Spindle orientation - angle movement

[cemoa9]

Hello all,

II just finished retrofit of a Brother 321n with mach3 and a competitor card and am a bit disappointed by the motion planner of mach3.

It seems that Kmotion is much better there with the jerk control, and so I would like to use it for my next retrofit an old Fanuc Robodrill. But there the tool change is a bit tricky, here are the steps :

1) Z axis goes to home position
2) spindle orientates for tool loading / unloading
3) Z axis goes to maximum height and engages umbrella gear
4) spindle rotates a particular angle for each tool pocket, this rotates the umbrella to the desired position
5 ) Z axis goes down by some mm to disengage the umbrella gear
6) spindle orientates for tool loading / unloading
7) Z axis goes down to home position

Spindle would be Step / Dir controlled and the VFD would have a feedback card

Is it something Kflop / Kmotion can perform? I think yes, but I could not find a clear answer, especially on indexing the spindle then performing this accurate angular move.

Cordially

Cemoa9

[TomKerekes]

Hi Cemoa9,

That should be possible assuming the Spindle can be controlled to move in the required manner.

You would need to write a C Program to perform the sequence you describe.

[cemoa9]

Hello Tom,

Thank you for your reply, how would you do it?

Send step dir pulses through any output with setbit sleep resetbit sleep setbit... until Z signal is triggered through one input, then again with a specified amount of pulses until good position is achieved ?

Cordially

Francois

[TomKerekes]

Hi Francois,

KFLOP has 8 Step/Dir Generators so it would be simplest to use one. See here. You could then Home and Move the Spindle like any other axis. To use it as a Spindle you would Jog it at the desired speed. You might also read this.

[cemoa9]

Thank you very much Tom,

Btw, do you know that your name could mean "rounded shape" in Hungarian?

Cordially

Francois

[TomKerekes]

Hi Francois,

Btw, do you know that your name could mean "rounded shape" in Hungarian?

I thought it meant "maker of wheels". Very common name similar to "Smith" in the US.

[cemoa9]

Well now you say it, you are also right, it can also mean maker of wheels.

Anyway, thanks again for you explanations I will purchase the card soon.

Cordially

Francois

[Cgarr]

Not sure on the robodrill but on my Miyano TSV31 as z rises it enters an area of prox sensors, one turned on the air to clear the tool holder then the ATC operation area and the last is the stop for the z height. Not sure about yours? Thought they were similar?

Anyhow I just started researching scrapping my Fanuc 21m and going with the AB 3000 drives to run my AC servos as the Fanuc parts are so expensive now if you can even find them.

I’m going to follow this!!

[cemoa9]

Hello Cgarr,

I guess your Myiano uses a dedicated motor to rotate the umbrella (like my Brother, also retrofitted but with mach3), the old robodrill is using the spindle to rotate the umbrella.

Concerning your old Fanuc, I personnally sold all the old stuff, including axis servos and I will replace them with 12nm steppers in closed loop for x & y and chinese servo and drive for Z, for such small machines, a relatively low max speed (I target 15 000mm/min) will not affect much the cycle time. Selling all the old stuff almost pays 100% of the new stuff (Kflop, VFD, steppers, ...)

Cordially

Francois

[cemoa9]

Hello Tom,

Kflop almost arrived (still at the customs), then I am already trying to figure out the config. One thing which I could not find is how to define differently the inputs outputs of the board (I read in many posts that it can be changed). Specifcally I need to add one homing input (I will have 5 axis, X, Y, Z, A and spindle). Is it also possile to rename them in the IO screen?

Cordially

Francois