Self-made Indexer

[mebe90]

Hi all,

a friend of mine has a few HAAS-Mills and Lathes.
One day he asked me to design a little interface for him
to build a Index-Axis (C-axis for him).

This is what i did. It's not working yet because he hasn't
done the mechanics. The circuit i built is able to communicate
with the Computer of any HAAS-Mill over the RS232-port.
If my interface now is connected to a stepper- or servo-driver
and the motor is driving a rotary-table, the result is a low-cost
rotary indexer.

The interface supports some features like zeroing or ratio configuration
via RS232.

In a "CNC-program" the axis built with the interface can be acessed
like a original Indexer from HAAS.

You probably have some ideas, questions or suggestions.

I would like if I should make a little serie of interfaces to sell?
The costs for one interface are about 45$. Anyone interested?

[hercules]

Originally Posted by mebe90 ? ... Anyone interested?

Yes

[MMTechi]

I would also be interested. How far are you along with a working interface?
Would this only signal/initiate a positional index or does it do more? Will this work with just the available user m-codes or do other options have to be turned on?

Thanks, I hope you move forward with this.

[mebe90]

If you mean to give the circuit a signal then the axis turns with "signal/initiate" then, NO.

The axis will be controlled over usual G-Code.
If it is installed as a C-axis and you want to move 45 degrees you type a "C45".

I once set up the axis on the Mill of my colleague. You just have to set the machine parameter which gives the number of axis. It's really simple.

The axis ist not a full axis which means it is not a simultaneous axis.
The Machine stops and waits until the axis has reached the position given.
My little control unit has also an additional output for a brake.

I developed the hardware and will order some pcbs in few days from china.
After that I have to assemble and I also have to write a software.
I hope my colleague will shortly do the mechanics.
I will probably test the circuit without a complete mechanics but a simple servo motor.

[Cobbled Tagethr]

I posted this in controllers

We're working on building a indexing rig on the 4th axis for a Haas VF-1 and would like to know if anyone has heard of a servo driver, or as a package, that takes Haas outputs directly?

Are you still offering them?