vismach.mat_Y_min", Y_poz_min)
        hal.set_p("vismach.mat_Y", Y_poz)
        hal.set_p("vismach.mat_Y_max", Y_poz_max)
        hal.set_p("vismach.mat_Z_min", Z_poz_min)
        hal.set_p("vismach.mat_Z", Z_poz )
        hal.set_p("vismach.mat_Z_max", Z_poz_max)

So, it writes the dimension positions to the HAL pins, and then, in the handler file, it reads the material dimensions from those pins (just like in that commented-out section that constructs the material).

This function is located in the qtdragon handler file because it isn't called within the vismach file itself when launching vismach in a standalone window; however, this approach allows for launching a second (or subsequent) vismach window without issues (e.g., to test with different parameters).

I'm constantly making tweaks—like saving the machined material to an STL file.
If you have any interesting ideas, let me know.
 

Rod, awesome video! I actually understood a lot more of that sample INI file, definitely had mistakes. hopefully now it is better (but seems like not yet good because it is not working completely).
I have attached:
1) mb2hal.hal file, which at the moment only loads mb2hal module
2) mb2hal.ini file
3) modbus.png which shows few hal pins of the mb2hal module. what I find a good sign there is that first transaction for reading the registers seem good, no errors are accumulated there
4) modbus error.png shows the error message in terminal when I started LinuxCNC there, maybe that is helpful for understanding what am I missing
5) VFD manual
6) VFD modbus register map

I have a suspicion that "First element" in mb2hal.ini is not correct because of the values that are reported on hal pins.Values of those hal pins match following settings from VFD: P-01 (max speed) is set to 24000 and P-02 (min speed) is set to 1800 and P-03 accel ramp time and P-04 decel ramp are both 6.0 seconds

And now as I was writing this, I checked - if I change P-04 parameter (decel time) to 7.0 seconds, mb2hal.status.coast_stop.int immediately changes value to 700 and changing P-03 to 5.6 seconds changes mb2hal.status.reset.int to 560 - hooray I have some basic communication going!
I chose those names according to functions of first 4 bits of register 1 that show status of VFD - I thought that they would reflect values of the first 4 bits, but now I see that they are integer type hal pins, so now I am confused which registers am I looking at.

I took the "First element" value of 128 from very bottom of page 36 of VFD manual (section 8.4 "Modbus register map")

Could you please hint me what am I doing wrong? Because from that register map I understand that register 4 holds accel / decel (from modbus register map it seems that it is one value used for both accel and decel but I proved that those are 2 separate values received from VFD) and I am somehow reading that but I do not see in that map any register that shows min and max speed settings. Where do those come from (got curious and checked - hal pin values are updated immediately when I change those settings in VFD)?

And it seems obvious that if the first transaction is not reading the register that I thought it would then other 2 transactions will not write the register that I thought they would and they produce those errors...

Thanks in advance!

I haven't tested 0.1.2, but I think I found the reason for the zeros moving apart.
In a normal machine, zero is counted from the point where the limit switch is actuated, but here the position of the limit switch is apparently set as relative to zero...
In my settings HOME_OFFSET = 6, so limits set Z max must be 2400 and not 4000 as it was.
After this change, the zeros in both windows are in place.
So there's nothing to fix, but some comment in the virtual-io.conf file would be helpful.

fmueller wrote:

[b][b][code][code][code][code][b][url=https://github.com/FredericM88/linuxcnc-sim/releases/tag/v0.1.2][b]Could you try v0.1.2 with the new Phase 3 configuration and see whether the Z offset still occurs on your system?[/b][/url][/b]

[/code][/code][/code][/b][/code][/b]
 

It's late, so I do test v0.1.2 rather tomorrow.
Bellow is what was and I described above.
 

Thanks for the detailed feedback and also for the launcher script!

We haven't had the opportunity to test your script yet, but we will definitely take a closer look at it. Starting LinuxCNC and the simulator together with a single command is a very useful idea.

I went through the three points you mentioned and used them to update the Phase 3 example.

Working area

You were right that the previous working area was much too small for a realistic milling machine example.

The Phase 3 machine now uses:

The virtual limit switches were updated accordingly and are located 1 mm outside the normal working area.

Z homing

I also changed the Z homing as you suggested.

X and Y still home toward their minimum switches, but Z now homes upward toward the maximum/home switch. The Z switch is therefore approached from below with a positive HOME_SEARCH_VEL.

Z offset between AXIS and the simulator

This was the point I was most interested in, so I tried to reproduce it deliberately.

