Re: Robotics etc

#1 · November 30, 1997, 10:20 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on November 30, 1997, 10:20 pm
Posted by: ArtVandals <ArtVandals@...>

>Is there anybody anybody knows of who produces an interface with or without
>software that can control stepper motors for Macintosh based robotic
>control?
>
>Any pointers welcome. Thanks.
>
>Robert Covington

Robotics is what we do, from a Mac. Mainly large format plotters/cutters,
machine tool and some camera motion control.

We use a controller board from Baldor/Optimised control in the UK which
has an RS 232 interface and will run up to three stepper or servo motors
per card. Cards can be daisy chained. It can either be HPGL controlled
(fairly easy) or MINT which is a basic-like programming language which
can be used for stand alone applications. The version I have used has a
version of this which has a three move buffer so that the card is always
under immediate computer control. This is serious kit, and the price is
not cheap.

We have FB interfaces for all of these.

Power of FB>>

Most of our components are CNC milled by an outside firm. This is
expensive and makes for a long lead time for prototypes. So 2 weeks ago I
bought a cheap taiwanese mill. It took three days to attach stepper
motors etc and another two days to hack some existing code into an
interface to see if it worked. It did.

Now I have a fairly operational system which will allow computer
controlled milling and drilling without the idiocy of reading dials to
find out where the machine is. A drawing is read in from MiniCad and a
moves or holes list generated. This will move the machine to the correcto
coordinates and tell the operator what drill or tap is required. This
STR# list sends one move at a time. For milling, the list is used to
rehearse a tool path so that the path can be correctly ordered. Once
edited, the path can be sent and cut automatically, arcs and circles
included.

The interface is quite nifty with toggled icons (or are they 3D buttons)
for jogging and tool up/down, homing, etc. The program supports five
different configurations, mill, drill, router etc and absolute and
relative moves entered by dialogs.

Some of the code has come from other projects, but the development time
using PG has been incredibly short. I find it difficult to see how anyone
could use FB without PG, and am looking forward to FB 3, which I intend
to have by Christmas.

BTW, I expect Staz will let us antipodeans get this upgrade early so we
don't have to listen to all the US babble about how great the program is,
and have to wait two weeks for our copy.

JC

==========================================================================
John Clark
Aeronaut Automation
30 Kennedy Place Bayview 2104 Australia
Phone: 61 2 99 97 28 42 Fax: 61 2 99 79 56 15
email: ArtVandals@s054.aone.net.au
Visit the web site at <cygnus.uwa.edu.au/~peterh/>
==========================================================================

Posted by: ArtVandals <ArtVandals@...>

>Is there anybody anybody knows of who produces an interface with or without
>software that can control stepper motors for Macintosh based robotic
>control?
>
>Any pointers welcome. Thanks.
>
>Robert Covington

Robotics is what we do, from a Mac. Mainly large format plotters/cutters,
machine tool and some camera motion control.

We use a controller board from Baldor/Optimised control in the UK which
has an RS 232 interface and will run up to three stepper or servo motors
per card. Cards can be daisy chained. It can either be HPGL controlled
(fairly easy) or MINT which is a basic-like programming language which
can be used for stand alone applications. The version I have used has a
version of this which has a three move buffer so that the card is always
under immediate computer control. This is serious kit, and the price is
not cheap.

We have FB interfaces for all of these.

Power of FB>>

Most of our components are CNC milled by an outside firm. This is
expensive and makes for a long lead time for prototypes. So 2 weeks ago I
bought a cheap taiwanese mill. It took three days to attach stepper
motors etc and another two days to hack some existing code into an
interface to see if it worked. It did.

Now I have a fairly operational system which will allow computer
controlled milling and drilling without the idiocy of reading dials to
find out where the machine is. A drawing is read in from MiniCad and a
moves or holes list generated. This will move the machine to the correcto
coordinates and tell the operator what drill or tap is required. This
STR# list sends one move at a time. For milling, the list is used to
rehearse a tool path so that the path can be correctly ordered. Once
edited, the path can be sent and cut automatically, arcs and circles
included.

The interface is quite nifty with toggled icons (or are they 3D buttons)
for jogging and tool up/down, homing, etc. The program supports five
different configurations, mill, drill, router etc and absolute and
relative moves entered by dialogs.

Some of the code has come from other projects, but the development time
using PG has been incredibly short. I find it difficult to see how anyone
could use FB without PG, and am looking forward to FB 3, which I intend
to have by Christmas.

BTW, I expect Staz will let us antipodeans get this upgrade early so we
don't have to listen to all the US babble about how great the program is,
and have to wait two weeks for our copy.

==========================================================================
John Clark
Aeronaut Automation
30 Kennedy Place Bayview 2104 Australia
Phone: 61 2 99 97 28 42 Fax: 61 2 99 79 56 15
email: ArtVandals@s054.aone.net.au
Visit the web site at <cygnus.uwa.edu.au/~peterh/>
==========================================================================