Automatically shut off air in Gcode..

[cropwell]

I believe the pulsing can be handled by the brain too, so you needn't use an Arduino for that if you didn't want..


I've been considering doing the same for my vacuum cleaner as well actually.. but it's a big load to be switching on and off frequently/quickly and I'm not sure I like the idea of turning on & off a lot during a job.. I guess we wouldn't know until we tried it... I suppose a vacuum cleaner is designed to be able to handle fast switch on/offs.. and if there's any adverse effects to cnc control signals then, it's all fixable.. where there's a will!
Anyone have experience of doing this?

My idea of using an arduino is so that I can set the pulse/space ratio externally, on the fly. The arduino is also going to be used to control the coolant pump for the spindle and display spindle temperature (and probably anything else I can think of !)

I am unhappy about running an ordinary workshop vac for long periods. When the filter gets blocked with fine dust, the airflow, which is also used to cool the motor, drastically reduces. I tried making my own dust separator, but that was a limited success , so I have ordered a cyclone to make a decent one. I have the ash can from the previous attempt.

Again I have to thank Jazz for leading me to the Artsoft Mach3 video tutorials at http://www.machsupport.com/videos/ they are a valuable resource and I shall go through them. Probably a good idea for any Mach3 user to watch a relevant video before asking dumb questions on the forum (been there, done that !)

Happy Sunday,

Rob

[d4cnc]

Ah yes the dust commander I use is great. I opened up the vacuum cleaner yesterday and there was not a speck of dust in there. It was like new.. quite amazing.


When I get a chance tomorrow, I'll hook a scope up to some control signals while turning the vac on & off to see if there's any noise issues with doing it.. if not, I think I'll add that to a brain as well. Should cut down on heat in my enclosure a little..