For the test I placed the physical Z home switch at +1 mm and configured:

This means that the physical switch position is intentionally different from the final G53 Z0 position.

I tested the complete homing sequence with LinuxCNC 2.10.0-pre2.

Z approaches the upper switch from below, backs off, performs the slow latch approach and finally moves back to G53 Z0.

After homing, both AXIS and the simulator showed exactly Z0.

I then commanded:

AXIS showed:

and the simulator showed exactly:

at 400 steps/mm.

I also checked the simulator's min/max switch implementation and added an explicit automated test for approaching the Z maximum switch from below, including its hysteresis behavior.

So far I have not been able to reproduce the several-millimeter Z offset you are seeing.

These changes are now included in v0.1.2:

linuxcnc-sim v0.1.2

The complete simulator test suite also passes with the new configuration: 91/91 tests passed.

Could you try v0.1.2 with the new Phase 3 configuration and see whether the Z offset still occurs on your system?

If the offset is still there, could you send me your LinuxCNC .ini and .hal files, and your virtual-io.conf if you changed it?

Then I can reproduce your exact configuration instead of guessing where the difference comes from.

Thanks again for testing the simulator. Your feedback already resulted in several improvements to the example configuration.

I have converted my old vismach to this VTK and i must say that i am impressed with it!
My configuration is only a simple 3 axis machine.
In the attachments, my configuration (vtkvismach is in the config folder) and 3d files (these go in your nc_files folder)

Some pro's for the new VTK implementation, in my opinion:

• Smaller stl from freecad (old vismach you needed to export as .ast, now normal .stl)
• In less lines you can configure your machine.
• Model groups are a real nice way to toggle off machine components you don't want to see during simulation.
• Transparent stock!
• Runs from you config folder stand alone.
• You can start it while your program is already running, or even if your machine is not homed yet.
• Quick switching of the viewing planes.

I found out that (in any case by HUD) that using hal pin's and don't create hal pins with the vtkvismach script makes you able to restart vtkvismach without restarting linuxcnc since you don't create double hal pins. For creating your model this faster.
The pins necessary for my HUD are now created in "custom.hal".
 
Also i added a few extra lines (classes) to vtk_vismach.py, some for my own preferences/use

• ini_work_file:
  ini file reading, i use a ini file in the NC folder to specify my Job, in the ini file you can state your workpiece, raw stock and the work holding. In my example the files are read from the nc_files folder. 
  • Syntax:
    • Product_stl=ini_work_file('WorkpieceModel', 'solidname').database_read(INI_Path_File)
• Polygon:
  enter a polygon solid in Z direction (for example: used for my stock creation from hexbar to round)
  • Syntax:
    • Polygon((comp),x_center, y_center, z_center, length, radius, number_sides, inscribed)
    • number_sides = number of polygon sides
    • inscribed = boolean = if the given radius is: read as inscribed, measured on flats (1) or measured on the points (0).
•  ThreadBox:
  Creates a box of "wiremess" (for example: used for my working area)
  • Syntax:
    • Polygon((comp),xmin, ymin, zmin, xmax, ymax, zmax, radius, sradius)
    • xyz min and max for your corners.
    • radius =  the radius of the ribs.
    • sradius = the radius of the sphers on the corners.
• Small aditions, icon, View_Ori and TextHeightButtons (to keep the screen small with to many model groups).
•  Made parallel the starting option.
•  Changed "show overlay" from radio button to check box
•  CylinderOriented, this function won't work if xystart and xyend are equal. i added some (brute force) logic to check and bypass the used matrix.

 Aciera thanks for providing this nice simulation tool!

I tried this out. Excellent job.
I did not if I move the origin the material stock does not move, even if I rebuild the material. Does this happen for you?

During all this progress we also setup my wife's shop with warm and cold water

and what once was my temporary home is now the shelter for our old sofa and her loom

all that was left was to get sone beer and cake

set up the benches 

and wait in the courtyard by the fire with the dog for the friend to arrive

then it was time for the lathe.

getting here under power and leveled was a bit more challenging. then there was another issue. In the old shop I could have a hoist on a roof beam to change the chucks... here not, so I needed another solution:

An old winch, one multifix mount and a pickup crane did the trick

 

followed by the battery powered shit

and the welding table 

then the first cnc machine was ready to get leveled and under power:

and for the first time since I started setting up this machine it got its two vices mounted:

so it can be used soon hopefully and also I can start working on fully integrate the 4th axis.

 

having the the wall ducts allow also to semi integrate the air lines

then it was time to set everything up beginning with the 3D Printers

manual machines