Camsoft with Galil Basic Configuration Settings for 3 axes servo set up

[Arul prakash]

I'm new to Camsoft. I have installed CNC professional software, AS3000, softwares. I have Galil card DMC-1866.

Right now i have connected the Galil card to my 3 servo drives (in torque mode) to XYZ axes.

I first developed the cnc settings with camsoft setup wizard giving the motor setup to servo. axes=3; card = galil; 7= 1866 card; Then I have saved the setup and opened the CNC control.

Whenever i opened cnc control with servo motors and drives on with amp enable. The software takes huge time to get loaded. In othercase, if the system is off, the software loads very fastly.

Next upon loading, the software gives up the pop-up message motor 3 is off.

No jogging can be performed from the software, no tuning is happening,

Whenever i go into diagnostic window, and do the why i'm not moving, in the status bar i'm getting the response as motor off. Then i gave the command MOTOR ON; from the command bar. then also the motor is not moving....

BUT, if i use galil DMCSmartterm software; and give SERVO HERE XYZ; and jog command the motion starts and stops whenever i stop.

Somebody Kindly give me a solution for this.....

[Karl_T]

Your galil card is set to start with the servos in the motor off state. Good thing. Prevents nasty things from happening while the computer is loading.

Find the file startup.fil and add this line:

COMMAND SH

This will turn the sevos on.


I have no clue why your computer would have trouble loading the software. But I do think you should always force everything to stay off until your control is fully loaded and operational. I just covered this in a recent thread, don't enable your Estop circuit until the control is up and running.

Karl

[Arul prakash]

Thank you Mr.karl, your advice works great.....

But, now i held in other problem.. where the amplifier tuning test in diagnostic screen...

i have tuned my servo through autotuning procedure with my PANASONIC servo drive... and have adjusted the voltage offset also to avoid drift... whatever i do there is a slight oscilation is been observed in the motor.... and with that when i do my AMP TUNING TEST with camsoft... it is giving the following error" basic amplifier tuning failed..." look for the logfile....

Can you suggest me to solve this issue... to proceed further...

Thank you once again... for you kindly help!!!!

[Karl_T]

Servo amp tuning is not my expertise...

That said, I've had better luck working with servo tuning by going directly to the Galil software and using their servo tuning package. My version is called WSDK. I think they have a new one out. The Galil bulletin board on their web site is a great source of info for servo tuning.

Karl

[Arul prakash]

Dear karl,
Thank you for suggesting me the WSDK, it was working really well. Now, i stuck with the encoder ratio value changing during the execution of my cnc setup.
When i saw the command list of CAMSOFT, i got two ways in which i can change my encoder ratio values, 1.SETUP command(but can be used only once) 2. RATIO variable;varb;varb (but this is not working out for me)



For my application the encoder pulse for 1 mm will be changing from part to part, so, i require to change before the execution of the G CODE PROGRAM

Kindly give me a suitable solution for doing this.....

[Karl_T]

For my application the encoder pulse for 1 mm will be changing from part to part, so, i require to change before the execution of the G CODE PROGRAM

Kindly give me a suitable solution for doing this.....

Most unusual application... That's the beauty of Camsoft, you can easily customise for special needs. How about a custom Gcode? Use any unused code, say G102 and an unused parameter, say E. Then to change to encoder of 4000:

G102 E4000 (in your gcode program)



Here's the idea for G102

SETUP 7;0;e;0;10;0;64;N
----G102

Or do it with an M code, user button, and QUESTION command. Lots a ways.

Karl



SETUP
Enables you to define the parameters of an axis beyond the six that can be defined through the DESIGN.INI file using the CNCSETUP program. It also enables you to redefine axes 1 through 8. There is no need to use the SETUP program on axes 1 through 8 unless you have a specific need to change it after the program begins. You may individually define any axis from 1 through 8 with this command. The SETUP command only needs to be issued once. Its function is to define an axis for use with the POSITION command or to define how the spindle works. The last parameter in this command is either a Y or an N. The Y parameter defines axis coordination among all the original axes and the N parameter disables axis coordination among all the original axes. Refer to the explanations described in the On-line Help for details relating to the legal parameter values given here. The information is the same. The example below sets up the 7th axis as a servo motor type (0) with a ratio of 4000 counts per inch, a standard quadrature encoder type (0) using the proportional gain of 10, integral constant of 0 and then a derivative gain of 64. (Refer to the SERVOSTEP, RATIO, PROPRO, INTEG and DERIV settings in the CARD.INI file for other options.)
EXAMPLE: SETUP 7;0;4000;0;10;0;64;N

[Farmers Machine]

Are you using windows XP, or Vista or new windows 7?
I switched my gantry torch from pos Vista to XP and all of the stupid stuff you are describing went away. was able to cut 180 parts with no glitch or re boot. My 2 cents worth, IF YOU DONT HAVE XP, THEN GET XP AND QUIT PULLING YOUR HAIR OUT!!!!!!!
Good luck
The Farmer
PS:
Ernie at CamSoft said to do this last year. I should have listened a little beter.

