Offering my services and support to CNCzone!

[AjaxCNC]

Hello All,

I represent AjaxCNC. I would just like everyone in this forum know that I will be happy to answer any and all questions related to our controls.

I will also be happy to supply tech support and resources when needed.

I encourage everyone to post their honest opinions and experiences with AjaxCNC!

It is YOUR feedback and support that will continually bring about changes that ensure AjaxCNC will always provide the most powerful, easiest to use Do-It-Yourself CNC Control!

Thank you in advance, and I look forward to hearing from you,

Sincerely,

AjaxCNC

[CNCadmin]

Welcome aboard and thank you for supporting the site!

[HuFlungDung]

Hi AjaxCNC

How much user configurability is there to your systems? It is great to have good clear instructions on how to hook up and get it all running, but what if my ideas for the interface don't match yours? What freedom does the user have?

How does the DOS system compare to the Linux? I'd hate to go back to 8 letter DOS, so does the Linux system run "inside of a Linux window" (by analogy), so that a person at least has a multi-tasking environment to work in to edit, copy and paste, load programs, run a cadcam program etc?

What about using a Galil motion control card with your systems? Is there any compatability?

Thanks for your time to reply.

[ynneb]

Welcome to the forum Ajax, this forum could do with a good scrub up. (Sorry bad joke. Do they sell Ajax in the US? )
Wow a moderator, and only one post to his name, you must be important. I am sure your input will be greatly appreciated.

[HillBilly]

AlaxCNC,

Does your control do a MST (misc. funtion,speed&tool) transfer function to the PLC and then wait for a reply if needed.
This is what I am used to seeing and would make intergration an ease.

BTW, I don't mind sacraficing a computer to do nothing but control the machine if it means I am in control at all times!

Darek Ashburn

[Al_The_Man]

I am interested in what hardware (motion control card/port etc?) is required to interface to the motion control side and the PLC or machine control side, I don't seem to find the details on the web site.

HillBilly, I like that method also, where a strobe signal is sent by the CNC whenever a M,S or T is programmed and the CNC side waits for the Completion or FIN signal to be issued by the PLC. Most of the Major system manufacturers have adopted this method.
Al

[trubleshtr]

Does ajaxcnc build PLC's ??

[Al_The_Man]

I was using the term PLC loosely to refer to the Hardware/software applied to controlling the 'Machine' control side of things.
Al

[AjaxCNC]

Wow, I didn't expect such an immediate response! These are great questions from all of you. I will do my best to answer them all.

Dung, our system can be as flexible as you want in terms of motion control and PLC operations, but we do not offer a generic one for all control! After all, if you have a knee mill, you do NOT need something that will control a Lathe or a garage door opener. You want a control that is designed specifically for a mill, with tried and true features a Mill operator needs. This is why we have different control platforms for different machines including mills, lathes, routers, gear hobbers, plasma, laser, punch, engraving, and ATC machining centers.
Concerning Linux, our OS has true multitasking ability and is much more flexible and stable than the older DOS release, which will be discontinued shortly. And Linux does not have the problems commonly associated with Windows!
As for the Galil motion control card, there is NO compatability. The Galil is an obsolete motion processor. Our motion control cards are much faster, and offer the benefits of digital fiber optic communication, which means faster speeds and 100% immunity to the noise in a manufacturing atmosphere. Try running a TIG welder next to someone elses control and see what happens.

Al & HillBilly, you are correct in the way we process info between the PLC and motion control card, only because of our dual processor design and use of fiber optics, we do it in REAL time. And your right, we do it just like a major control manufacturer, because we license our products from one. Centroid. So we have the backing of a 35 year old company with over 8000 controls in the field running production every day of the week.
And itegration is a breeze because when you get our control it is 100% preprogrammed for YOUR application. There is no guess work. You simply get a control that works!

I hope this helped!

[HillBilly]

AjaxCNC,

Is there a way to exceed the 110Vdc 15A barrier for the bigger machines. This is a good average power for 80-90% of the machines I encounter but every now and then I run into the big horizontal mills that have the 100Vdc 100A motors. On the subject of horizontals can the 4th axis be configured as W.

I was told Ajax had roots with Centroid. BTW, glad to finally talk to you.

Darek

[AjaxCNC]

HillBilly,

Hello. In the case of very large machines and motors, we offer a CNC kit that will interface with a third-party drive such as those made by Advanced Motion Controls (A-M-C). Instead of converting the digital drive signals to analog within the servo drive, we do it externally and then feed that signal to the A-M-C drives. It is a very simple, yet very effective setup.
As for the 4th axis, it can be configured as A, B, W or whatever and control either a linear or rotary axis.

[Al_The_Man]

I would like to get more info/specs etc on the motion card. Is it fitted with machine control i/o ability

Originally posted by AjaxCNC Try running a TIG welder next to someone Else's control and see what happens.

I have used Acroloop and galil in many industrial environments with Plasma cutters etc. which are very noisy and had no noise problems if the ground shielding is done correctly.
Thanks for the info so far.
Al