Anyone have one of these- Industrial Panel PC http://www.machmotion.com/product_info.php?products_id=64 looks like a great product.

Units like these are OK if using just S/W based systems, but I have found they usually do not allow much or anything in the way of a option card etc, due to lack of slots.
I usually make my own up with an Advantech Single board computer and a back plane to suit what cards I need, Many of their PC boards have LCD interface so you do not need a high end monitor.
Al.

I purchased a Seimens Machine Control panel pc off of ebay for 300 bucks. and multiple LPT, USB, PCI and DIN(?) slots/ports.
runs on XP pro with Mach.

Cheaper option of you have the time to watch The Bay.
peace

I am using one of the machmotion computers on a retrofit I am doing right now. It was perfect for the layout of this machine, 6 axis 2 spindle planer mill with a 40' table and 80' bed.

I am using serial modbus in the computer inclosure for the control panel interface and networking to a Galil card in the control cabinet. This made for a tidy connection between the computer and control cabinet.

The machmotion PC has 4 PCI slots, but the card size would be limited

Here is a pic of the cross rail after installation of ball screws and servo motors. We are about to finish the machanical end and start mounting all the computer stuff.

Darek

There are only 2 PCI slots.

Darek

What software are you using to run the Galil?
Al.

Mach3 has a Galil plugin thanks to Brian!

Darek

I would be interested to know if the software loads code instruction by instruction or loads a card memory block at a time?
Al.

My understanding is the software does the lookahead and feeds the Galil trajectory points through the contour mode (CM). There are alot of advantanges to this compared to converting G code to native Galil code.

Darek


"Ill let Brian tell you the details on the rest, but since I was involved in
the movement routines, Ill explain how we did it.

I dont like a Galil's firmware for CNC work. Its pretty limiting. Only arcs in
one plane, interpolation in only two axis..all stuff that is terrible in keeping
CNC in realtime. SO we break all moves into very tiny time slices and begin a
vector move, then keep refilling it till the move is complete. This removes any
limitation as to # of planes, etc. .Mach3 can do a 6 axis interpolated arc in
the galil with no problem, something not normally possible from what Ive seen.
This allowed us much greater power to keep any movement type we wished, while
respecting the Galils better capabilities such as Scurving, threading and such.
I believe Brian intends to add some sort of script editor to allow you to do
pretty much anything the galil is capable of. Ill likely add a command to send a
script from a button to the Galil so any button can do complex instruction sets
as a user may desire.

The basic move pattern is , however, a 4ms interpolation of the movement
trajectory. (The printer port is a 40us trajectory , the G100, a 1ms
interpolation to 64ms DDA's) the ncPod is a 1ms run point. ) By all reports so
far, its pretty smooth and efficient. We do believe that by adding a simple
scripting capability, the Galil could be used in pretty much any way. As I said,
I dont like the Galil's native firmware, more suited to conveyor belts if you
ask me, but the capability to do the trajectory points does allow it to be used
in a pretty good CNC fashion,
but dont take that to mean Im not impressed with the Galil as a device, its well
designed, well made, powerfull as heck in taking care of motors and IO, a great
device really, I just wasnt impressed with the limitations in terms of movement
algortihms in 6 axis via remote control. (two axis only in an arc, what the heck
is that?), it kinda explained to me all the complaint letters Ive gotten over
time from various users of other software complaining about the performance on a
galil system, its not the software so much as the firmware.. hard to handle in
CNC in terms of flexability , not something Id want to attack in VB code.. But
the plugin structure did allow us to do some things that helped a great deal, we
had no real issue with speed of communications other than a 4ms windows of
movement as opposed to a more desireable 1ms. I think the 4ms window is the
only limitation Im concerned with, the limitation to this type of movement is
that very high speed arcs will show a segmentation of the arc, with some
linearisation of the edges as speed increases. I think I computed it to be about
.1 inch of flats in a fast arc. Not ideal, but something most could live with.
(I mention that only to help you understand fully what we did, and in interest
of full disclosure of any limits we had to impose. ).

Thanks,
Art
www.artofcnc.ca"

Hello
Got a dum novice question.Only retroed 1 machine(stepper motor) and still dont know a whole lot about all the ins and outs of this.Is the Galil cards you are using with Mach for high speed machining so that moves will be smooth?(Not really getting what there for.)And can this card make my Stepper Motor mill a closed loop like a Servo?I am using glass scales as the encoders,and write know i have Rogers encoder board,which is awesome,but not truly closed.Sorry for the rookie question.:stickpoke
Thanks,
Troy