RugBot 1000

I’m away from my computer for a couple of days but will send a sample as soon as I can. I first started with a system of stopping for each needle punch, lifting, and then moving, and it was too slow and jerky. Also I don’t use a bobbin on the back side so that may make a difference. My stitches are 4.5mm long, I use 250 stitches per minute and don’t have any problems with the continuous movement causing any problems. The fabric gives enough so some lateral needle movement isn’t a problem.

Thank you Badger. Yeah, my main concern about running the needle like a spindle is how it will interact with the hook. I'm guessing it won't tolerate much bending in the y, but the x will be more forgiving. Just have to try it and see.

It would be very helpful if the needle stepper would still count steps - even when it is in spindle mode. Then I could run a subroutine at certain times to get everything back to the top.

It would be very helpful if the needle stepper would still count steps - even when it is in spindle mode.

The stepgen in Linuxcnc still counts steps and calculates position even when in velocity mode. In fact that how many hardware step-generators are controlled.

Attached are a basic .ngc file and the .svg from inkscape that created it. The o100 subroutine at the end of the path uses M102 to rotate the needle motor at a fixed rate until the needle is fully retracted and signal P01 is sensed, and then M101 puts the motor back into velocity control, which is stopped at this point. (signal P01 is triggered with each rotation but is ignored except during the subroutine) Signal P0 is triggered when the punch mechanism is manually retracted and also un-enables the needle motor so it doesn't rotate during the move to the next path. Also there is no Z axis controlled by LCNC but the gcode is easier to leave in place than remove, and doesn't effect anything.

Hope this helps.