The Clear path motors are okay but I think the best ones to use
for this would be closed loop steppers! I know stepper and you
want to say NO! but hear me out. The Closed loop steppers are
really a 50 pole AC servo motors. We can read the encoder and use
that data for telling the machine where it is while your teaching
it. Not need for any real fancy drive! We can use a chain to move
the welding head. for all I care and direct drive off the stepper
motor. I have done machines like this in the past this way and
they work slick! The issue with the Clear path is that you will
have inertia mismatch and the motor will not be able to be tuned
properly (I have some here that I can't use for that reason). If
you don't want to use a closed loop stepper we can use a normal
stepper and I can watch the position of some Aux encoders and use
them to look for missed steps and for the teach function. Okay I
think that is me blowing off at the mouth long enough. I am such a
sucker for a cool project LOL
Thanks
Brian
______________________________
Brian Barker
Engineering / Development
ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions
Livermore Falls, Maine (USA)
Webpage:
On 2/21/2022 11:06 AM, Brian Martin
wrote:
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Greeaat!! On my last mill I built I used
Clearpath servos. Is that a good option, or do you have
another favorite?
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Thank-you!
Brian Martin
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Cool, I have a welding bench here and a few welders I can
hook up for testing. I was thinking I would make something
that would mount to my table from weldtables.com . So if you
want to do this don't worry about the software side. We can
read the encoders and use that to program the motion... ALSO I
can move every axis as it is moving to get the machine where
the wield should be.
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Thanks
Brian
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______________________________
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Brian Barker
Engineering / Development
ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions
Livermore Falls, Maine (USA)
Webpage:
On 2/21/2022 10:09 AM, Brian Martin
wrote:
Thanks for the offer Brian. I will? be
looking into the design some more. At this point I only have
a vision. I will try to model what I want in Solidworks, and
figure out the motion/ linear bearing etc.. If the project
goes ahead, I will try to contact you.
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Thank-you!
Brian
Martin
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Hi Brian,
I really love the users we have, you are 100% reading my
mind! I have been dreaming about doing this and have some
ideas. I have most all the code and I have things that you
don't know about that we can use to help you with this
project. If you want to chat about this send me a message
off list and we can talk over the phone. I am in!
Thanks
______________________________
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Brian Barker
Engineering / Development
ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions
Livermore Falls, Maine (USA)
Webpage:
On 2/21/2022 7:45 AM, Brian Martin
wrote:
Good morning, I am looking for some
advice and ideas for a project I am brainstorming. I have
built a couple CNC machines in the past using Mach4/ESS,
so I am comfortable doing it again. Now I am thinking
about building a CNC welder for a production beam welding
job that we do. I would like to control X,Y,&Z plus at
least1 rotary axis for the positioner, possibly up to 4
rotary axis total. Overall travel would be approximately,
144”X, x 48”Y, x 60”Z.
My questions are;
- Has
anybody built something like this, that would have any
experiences to share?
- Is
anyone using Mach4 to run a robotic welder? Good/bad?
- If
Mach4, is there a plugin or wizard or otherwise, that
will allow me to build Gcode by jogging to points
similar to programing a robot? Like a teach function?
I recently purchased a Vectis Cobot
with UR arm, so I am familiar with robotics, but the reach
of the UR arm is limited, not to mention the cost is too
high for this job. I will keep using the Cobot for smaller
intricate parts.
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Thank-you!
Brian
Martin
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