General Configuration Questions

[Chevvron]

Tom,

I have a few questions regarding KMotion and KMotionCNC.
The KFlop and Kanalog are connected to XYZ main axes with an additional AB axes on the end of the Y axis which at present are used in a 3+2 configuration.
The machines are used for cutting free form surfaces.
I did send a picture in a previous post.
The machines does use an existing 3 axis servo controller but the goal is to prove the KFlop and end up with RTCP 5 axis capability.

Channel 0,1,2 = XYZ and channel 4,5 = AB axes.
All axes are encoder input DAC output.
All commands are done through the Console screen at present.
Axes hardware enable is Kanalog bits 144,145,146 for XYZ and 148,149 for AB.
Setbit and clearbit are used for the above hardware enable.
Enableaxis and disableaxis are used for putting the axes into closed loop.
Zero is used to zero axes.

Q1: in configuring a couple of axes I expected setting the Output Channel gain=-1 would reverse the analog output.
It appears to have no effect.
How can you reverse the DAC output in software ?
I have swapped the analog command wires to achieve the reverse at this moment in time.

Q2: with the hardware axis enabled by setbit the axes drift slightly.
I expected that putting 1 or 2 bits in the Output Channel offset would negate this drift.
I appear to get values of 200 in the Analog Status DAC screen when only using 1 or 2 bits.
What is the correct method for setting the drift offset ?

Q3: sending Enableaxis sets a tick in the Enable box for all axes except axis 4, our A axis.
This box gets ticked if you click Move in the Step Response screen otherwise I have to manually tick the Enable box in theAxis screen.
What I am I missing ?

All axes are now set up and tuned through the Step Response screen.
In a Basic 3 Axes KMotionCNC screen XYZ axis the arrow jog buttons move the machine under control.

Q4: the simplest of nc programs, MDI moves or step size jog moves do not move the machine.
What am I missing ?

Q5: in a basic 5 Axes KMotion CNC screen the AB axes are shown in yellow.
How do I assign / enable these axes so they will arrow jog so that they can be used in a 3+2 configuration ?

Once I can do some test cuts to demonstrate the KFlop produces the same surface finish or better as we have now I want to setup the 5 axis simultaneous RTCP functionality.
I am sure we would be prepared to pay for support if you can give me some idea of what degree of help we might require so that the amount of experimentation is minimised.

Regards,
Tim

[TomKerekes]

Hi Tim,

Q1: in configuring a couple of axes I expected setting the Output Channel gain=-1 would reverse the analog output.
It appears to have no effect.
How can you reverse the DAC output in software ?
I have swapped the analog command wires to achieve the reverse at this moment in time.

Output Channel gain should have an effect. It should cause the axis to go unstable (runaway due to positive feedback) unless you also reverse the Input Gain. Maybe you changed the value in a C Program or Screen instead of within KFLOP? You might read this article.

Q2: with the hardware axis enabled by setbit the axes drift slightly.
I expected that putting 1 or 2 bits in the Output Channel offset would negate this drift.
I appear to get values of 200 in the Analog Status DAC screen when only using 1 or 2 bits.
What is the correct method for setting the drift offset ?

Not sure what "putting 1 or 2 bits in the Output Channel offset" means. Output Offset is a numeric value not IO bits. Adusting DAC offset is normally not necessary as the servo corrects for any offset. Please read this article.

Q3: sending Enableaxis sets a tick in the Enable box for all axes except axis 4, our A axis.
This box gets ticked if you click Move in the Step Response screen otherwise I have to manually tick the Enable box in theAxis screen.
What I am I missing ?

Not sure why or what you are doing. Console command or C Program? An Initialization C Program is normally used to enable the axes. The C function for this is 'EnableAxis' not 'Enableaxis". Normally axis 3 would be used for the A axis not 4 unless there are master/slave axes or something otherwise.

Q4: the simplest of nc programs, MDI moves or step size jog moves do not move the machine.
What am I missing ?

Please post your Initialization C Program and your KMotionCNC Tool Setup Screens and describe what happens.

Q5: in a basic 5 Axes KMotion CNC screen the AB axes are shown in yellow.
How do I assign / enable these axes so they will arrow jog so that they can be used in a 3+2 configuration ?

That would indicate they aren't enabled and/or not configured to be in the Coordinate System with DefineCoordSystem6()

[Chevvron]

Tom,
Thanks for the reply.
Your pointers to the correct documentation pages helped.
Also reading the KMotionCNC manual page by page explained the versatile functionality.
Regards,
Tim