[Karl_T]

Are you using windows XP, or Vista or new windows 7?
I switched my gantry torch from pos Vista to XP and all of the stupid stuff you are describing went away. was able to cut 180 parts with no glitch or re boot. My 2 cents worth, IF YOU DONT HAVE XP, THEN GET XP AND QUIT PULLING YOUR HAIR OUT!!!!!!!
Good luck
The Farmer
PS:
Ernie at CamSoft said to do this last year. I should have listened a little beter.

I'll go a step further and recommend XP SP1 (service pack 1) The SP2 and SP3 just add bloatware to slow your machine down. Don't install much other software on your control computer, especially NO VIRUS software. Because of this, don't connect directly to the internet. My machines are networked so I use something called MAC ID filtering on the router.

I've got superstitious on computers. I now only use HP / Compact with a P4 running about 2.4 to 3.0 MHz (cheap on eBay). Had trouble with an old AMD box and again with a quad core cpu. I'm sure others work but I'm not experimenting.

Karl

[Arul prakash]

your idea was helpfull, but the same this I tried earlier also, it didn;t work, later in the setup command the last letter i changed to Y inspite of N, then it got worked...

Thank you very much...

Now, i have an other problem, where i have opened a sample job file, it is a square of 50X50, I'm right now using a xyz gantry type system, when i execute the cycle, i could see that my x axis is moving to 50 mm and stops then y is moving to 50mm then both the axes stalls there itself and no further motion..... If i press ESC key, it is asking for a question where you cancel the path/ continue / go back...

I have checked my G code.FIL; where G01 --- it is GO x;y;z
Destination control setting like the slowdown - 100%, Nextmove - 5 , blend - 0

Most unusual application... That's the beauty of Camsoft, you can easily customise for special needs. How about a custom Gcode? Use any unused code, say G102 and an unused parameter, say E. Then to change to encoder of 4000:

G102 E4000 (in your gcode program)



Here's the idea for G102

SETUP 7;0;e;0;10;0;64;N
----G102

Or do it with an M code, user button, and QUESTION command. Lots a ways.

Karl



SETUP
Enables you to define the parameters of an axis beyond the six that can be defined through the DESIGN.INI file using the CNCSETUP program. It also enables you to redefine axes 1 through 8. There is no need to use the SETUP program on axes 1 through 8 unless you have a specific need to change it after the program begins. You may individually define any axis from 1 through 8 with this command. The SETUP command only needs to be issued once. Its function is to define an axis for use with the POSITION command or to define how the spindle works. The last parameter in this command is either a Y or an N. The Y parameter defines axis coordination among all the original axes and the N parameter disables axis coordination among all the original axes. Refer to the explanations described in the On-line Help for details relating to the legal parameter values given here. The information is the same. The example below sets up the 7th axis as a servo motor type (0) with a ratio of 4000 counts per inch, a standard quadrature encoder type (0) using the proportional gain of 10, integral constant of 0 and then a derivative gain of 64. (Refer to the SERVOSTEP, RATIO, PROPRO, INTEG and DERIV settings in the CARD.INI file for other options.)
EXAMPLE: SETUP 7;0;4000;0;10;0;64;N

[davesnd]

Sounds to me like you haven't reached target position with the second axis you moved - could there be a mechanical reason for this causing it to jam up? Also you could try entering a larger number in the tolerance box in CNCsetup and see if that solves it. I have the galiltools servo tuning software and that solved all kinds of problems for me using the autotune in galiltools and then entering the values that gives into the P,I&D boxes in CNCsetup.

[Arul prakash]

I'll go a step further and recommend XP SP1 (service pack 1) The SP2 and SP3 just add bloatware to slow your machine down. Don't install much other software on your control computer, especially NO VIRUS software. Because of this, don't connect directly to the internet. My machines are networked so I use something called MAC ID filtering on the router.

I've got superstitious on computers. I now only use HP / Compact with a P4 running about 2.4 to 3.0 MHz (cheap on eBay). Had trouble with an old AMD box and again with a quad core cpu. I'm sure others work but I'm not experimenting.

Karl

Hello Mr. karl,

With you help i have come a long way with my machine with camsoft, but here i stuck with a problem.
I want to fire my laser beam, while the machine is running, exactly at the position i define.
(i.e) the vector speed will be constant, fire the laser beam exactly at the vector position.
Please help me in achieving it........

[Karl_T]

Hello Mr. karl,

With you help i have come a long way with my machine with camsoft, but here i stuck with a problem.
I want to fire my laser beam, while the machine is running, exactly at the position i define.
(i.e) the vector speed will be constant, fire the laser beam exactly at the vector position.
Please help me in achieving it........

If I understand correctly, you want to move a small distance, then turn your laser on while at constant speed. perhaps the easiest way would be to make an Mcode to turn laser on, say M3. Then write Gcode like this to turn on the laser after 1mm on a 5 mm move:

G0 X0 Y0
G1 X1 F1
M3
G1 X5

The first G1 starts motion, the M3 turns on laser, the second G1 will continue motion with the Laser now on.

Or, like always, there are lots of ways in Camsoft. There is a DISTOGO function. We could make a custom Gcode that says turn the laser on U distance from end of move. Replace the first Gcode above with:
G101 X5 U4 F1

In your G101 code have a tight loop checking for DISTOGO. Turn laser on when its under the u value (NOTE small u is not a typo. U specifies the value of variable u)

Karl