Any arduino coders here?

[m_c]

The same, nice machine. Great to hear of someone else with one. Had a manual Shizuoka until recently and that was a good machine too.

I'm guessing your's is working?
I've just got the bare machine minus controller/drives/motors, and am currently at the stripping all the wiring out and figuring out what I need stage. Just waiting for payday, so I can get a Kflop and Kanalog ordered, along with some steppers/drives to start getting it wired up. The Kflop is capable of Modbus, so I'm thinking of using an arduino for the toolchanger control, but that's a job for in a few months time, once the basic machine is running.

[motoxy]

If I wanted to control 4 sets of led's to vary the current from 0 - 12v on each of the lines at predetermined intervals would on of the arduinos do the job...easily?

Bruce

[Zadig]

I'm guessing your's is working?
I've just got the bare machine minus controller/drives/motors, and am currently at the stripping all the wiring out and figuring out what I need stage. Just waiting for payday, so I can get a Kflop and Kanalog ordered, along with some steppers/drives to start getting it wired up. The Kflop is capable of Modbus, so I'm thinking of using an arduino for the toolchanger control, but that's a job for in a few months time, once the basic machine is running.

As it happens we will be building our machines together. I am in much the same state of affairs as you are. I am replacing the steppers with servo's and amps which I have sat here next to me. It sounds like we will be running a parallel course. I have just ripped out all the controls on both the machine and controller, so like you I am starting from scratch. Does your Summit controller have the PLC incorporated or is it like mine and uses a relay matrix?

[motoxy]

If I wanted to control 4 sets of led's to vary the current from 0 - 12v on each of the lines at predetermined intervals would on of the arduinos do the job...easily?

Bruce

After a quick look around i could not believe what a stupid question that was. Its at these times i realize just how old i am.

Granddad Bruce

[m_c]

As it happens we will be building our machines together. I am in much the same state of affairs as you are. I am replacing the steppers with servo's and amps which I have sat here next to me. It sounds like we will be running a parallel course. I have just ripped out all the controls on both the machine and controller, so like you I am starting from scratch. Does your Summit controller have the PLC incorporated or is it like mine and uses a relay matrix?

I've currently got as far as fixing the autolube, which involved disconnected the X-axis ballscrew sliding the table past it's stops, so I now need to get the table back in position, but cold weather is currently putting me off!
I'm opting for high voltage steppers and drivers for now, and closing the loop using the KFlop. I'm not planning on using mine for any major production work, so I'm happy to sacrifice some speed to get it working for less money.

My tool changer has three circuit boards within the tool changer housing, which interfaced to the last controller through a bank of relays in a rear mounted cabinet. My mill had already been retrofitted with a Heidenhain controller, so nobody really knows what it originally had. The last owner only bought it to get the controller and servos, and the remains had sat gathering dust for a good few years.

[Zadig]

There were steppers on my machine when I got it. I have since removed them in order to put the servos on. They were direct drives straight though to the ball screw, no belt gearing, except for the Z axis. I'll be putting the servos through some gearing however. Coincidentally, the lubrication system is my next project and I know what you mean about the weather. I have had my toolchanger working on an arduino and 5V relay bank. It worked well using the tool out, CW, CCW and tool in signals programmed in the controller. Coupling this eventually to Mach 3 is going to be an interesting project. The tool in and tool out phases are simple enough, however it is the tool selection side of it that will take some thinking about. My suspicions are that CuBloc will be more appropriate, but my knowledge is at the end of its travel at this stage.
I take it you have the manual for the toolchanger? If not let me know.

[m_c]

I've got the benefit mine is already set-up for servos, with some rather overengineered brackets/lumps of metal. It took me a while to figure out how to get into the main bearing support for the x-axis, to get the locknut of the end. to slide the table past it's normal travel. I'll take some pictures when I put it back together, but it consists of an extension shaft that extends the screw out about 8", with an additional support block/bearing, which the motor bracket is then attached to, with drive via belt.

I've got some pictures at Matchmaker - a set on Flickr

What autolube is on yours?
Mine has a Bijur TM-5 system. If yours has the same system, you need to hope the quill metering unit isn't blocked, as you need to take the head of to get to it, as it's mounted on the rear. I had to take the head of mine to get it in the workshop, so changing the metering unit wasn't an issue, but I still need to get the head back on, and it's not exactly light. Even with the motor and varispeed off, I can only just lift the main casting myself.

I've got a manual for a Summit toolchanger, but I think it's for a newer version, as the manual is for a changer with a single control board, whereas mine has 3 seperate boards. The tool changing logic isn't that hard. Regarding the tool selection, you just need the arduino to track where the carousel currently is, and calculate the quickest direction to the next tool. Once I get that far, I'm tempted to replace the motor and geneva mechanism with a stepper, and some optical sensors to speed things up.

Have you found a source of tool holders yet?

[Zadig]

Pictures of the servo mountings would be useful. Looking at your pictures on Flickr, I think you have a more advanced model than my own. My own is a Matchmaker and very different to yours in quite a few aspects. Yours seems to be reminiscent of a true Shizuoka CNC unit where as my own is a Matchmaker conversion. I am not too impressed with Matchmaker's workmanship on my machine, although that is no longer an issue as most of it has gone. Luckily my quill lubrication is very visible, so I should have no problems there. Your summit toolchanger is again, radically different to mine, it looks tidier. I have considered losing the ram and replacing it with a stepper and rotary encoder as a substitute for the microswitch and cam system on the top. As you say an Arduino would be good for this type of purpose. I haven't decided whether or not to scrap the geneva mech on the carousel yet, it seems to work quite well on my unit and with a delay programmed into the Arduino code I think it may be OK. Have you had your toolchanger working yet? I had a problem with mine when I first tried to get it to work in maual. I ended up having it in pieces half a dozen time 'till I found the problem. It is quite a neat action that it does and the novelty of it working still amuses me. As for tooling, the Erickson type seems to be reasonably plentyful on Ebay although I have a lot of ISO 40 stuff and may make a new set of claws for it , who knows?

[HankMcSpank]

When I decided I needed to wield power over a 'puter on a chip, I looked at Arduinos for a few nanoseconds (up until the point when I saw the price at which point I projectiled vomited)....I then renewed my cheapskate pledge & went the way of a PIC instead.

[wilfy]

When I decided I needed to wield power over a 'puter on a chip, I looked at Arduinos for a few nanoseconds (up until the point when I saw the price at which point I projectiled vomited)....I then renewed my cheapskate pledge & went the way of a PIC instead.

how can £13.50 (arduino pro mini) be too expensive for a small device with 13 i/o's and access to a growing library of pre-written code that is free to use and amend to suit your needs?