Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: CAD experiment entry

timgoldstein wrote:

>
> Great to converse with you on the list again. From my lurking over the years I know it is I who have been dormant and not you. I am sure many of the new members don't know about the TREMENDOUS contributions you have made over the years in helping many of us get up to speed on CNC and helping the hobby to become what it is today.
>

Gosh! (blush!) Thanks!

> I believe I have also seen current posts from you on the ECM lists. If you are still active with ECM, I would love to have you update us about where it is at and what is going on. I know I played briefly (all the time I could find) with a CD based install that also let you boot to Linux and try ECM right from the CD without anything installed. Because it was on my backup dev machine I did not have a drive attached so was not sure if it was functional or just to see look and feel?
>
>

Oh, yes, EMC2 is improving by leaps and bounds! A number of
improvements to motion control, number of coordinated axes and other
fundamental things have been completed. They now have a robot at MPM in
Wichita writing EMC2 with a pen. (EMC has always supported robots, but
they are making it easier to set up.) Stuart Stevenson at MPM has a
huge Cincinnatti 5-axis mill that had some millwright problems
when it was installed, so the axes are not exactly orthogonal. Since
the machine is bedded into concrete, that is "hard" to fix. So, he
thought it would be possible to solve the forward and reverse kinematics
of the various orthogonality and straightness errors. He spent some
time working through the geometry, but he now has an incredibly accurate
5-axis machine, it is better than new commercial machines in his shop.
A new feature is a GUI specifically designed for touch screen use.
Something I just added was velocity estimation for my universal PWM
controller, so that the servo PID loop can run wit smoother performance
of the D term. It gets rid of encoder quantization noise that really
trashes the velocity derived from the encoder.

Yes, the "live CD" will operate a real machine, although you can't
easily save the setup file after configuring it for your machine.
There is a "sim" version that allows you to try the GUI, etc. without
needing a real-time OS.

> While Mach3 seems to be getting lots of attention due to it's running on the windows platform, I ran EMC for many years before Mach and know it is very viable controller software with no license cost.

Well, there are other reasons. First, it handles real servos, which is
my "bag". By "real", I mean with the servo loop closed by the PC, so
you can constantly monitor the following error and other performance
details. It handles additional axes with coordinated motion, robots,
hexapods, and other machines with different kinematics. Most Mach
development seems to be in the are of screen sets, who the hell CARES?
Most of the EMC2 development has been in extending the machining
capabilities. Oh, also EMC2 supports rigid tapping, which I now use in
production here. That alone is totally COOL, when you are drilling and
tapping MANY holes. I get these combined drill-taps, so I can spot,
drill and tap in one operation.

The license cost of Mach is totally insignificant. Just buy some
toolholders for a mill or something. But, the responsiveness of the
developers, the ability to add stuff that I need, etc. is what makes the
real difference to me. Well, also, I'm a card-carrying servo bigot, and
nto ashamed of it at all. I just won't feel confident with a stepper
driven metal-cutting machine.

Jon