Re: THE BEAST

"Arne Chr.Jorgensen" wrote:

> I don't know anything about the "Beast" - other than what I have seen
> on some of the drawings. I don't know
> what encoders you have, servo amps, motors, - all the thing you would
> hook up too.
>
> I guess it is best that I quit this subject now, I am just going to
> propose something:
>
> Forget lollipops, and see if you have some of the "green stuff". Talk
> to Jon, and see if he would be willing to make you a
> drawing of the project. Send him what you have about encoders and
> servos. He could probably supply you with a full, ready to hook up, -
> package.

Yes, I've been thinking about making up a 'kit' for EMC installation.

Assuming you either have good +/- 10 Volt input servo amps, or are going
to use mine or others, and have good TTL output encoders (either linear
or shaft), then I'd provide all the stuff to 'glue' it all together. Centrally,
there is the emergency-stop logic board, which connects a bunch of stuff
to the Servo-to-Go board and the parallel port, and interfaces it to
the E-stop chain and the opto-22 (compatible) rack for the auxilliaries
(spindle control, coolant, etc.) Also, there would be some 50-pin
ribbon cables with screw-terminal boards to connect the limit (and home)
switches and the encoders. With this, I could also provide a CD-Rom
with all the necessary parts, so you would just follow a script, with a
minimum of choices, to build an RT-Linux system configured for
your computer.

Is anyone interested in such a package? I already have servo boards
designed, as probably everyone know. I also have the 50-pin
screw-terminal boards, which are in use on my system. These can
be seen at http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~jmelson/EMC.html .

I haven't made a PC board for the E-stop and junction board, but
if there is sufficient interest, I could also do that.

I suppose this could also be set up as a solder-it-yourself kit,
as I did with the servo amps, but I was also thinking about making
a completely assembled kit. You would just have to mount the
several major components, plug in the ribbon cables and then
wire up the motors, encoders, limit switches, etc.

Jon