CNCZone System Control Panel (Official???)

[dwalsh62]

Those familiar with a Fadal, DaeWoo and other brand VMC's know what a real control panel looks like and how it operates.

I looked into purchasing one of the GE/Fanuc panels however it would be difficult to integrate because the panel is only a part of the motion control system and the panel alone cost over $9K USD and the complete motion control system was $23K USD excluding software.

I then looked on ebay for a panel thinking I might get one at a reasonable price but they were incomplete systems or non-functional and they still wanted $2.5K+ for them.

I recently found someone on ebay selling a 2-axis CNC control panel for a lathe for $1650.00 plus shipping so I contacted the manufacturer to get the wholesale price for the MILL version of the panel and decided I need another solution when presented with the $1400.00 USD lathe and $2500.00 USD mill panel prices and these were for very basic panels with minimal functionality.

I decided to take a different approach, I thought to myself, it can't be that expensive to produce a complete CNC control system including LCD display that is easy to hook up to any machine by including all the necessary stuff so you only have to connect to encoders, servo/stepper drivers and spindle so I did just that.

I acknowledge the fact that I borrowed a lot of the specifications from 3 different panel makers and found a company manufacturing the circuit boards for one of the panels and here is what I ended up with after discussing the integration of the complete motion system into the panel with them.

1. 5-axis, configurable rotary axis by parameter setting.
2. interpolation mode, positioning, linear, arc and spiral
3. Max traverse speed can reach 30m/min, feedrate can reach 15m/min.
4. rapid override 25%, 50% 100% real-time adjustment
5. feedrate override to 150% in 16 increments.
6. Manual feed override to 150% in 16 increments.
7. MPG feed = 0.001, 0.01 and 0.1mm.
8. MPG mode can select instant stop, complete run
9. single step feedrate = 0.001, 0.01 and 0.1mm.
10. linear, exponential and S acceleration/deceleration optional.
11. support pitch error, backlash, tool length, tool wear and tool nose radius compensation.
12. storage capacity for 400 programs.
13. RS232 and USB bidirectional communication between PLC and PC.
14. editable ladder of PLC to modify logic control functions with online support.
15. 48 inputs and 48 outputs (extendable).
16. Auto/Manual switch by manual interface function.
17. MPG interrupt and step interrupt function can translate running coordinates.
18. rigid/soft taping can be set by parameter.
19. 3-gear shifting function for those using geared spindle drives.
20. rotary, scale, polar coordinates and other cycle functions.
21. easy access to history alarm and operation logs.
22. support for ATC spindles.
23. support G, M, T code and spindle functions.
24. configurable spindle encoder resolution (100-5000p/r)
25. configurable encoder ratio.
26. support E-Stop, over-travel, stored stroke limit, NC ready signal, servo ready signal, MST completion signal, light tree signals, NC alarm, program or operator error, over-travel error, servo system error, connection error, PLC error, storage (ROM AND RAM) error, system self check.
27. 10.4in (640 x 480) color LCD display (standard size).
28. online program edit (fix and continue).
29. support servo and stepper drivers with pulse/direction signals.
30. keyboard layout of DaeWoo VMC (all I had on hand for reference).
31. easily expandable.
32. cost a lot less than $2500.00.

I received the circuit boards and displays to perform the tests and whoever was hired to do the programming did a fantastic job, it connected to my spindle, encoders and steppers drivers and in 20 minutes it was up and running and it seems to perform every bit as good as my DaeWoo once I adjusted some of the settings to match the hardware attached to it.

I basically copied the footprint that Fanuc and GSK use for their panels so it should satisfy just about everyone out there and I am considering releasing the product under the "CNCZone System Control" name unless there is objection to this.

The first completed panel is scheduled to roll off the assembly line by the middle of next week and I'm having it over-nighted with an extra case so I can install one on my mini Fadal and to get some pictured of the finished product because everyone will want to see what it really looks like.

Provided it looks OK and no changes are required to the case it can be in full production within 5 days if there is sufficient interest in the product, I'll offer a 1yr warranty with a price tag (projected) around $1600.00 (might be +/- $100.00).

Now to provide servo motors and drivers, I think the 0.2KW (about 300oz), 0.4KW (about 600oz), 0.6KW (about 900oz) and 1.0KW (about 1600oz) servo motors with encoders will be more than sufficient for just about any application and I think I can arrange kits (driver + servo + cables) at a decent price.

[gearsoup]

oh.
my.
god.

