Camsoft Integration

[HillBilly]

The main purpose of this topic is to inform a fist time buyer of CamSoft the time it will take to tailor this control without a proven CBK. From my experience the time it took me to integrate this control to a machine,
All first installation comments are welcomed.

Darek Ashburn

[HuFlungDung]

Darek,

I think it is good to give users fair warning. But, I do not think it is fair to call it an inferior control. Any system that is truly open to application to any machine out there, is not going to have all permutations of hookups worked out in advance.

However, having said that, I do believe that the focus needs to be on Camsoft maintaining a large library of good "cbk's" that have worked successfully. If you buy a seat of Camsoft, you are entitled to a single proven cbk that had good safety interlocks in logic, and works similarly to commercial cnc's. This should help users get off to a running start.

I also have the notion that a machine controller running in windows may have inherent handicaps that will never be overcome, due to the way the OS works. The more advanced the OS, the less hardware control you have. Whether this can be solved is something I do not know. I have heard that there is far greater potential for a Linux based controller to work properly, perhaps even without a motion controller card. I'd like to hear discussion on this aspect, too.

[HillBilly]

Hu,

This was a personal opinion and I will admit I am biased after LMA on these jobs. ( this refers to losing something )
My opinion is also influenced by original control performance. I noticed operators that had never worked with commercial CNC's took to these systems better.

Darek

[Al_The_Man]

Originally posted by HuFlungDung I also have the notion that a machine controller running in windows may have inherent handicaps that will never be overcome, due to the way the OS works. The more advanced the OS, the less hardware control you have.

HU, There some exceptions to this, Siemens, Fanuc, Mitsubishi,Cincinnati all have PC based controllers working fine under NT. There is another one coming out shortly that is aimed at the retro-fit market, I will be using an initial version hopefully in an upcoming retrofit and will post the results, it look very promising at this point.
Al

[HillBilly]

I too thought the same about Windows, In this area the Mazak PC Fusion has been penned PC Confusion. Then I downloaded a demo copy of Master 5 and ran my MaxNC open loop system on it. Continous motion from multiple G1 moves right from the printer port all software generated. This started to change my way of thinking. Looking forward to seeing what's up Al, from your post I can tell you know what you are talking about.

Darek