Reply with QuoteUgh! Well, I messed up the title! That is what I get for posting at 2:30 AM!
Check out my progress on my tool carousel for my AvidCNC PRO60120 / CNCDepot S30C
Hello!
Happy Memorial Day! If you have served, thanks a billion!
I just finished programming my new tool carousel design. It is fully retracting so it doesn't steal space from your work envelope! Huge win there!
It is now speaks ModBus over TCP/IP and like the last version, it is fully self-contained and does NOT require you to sacrifice 2 or even 3 stepper/servo channels. It also has sensors for air pressure so bad things don't happen when you forget to turn on the compressor for the pneumatic drawbar!
It is considerably faster that previous version and I am still running it conservatively so expect times to improve.
Kits will be ready soon!
Enjoy!
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Re: Check out my progress on my tool carousel for my AvidCNC PRO60120 / CNCDepot S30C
Ugh! Well, I messed up the title! That is what I get for posting at 2:30 AM!
Re: Check out my progress on my tool carousel for my AvidCNC PRO60120 / CNCDepot S30C
Here is the tool change with the dust shoe. You can set certain tools to not use the dust shoe and you can disable/enable it completely if need be with an M code as well as put it on and take it off using an M code. But the changer is smart with a sensor so it will know where the brush is and not break it.
The dust shoe "rack" is cheap because I have the extended gantry. Just some 1/4" sheet. I can make a retractable rack and probably will. I might even make a carousel with different sized brushes on it. The sky is the limit when you make this stuff yourself.
Re: Check out my progress on my tool carousel for my AvidCNC PRO60120 / CNCDepot S30C
Looks great!
Re: Check out my progress on my tool carousel for my AvidCNC PRO60120 / CNCDepot S30C
Very impressive!
Re: Check out my progress on my tool carousel for my AvidCNC PRO60120 / CNCDepot S30C
Well, I finally melted my plastic dust shoe! I knew I would eventually. Plan A was the $10 printed plastic dust shoe and by sliding to a clamp for removal. So on to Plan B... see images below.
Everything in blue will be 3D printed (preferably in PETG) and Gorilla Glued together so no supports required. It will use the cuttable McMaster-Carr brushes found here; https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/128/1475
Everything in yellow will be 0.25" steel plate. This will be very specific to the AvidCNC 12" ball screw axis. Also, my machine is 2019 and I noticed they changed the spindle mounts again so this is just a "beta" design. The yellow parts are being cut and powder coating this coming week so stay tuned!
My only issue is the vacuum hose. I might need better management of the hose line so that part is in flux.
I am installing the slide out tool measuring feature this weekend. The powder coating turned out fantastic and the yellow is much brighter than in these images. Yay!
Last edited by subnoize; 06-11-2022 at 03:09 AM. Reason: extra info
Re: Check out my progress on my tool carousel for my AvidCNC PRO60120 / CNCDepot S30C
I'm looking at a setup similar to yours and I was wondering if I could use an extended gantry for a dust shoe parking spot. Good to know its an option.
Any info you have about the control system for your tool changer would be appreciated. I was thinking of doing a retractable linear style magazine and the control system was one thing I hadn't gotten into yet.
Re: Check out my progress on my tool carousel for my AvidCNC PRO60120 / CNCDepot S30C
My system only had 6 channels and they were all taken. I couldn't add any more axis and that is actually how all OEM tool magazines and carousels work. They are essentially just another set of axis and sensors. They move with the same Gcode everything else.Originally Posted by Tmoney2007
On my system though I had to create a separate controller for the tool changer. I guess I could have just used GRBL and gone that route. The $5 route as I look to put it. I instead choose to use Teknics SDSK motors and their ClearCore MCU. I ended up making my own ModBus server and controlling the motors directly. Then there are all of the sensors so thing don't break....
I have removed the rack on the extended gantry as its a real bear. It is also terribly slow and very error prone. If the operation takes longer than doing it manually, what have you achieved?
Then if something happens to the shoe and its not straight (a tilt up from the cut material knocks the shoe out of alignment) the CNC can't see those sorts of things. Next thing you know you are breaking spindles and bending metal. My new dust shoe is a lot more expensive but the theory is on and off is 1/10th of a second as oppose to 20 seconds on and 8 seconds off. And I can see it has moved to a safe position before proceeding to the next step.
As you can tell, lots going on there. Lots of things to think about. If you don't have the channels in your controller, see if you can add them. If you are out of space and out of ports then you should just mount the tools on posts or find a kit or OEM that makes one for you. None of that existed for my machine which is why 3 years later and lots of broken parts and bent metal later I am starting to loosen my death grip on the emergency stop button
Re: Check out my progress on my tool carousel for my AvidCNC PRO60120 / CNCDepot S30C
I'll be watching to see how your dust boot works out. I think their plug and play electronics setup has a port open on the ethernet smooth stepper. Sounds like your advice would be to find an appropriate breakout board and use that for my tool changer/dust boot needs.
Re: Check out my progress on my tool carousel for my AvidCNC PRO60120 / CNCDepot S30C
Oh, if you can keep everything internal to the controller, by all means do so! Otherwise you are up to your eyeballs in C/C++ and embedded systems. Lol! My kind of place...
Re: Check out my progress on my tool carousel for my AvidCNC PRO60120 / CNCDepot S30C
So you implemented gcode capabilities to your clearcore? I was looking to do the same so it can act as my controller for the SDSK motors I got, but unfortunately I do not have the C++ skills to do this task. If that is the case I would love to see how you went about doing it!
Re: Check out my progress on my tool carousel for my AvidCNC PRO60120 / CNCDepot S30C
Actually, there is a project called Grbl which is the core from LinuxCNC ported to Arduino.
Grbl is the mother of all 3D printers. Marlin and the rest of them are either forks or borrow heavily from that project.
https://github.com/gnea/grbl
You can find help in porting here;
https://github.com/grblHAL
I was doing too much rewriting code and it was simpler to just do the direct control instead which is why I put that on ice. I will eventually come back around but that 4 motor limit just makes it a "see I can do it" project and not something I can monetize.
C is your language for embedded stuff. C++ is cool and all but everything is mostly C.
That said, Rust is pretty darn cool. Turning a full Raspberry Pi into a giant Arduino is a really neat feature. Operating systems tend to do what they want when they want, not what you need.
I am slowly angling towards doing Rust on the ClearCore. It is possible but I haven't done it yet.
Last edited by subnoize; 09-29-2022 at 12:30 PM. Reason: typo
Re: Check out my progress on my tool carousel for my AvidCNC PRO60120 / CNCDepot S30C
How has that S30C spindle performed for you over the years? What do you reckon was the highest load application you've performed with it?
You cannot reach full capacity of a S30C using AvidCNC machines. They simply lack the rigidity required. So I cut to what is tolerable for the machine, not the spindle.
My spindle went into operation in November 2019 and has only stalled once (my fault). I am probably lighter than typical usage though.
