CNCBrain users

[Al_The_Man]

Originally Posted by kmcwhq I -almost- committed to Accroloop 'back in the day' but glad I did not now. dk

Actually I have a mill I am still running with Acromill, they initially developed Acrocut, which was aimed at Gas Plasma cutting or router machines, I have both the software for Acromill and Acrocut.
MG systems and Koike-Aronson used their products for a while.
They had the motion card and they also had the front end s/w to go with it, unfortunately it was not marketed aggressively enough and was slightly ahead of it time for the DIY market.
I was in the process of trying to convince them to provide Lathe s/w when they were taken over by parker, and the guy doing the s/w was gone, AFAIK.
Al..
.

[Larken]

Originally Posted by ad_bfl One very important parameter to me (at least today) is software integration, I need to integrate some computer vision capabilities I have developed via OpenCV into the control front, or the motion controller, depending on the overall architecture that settles out. I keep hoping to find a link that bridges the gap between SmoothStepper and Galil but no luck.

OpenCV, thanks for mentioning that. Thats what i need for a pick and place application i'm working on. I wonder does it support Delphi ?

The problem with smooth stepper, is its just a pulse generator, it needs constant steering from a main program at least 1000 times a second. Its basically a USB interface connected to counters. But its a smart use of 2 main chips.

[ad_bfl]

OpenCV is WONDERFUL, it you need to find the corners and correct orientation of smt pieces or orient on alignment features on the board, it is a great place to start. Buy the OpenCV book and read read the forums.

A friend of mine designs commercial Pick and Place machines, so if you have any questions let me know and I will ping him. One thing I found with my OpenCV work is that you can really make your problem simpler if you do a good job on lighting and optical design.

In my case I spent a lot of time reinventing dark field illumination techniques, so get the optics/illumination correct and optimized for the problem at hand. It is too easy to sit down with a cam and compiler and get quick results with OpenCV (not to mention fun).

SmothStepper is a nice way point between the raw parallel port and a full on system like Galil. I am amazed that there is not any other options out there between the two. You, the smoothstepper guy and Mariss should team up and fix that market hole.

Originally Posted by Larken OpenCV, thanks for mentioning that. Thats what i need for a pick and place application i'm working on. I wonder does it support Delphi ? The problem with smooth stepper, is its just a pulse generator, it needs constant steering from a main program at least 1000 times a second. Its basically a USB interface connected to counters. But its a smart use of 2 main chips.

[Larken]

Does OpenCV handle reading USB cameras too. Where can i get a Small USB camera with 10x mag and cross hairs.

You, the smoothstepper guy and Mariss should team up and fix that market hole.

I try to make a living doing this, developing for the public domain ain't my thing

[ad_bfl]

Yes it does, I bought a logitech $20 640 x 480 usb webcam from a local store, plugged it in and followed one of the code examples. Had it working in less than 30 minutes.

A low resolution camera like this is a good learning tool, since you will be likely instantiating a lot of memory buffers as you preprocess the images, edge recognition, line recognition etc... I am quite amazed at how well a dirt cheap USB camera is working.

Getting a camera with a reticle may be a different story. I have not seen (but never had the need to look) for a reticle webcam.

Here is a place you may want to use for educating yourself on "industrial CCD cameras" and their scary prices:

Cameras - Edmund Optics

Best Regards
Al

[granado]

Any news?

CncBrain – Is it alive or dead?

[Al_The_Man]

Originally Posted by granado Any news? CncBrain – Is it alive or dead?

Dynomotion | Motion Control Boards probably replaces it in features and price?
Al.

[granado]

Yes, but I bought a cncbrain.

Originally Posted by Al_The_Man Dynomotion | Motion Control Boards probably replaces it in features and price? Al.

[Drassk]

The Dynomotion stuff works as advertised, probably better. I've got a 1994 Fadal 4020 retrofitted that will move smoothly at about 3X the factory acceleration, and has no problems feeding accurately even at full rapid. I think you'll really enjoy it, given your background, Al.

[Al_The_Man]

Originally Posted by Drassk The Dynomotion stuff works as advertised, probably better.

Are you using the Mach plug-in or the Dynomotion screens?
I am trying to get up to speed with VB2008 first.
Al.

[Drassk]

I'm using KMotionCNC, the control software that comes with the board. I don't know of any reason to use Mach instead, but I might be missing something.

This is a video of the machine running that I took a long time ago with the table mounted camera (hence why the table isn't moving relative to the camera). I don't have it running at full speed until around 2:30 or so

1/2" cutter,6061-T6, FSAE chain ring - YouTube

1/2" cutter,6061-T6, FSAE chain ring - YouTube