That is beautiful. To be honest, the price tag is very nice. I would think that anyone building a machine for resale would be all over this. On the other hand, most diy-ers entire machine costs around that amount, lol. Interested to see where this leads....

[gearsoup]

Also, what platform is this based on for motion control? I'm assuming it's not a Mach based or any thing like that....

[Al_The_Man]

I also would like more info on the system itself, the OP basically shows the operator panel/MMI.
How is axis interpolation carried out? Off the shelf motion controller or in-house designed?
Are all common G codes already available for Mill and Lathe?
Motor Tuning software?
Analogue drive output?
Is the loop closed back to the controller to allow non-intelligent servo and stepper drives?
I know that symbols can be used language universal, but Personally I prefer word notated P.B.s, especially when there is quite a number on a panel.
But I will be interested in knowing more for sure.
Al.

[dwalsh62]

Originally Posted by gearsoup oh. my. god. That is beautiful. To be honest, the price tag is very nice. I would think that anyone building a machine for resale would be all over this. On the other hand, most diy-ers entire machine costs around that amount, lol. Interested to see where this leads....

I don't expect much, I look at how HUST did here and the only differences is from him you get a mounting case and the auxillary panel with the jog wheel, on/off, start/stop and e-stop buttons and they split the panel into 2 pieces.

I have found that anyone spending less than $1000.00 on the motion control ends up with a machine that is substandard in power and functionality at best.

Four decent power stepper motors are going to run you at least $400.00 and by the time you factor in all the drivers, cables, interface boards you're around $1000.00 and then have to figure out how to make your selection work and most parallel interface boards don't really support home and limit switches properly so getting a decent motion system is unlikely unless you have a good controller and the only one I've used that did support home, limit and tool switches has been replaced by a stripped down version.

I'm working on inexpensive servo kits to make building a machine easy for anyone since I am about to release a mini Fadal mill I designed which will showcase the inexpensive ATC spindle I am manufacturing along with the controller.

Originally Posted by gearsoup Also, what platform is this based on for motion control? I'm assuming it's not a Mach based or any thing like that....

This is a 32bit PLC based motion control system for routers/mills/drills, the software is embedded and configurable to match your hardware form a simple config to a power-house.

I used my files from Mach3 and cut some sample parts with no complicated steps and no, ECM2 or Mach3 aren't required to do anything more than draw up the parts and make gcode files.

Originally Posted by Al_The_Man I also would like more info on the system itself, the OP basically shows the operator panel/MMI. How is axis interpolation carried out? Off the shelf motion controller or in-house designed? Are all common G codes already available for Mill and Lathe? Motor Tuning software? Analogue drive output? Is the loop closed back to the controller to allow non-intelligent servo and stepper drives? I know that symbols can be used language universal, but Personally I prefer word notated P.B.s, especially when there is quite a number on a panel. But I will be interested in knowing more for sure. Al.

For me the biggest issue I see when someone asks such questions is that they aren't really interested in purchasing, they only want to know more about the product for reference material and, sadly enough, I do not have the patience to explain anything in the detail you are requiring, I am committed to 200pcs minimum over the next twelve months and I'm sure I can sell these without too much difficulty based on the offered price alone.

lathe???

I don't own or do anything with lathes so why would I create a motion control system for one?

I guess you could use the 5-axis control on one but I couldn't be of any help with it.

I could have one produced for a lathe if you're willing to cough up the development fees and the product is yours but doubtful I'll do one myself, I'm interested in making my machine development easier and tired of following advice from those less qualified to select and recommend hardware they've never owned or used leaving you with a mess to figure out on your own.

The purpose of this system was to make it as simple as possible for someone to make a machine functional by plugging in drivers (stepper or servo), limit swtches and encoders, configure the hardware and then start using it.

It is supposed to work with limit switches (required) and simple drivers and calulate position based on step signals however, since I have learned my lesson in unattended mode operation, I use encoders for everything now cause the location of the spindle relative to the work is important where accuracy is required and missed steps don't help in that area.

I used off the shelf servo drivers and 400W servo motors with encoders, nothing special or unique about them and have machined tool, 5150 and PEX5 steel.

The product supports a driver that accepts step and dir signals so I don't see any incompatibility issues and yes I did test it with a 4.5A stepper driver with 3A stepper motor and it worked and, I did test out the programmed rotary axis config and watching it step from 0 to 359.999 then next step it was 0 again showed me it works as expected.

