Will Mach do spindle orientation?

[KKutt]

I was just over designing in my brain and was wondering if Mach will orient a spindle?????( like for a tool chang or positioning a probe) are there any probing provisions for Mach?

Thanks Gary

[SORCHEROR]

i know people have used it with a probe,to orient your spindle you will need an encoder on the spindle for positon,im sure you can write a macro to do it and for tool changes too,i havnt done it but i know someone has,is this on a machine with tool changer already?

[ger21]

Originally Posted by SORCHEROR i know people have used it with a probe,to orient your spindle you will need an encoder on the spindle for positon,im sure you can write a macro to do it

I don't think it would work with a macro, because I don't think there's any way to command the spindle to a certain position. For a definative answer, ask on the Yahoo support group.

[ger21]

Gary, you do know that you can download a full working version and play around with it, it's just limited to 1000 lines of g-code.

[KKutt]

The machine is in the design stage so it does not yet have a tool changer. I would be interested if someone makes a tool changer for home gamers and if a spindle with an encoder can be controlled to at least stop at a specified position. I don't need to ridgid tap or anything like that. I have downloaded the free version of Mach and did not see anything on spindle orientation. I will check out the Yahoo Forum though.

Thanks for all the help, I am stuck up here in Alaska and will probably end up millng ice sculptures if I ever get this thing going.

[miljnor]

I have played around with a one servo/spindle setup on a bench test and you should be able to get it to line up.

As I could actuate the spindle as a servo or a spindle and if you need orientation you just give it a goto command as a servo and it will get there.

[DennisCNC]

I was at StoneExpo a few weeks ago and there was a large cnc router ~$180K range, that had a air cylinder oriented spindle for the tool holder dog. The spindle would rotate slow the cylinder pushing against a circle with one cut out in it the cylinder jumped in to the slot and wala you have your spinlde oriented.

[miljnor]

Thats a pretty common method of orienting the spindle for a tool change.

[KKutt]

Thanks for the info, air cyliner sounds like a good idea. Will this use a limit switch to kill the slindle when it positions?

[DennisCNC]

I think if you have the motor under very low voltage to rotate it very slow, even if the power is not cut, the motor or drive will not mind

[BobWarfield]

Originally Posted by miljnor I have played around with a one servo/spindle setup on a bench test and you should be able to get it to line up. As I could actuate the spindle as a servo or a spindle and if you need orientation you just give it a goto command as a servo and it will get there.

Michael T., any comments on configuring Mach setup to do this?

Best,

BW

[miljnor]

basicaly you set your spindle up as normal, using step/dir as your output, then you set up a spare axis with the spindle outputs the same as the servo output pins.

I haven't run this on anything other than the bench so be careful!

you will probably have to make a homing macro with your index pulse card being the limit switch for the servo. I haven't looked into doing this yet.

My original intention is to use this method of threading on a lathe spindle, switching between servo and spindle for normal use.

Me and John fettig where playing with this about a year ago and I don't know how far he took it but I went as far as hooking two free floating servos up and seeing if the Mach3 program would error out on me or loose position with a sharpie mark I put on both of the motor shafts.

Everything seamed to work ok but I haven't implemented anything as my other hobbies and work have gotten in the way.