rack & pinion control question

[cambridgecnc]

Steve at pdmx said it would take extra circuitry..I guess try it without the fancy software and if there is a problem just switch... at least I found out no problem running the two Y's Parallel ..cheers

[XLR84x4]

How did you go with your two stepper Y with Winpc-nc.

I have a tangetal cutter using Mach3/smooth stepper. It has been running for two years now and I am not happy with the mach3 tangental control. Tangentail does not work on G0 moves and the look ahead for tangental moves is crap. My machine is T-Belts however I have one servo driving the X with a shaft connect both side of the gantry to the timing belts

So this past week I have been researching the Winpc-nc. It looks good for tangental. One thing I will have to get used to is drawing in dxf and converting to HPGL. I wish to build a large machine simlar to yours using rack and pinion and two steppers for the gantry. I here you about the extra cost for the Pro version with homing for dual steppers. The USB economy version looks really good with clock speeds to 80khz which i take it as the abilty to use faster rapids as the higher clock speed can process step/direction signals quicker.

It would be great to hear of your sucess with your project and to share your build experiences.

[cambridgecnc]

I am getting my router next week . It's a Chinese 48x72 router with dual rack and pinions. I did more research and found a Dutch control board which has dual homing and tangential cutting. It's called usbcnc edingcnc.com the programer is very available for modifications or problems it's a combination boArd and cnc program . Will start putting this all together in a few weeks although I still need to buy my steppers and powersupplies. There is a guy on the board controlling A big router with the board

[XLR84x4]

The board looks good.

The biggest complaint with Mach 3 is that if a new cutting trajectory is different from the the rapid move to get there the >angle for Z lift will be impletmented. Menaing the z will drop first then have to be lifted for the new trajectory.

Also with line segment drawings the A axis works like exact stop not constant velocity.

I have had to redraw plans using arcs as this works the best.

With the edge software, I did read it tangental only works for G1 moves. The same goes for Mach 3.

Seeing the youtube videso of WinPC-NC it looks like the tangentail is great and there is one customer who has designed a cutter with speeds of 1m/sec. THis is quick.

My only concern with Winpc-nc is converting dxf/iges to HGPL. I have yet to do this however it may mean getting familar with a new CAD program.

I would be interest to here where you purchased your chinese table from. I would like a machine 1600mm wide as that is the width of the fabrics we use.

Please keep posting your progress.

[cambridgecnc]

The machine is from Jinan Quick Router company. I should have it in a week and will report back. Thanks Tony

[cambridgecnc]

SO I just got my machine working and very happy with its performance. Also the usbcnc from http://www.edingcnc.com/ is great. The developer is also making changes to the tangential cutting control based on my feedback. I think also the whole software/hardware package seems much more robust than Mach 3.