Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Software for wire EDM control?

Hi Fred, Dan,

Yes, a lot of hobby controllers can do 4 linear axis moves (me too!).
Is that all there is to doing XY & UV? I don't have a good visual model
of foam being cut in this manner.

If the moves can be limited to linear, then this would work. However if
arc are involved, then I think that TWO PAIRS of coordinated arcs must
be calculated (I refined my previous statement a little). Of course, a
bunch of LITTLE line segments instead of arcs would work too! I wonder
if the foam cutters do arcs, or just line segments?

I just saw Dan's Wire EDM pix. Nice hardware Dan! But I'm in no rush,
this NEEDS to JUST be a mental exercise for me at this time. I'm busy
on the new Sherline lathe I just converted to CNC!

Best regards,

Alan KM6VV


IMService wrote:

>
> > Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 16:23:58 -0700
> > From: Alan Marconett KM6VV <KM6VV@...>
> >Subject: Re: Re: Software for wire EDM control?
> >
> >Hi Fred,
> >
> >Thanks for the interesting info. Sounds like a little more then the
> >average hobbyist would do. Foam wings, on the other hand...
> >
>
> Alan
>
> It would actually be an interesting project as it involves some mechanical construction for the wire guides and pulleys, and I would bet that it would not be too tough to write/build something that would backup a thousandth or so out of the hot spot and continue on. I think it would be something like the THC that is being developed for Mach1/2. Just slightly more complicated as the direction would have to be parallel and reverse to the direction of cut, instead of perpendicular. There is no need to back out of the cut, just break the wire with a rapid ( it looks like human hair, blond even as it is usually brass plated.) It may also be possible to detect cutting conditions by the tension of the wire, in addition to current.
>
> I know that Ahha will support 4 linear axes and assume that most other commercial/hobby programs can do it as well. 4 linear is much simpler than 3 linear and a rotary. A servo drive might be in order if you could trick the encoder signals to make the following error go negative or positive by some delta, based on the cutting conditions. With a very little Cam trickery, you could also feed lines to the controller that are just about the size of the machine resolution. G01 X.001, are we there yet? Back up a little and try again.
>
> Best Regards, Fred Smith- IMService