Motor tuning software is usually related to servo drives so it doesn't apply to the controller since you usually have an RS232 interface on the driver and software to perform the tuning on better quality drivers however, there are settings for axis configuration which should take care of all crude configurations and I try to configure everything for 1000steps/rev to get accuracy down to 0.0001mm/0.0001in.

With full spindle (and ATC) support I doubt you will have issues making it work for you and whatever the Fanuc, HUST and GSK are using for their spindle control is what is being used in this control panel since the manufacturer of one of these panels is making this one by combining all the features, my machine was up and running in 20 minutes and I tweaked the settings to match the hardware in less than 30 minutes (I was browsing while I entered the data).

If you are in need of full technical support and hand-holding to go along with your panel, you can purchase a panel for $2500.00+ USD (a retail purchase) and you would be entitled to it but since I'm providing this product at what it cost me to get it in my hands I'm not providing much free technical support because it seemed simple enough to get working and it is very doubtful I'll ship anything outside the USA/Canada so I don't have to deal with shipping headaches and people who don't speak or understand english well.

The g and m commands are going to be the same ones supported in most manufacturers panels but I do understand that some manufacturers substitute G01 so you shouldn't have any issues with them and the t and s functions are the same ones used in the Fadal, GSK and HUST panel.

GCODES:

G00 	=	Positioning (rapid traverse)
G01 	=	Linear interpolation(cutting feed)
G02 	=	Circular interpolation CW (clockwise)
G03 	=	Circular interpolation CCW (counterclockwise)
G04 	=	Dwell
G10 	=	Programmable data input
G11 	=	Programmable data input cancel
G12 	=	Stored travel check ON
G13 	=	Stored travel check OFF
G15 	=	Polar coordinates command cancel
G16 	=	Polar coordinates command
G17 	=	XY plane selection
G18 	=	ZX plane selection
G19 	=	YZ plane selection
G20 	=	Input in inch
G21 	=	Input in metric
G22 	=	Inner groove roughing (CCW)
G23 	=	Inner groove roughing (CW)
G24 	=	Inner finishing cycle(CCW)
G25 	=	Inner finishing cycle(CW)
G26 	=	Outer finishing cycle(CCW)
G27 	=	Reference point return check
G28 	=	Reference point return
G29 	=	Return from reference point
G30 	=	Return to 2nd, 3rd, 4th reference point
G31 	=	Skip function
G32 	=	Outer finishing cycle(CW)
G33 	=	Rectangular inner groove roughing(CCW)
G34 	=	Rectangular inner groove roughing (CW)
G35 	=	Rectangular inner groove finishing (CCW)
G36 	=	Rectangular inner groove finishing (CW)
G37 	=	Rectangular outer groove finishing (CCW)
G38 	=	Rectangular outer groove finishing (CW)
G39 	=	Cornering offset arc interpolation
G40 	=	Tool radius compensation cancel
G41 	=	Tool nose radius compensation left
G42 	=	Tool nose radius compensation right
G43 	=	Tool length compensation + (positive direction)
G44 	=	Tool length compensation - (negative	direction)
G49 	=	Tool length compensation cancel
G50 	=	Scale zoom cancel
G51 	=	Scale zoom
G53 	=	Machine tool coordinate system selection
G54 	=	Workpiece coordinate system 1 selection
G55 	=	Workpiece coordinate system 2 selection
G56 	=	Workpiece coordinate system 3 selection
G57 	=	Workpiece coordinate system 4 selection
G58 	=	Workpiece coordinate system 5 selection
G59 	=	Workpiece coordinate system 6 selection
G60 	=	Single direction positioning
G61 	=	Exact stop check mode
G62 	=	Automatic corner override
G63 	=	Tapping mode
G64 	=	Cutting mode
G65 	=	Custom macro simple call
G68 	=	Coordinates rotation
G69 	=	Coordinates rotation cancel
G73 	=	Peck drilling cycle
G74 	=	Counter tapping cycle
G76 	=	Fine boring cycle
G80 	=	Canned cycle cancel
G81 	=	Drilling cycle(spot boring)
G82 	=	Drilling cycle(counter boring)
G83 	=	Peck drilling cycle
G84 	=	Tapping cycle
G85 	=	Boring cycle
G86 	=	Drilling cycle
G87 	=	Back boring cycle
G88 	=	Boring cycle
G89 	=	Boring cycle
G90 	=	Absolute programming
G91 	=	Incremental programming
G92 	=	Coordinate system setting
G94 	=	Per minute feed
G95 	=	Per rev feed
G96 	=	Constant surface speed control（cutting speed）
G97 	=	Constant surface speed control cancel（cutting speed）
G98 	=	Return to initial point in canned cycle
G99 	=	Return to R point in canned cycle

I am already committed to this panel and I can use 4-5 pieces myself, the only reason for offering it at cost is to turn them around quickly and recover my funds otherwise it's sell them for retail pricing and provide full product support.

I did very little of the work, the manufacturer of the product already produces one of the named devices and the features/functionality were my idea so it's not like it's unproven or untested technology.

I managed to configure the panel without a manual (I can read english) and most of the settings I left as default so it wasn't really that complicated although some of the terminology might be a little daunting (I didn't know what a ladder was before I got involved with the panel since my Fadal and DaeWoo were already configured when I got them).

I'll write a nice manual once I get the production panels and spend some time testing all the possible hardware build configs (steppers without encoders etc....) so, it should be easy for the simple person to make it work with little to no knowledge about motion controllers, they will only need to know their purchased hardware and work area information to configure the product to work with them.

[Al_The_Man]

Originally Posted by dwalsh62 . For me the biggest issue I see when someone asks such questions is that they aren't really interested in purchasing, they only want to know more about the product for reference material and, sadly enough, I do not have the patience to explain anything in the detail you are requiring, I am committed to 200pcs minimum over the next twelve months and I'm sure I can sell these without too much difficulty based on the offered price alone. lathe??? I don't own or do anything with lathes so why would I create a motion control system for one?

That's unfortunate as I have an application right now and also I do this for a living.
I just required a bit more information in order to make an informed decision!
Whether it be a Mill or a lathe.
It is only natural for someone to attempt to acquire the necessary information in order to do so.
I tend not to jump in to anything where anyone says 'trust me it works'.
I need a bit more than that when my livelihood depends on it.
Al.

[mactec54]

dwalsh62
There are other controls you should of looked at before you went with this,the system you are looking at is advertised here on the Zone, One of the best systems there are & it's made in the US, The interface is also better than what you have got, with very few buttons needed Soft Servo Systems, Inc. -- S-100M/S-120M/S-140M

[dwalsh62]

Originally Posted by mactec54 dwalsh62 There are other controls you should of looked at before you went with this,the system you are looking at is advertised here on the Zone, One of the best systems there are & it's made in the US, The interface is also better than what you have got, with very few buttons needed Soft Servo Systems, Inc. -- S-100M/S-120M/S-140M

I looked at this before going the route I did, I could not find one picture of the controller, many pictures of stuff running in windows but without seeing a product or a facsimile there's no interest to obtain additional information on it.

It looks like nothing more than a motion system in a PCI card which does not have a control panel so in essence less than I am looking for.

[dwalsh62]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Man That's unfortunate as I have an application right now and also I do this for a living. I just required a bit more information in order to make an informed decision! Whether it be a Mill or a lathe. It is only natural for someone to attempt to acquire the necessary information in order to do so. I tend not to jump in to anything where anyone says 'trust me it works'. I need a bit more than that when my livelihood depends on it. Al.

Support comes at a price, people here want a cheap price for a good quality product, I am offering cheap price for a good quality product.

I'm not trying to push any product on anyone, only making it an available option.

The GSK lathe panel should meet your requirements, it only cost $1400.00 and from what I have been told is good quality.

As I said, I don't own or do anything with lathes so making a lathe panel isn't on the agenda.

[mactec54]

dwalsh62

I have been using a softservo system for 10 years now, it's the most advanced there is in CNC control They are being used by many OEMs, They have a Fax: 781-891-3853 it's in there contact information

The control you have is advertised as LNC control

This guy is also selling the same control as you http://www.cnczone.com/forums/produc...rnization.html

[dwalsh62]

Originally Posted by mactec54 dwalsh62 I have been using a softservo system for 10 years now, it's the most advanced there is in CNC control They are being used by many OEMs, They have a Fax: 781-891-3853 it's in there contact information The control you have is advertised as LNC control This guy is also selling the same control as you http://www.cnczone.com/forums/produc...rnization.html

LNC???

That guy isn't selling the same controller and his prices aren't anywhere near what I'm offering.

I'm not interested in buying a system that doesn't meet my requirements and the softservo system doesn't meet anyone's requirement if they're looking for a "System Control Panel" and the system isn't flexible when you can't use it with a basic no-frills stepper motor + limit switch mill/router.

[mactec54]

dwalsh62

Your MPG Feed = 0.001, 0.01 Normal is 0.0001, 0.001, 0.010

So you are using GSK or have found another one they all look similar