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X6-2200L
Well new machine build is not that accurate, since this is going to be an 'off the shelf' model. I do intend to be doing my own work on the homing, limits and so on.
I sold off my homemade Solsylva machine, looking for something smaller and more accurate. Currently I have an OMIO X6-2200L shipping from china. I have to say the customer service has been excellent, they also agreed to ship me the frame only since I already have some of the components, plus I was looking to build my own control box anyway.
So in the meantime, I have been putting this together, based on a used Schneider 40 x 30cm electrical box I found on eBay:
Attachment 412878
24V cooling fan with filter on RH side, exhaust on rear (box will be offset from wall)
Attachment 412880
2 x PSUs, also the Wantai stepper motor controllers
Attachment 412882
Finally I sourced these buttons from Hong Kong - the logos are printed on acetate using a normal b/w laser printer, then cut up and inserted into the button caps. Drop me a PM if you're interested in having a copy of the logos as a PDF file.
Attachment 412884
I might have some questions on the electronics coming up!
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Re: X6-2200L
Nice. From all the war stories, expect that great customer service to evaporate now that they have your money. I'm still really happy with mine, have done a few mods over the years but it's been a good machine. Looking forward to see what you do with yours!
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Re: X6-2200L
It's here :) Initial impressions are very positive.
Attachment 413782
Haven't done any meaningful testing yet, but it arrived well packaged and with all the bits and pieces. There weren't any assembly instructions but it was relatively easy to figure out what goes where, until I had no bolts left!
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Re: X6-2200L
Some more work on the electronics today...
I built this PCB which will link a wired MPG pendant to a 2nd parallel port on the PC. This gives me 13 inputs and 4 outputs (when the 2nd port is set to use pins 2-8 as INPUT, a Mach3 setting).
Attachment 414408
Thanks to Markus from MarkusMechatronics for some hints and tips on how to build this
CNC MPG Pendant
I made a few changes to his design, but broadly it's similar. All inputs and outputs to the Parallel port are via Schmitt triggers, the 4 outputs also have opto-couplers to provide isolation to other circuits.
The pendant is one of these, there's plenty of these on eBay:
Attachment 414410
The MPG uses 9 of the inputs, so that leaves me 4 more for some of my control buttons, plus the 4 outputs.
So my controller will have this homemade breakout board, an 'off the shelf' breakout board for the stepper drivers plus most of the buttons, limit switches and indicators. There will be another 'homemade' PCB which will interface the control panel to the two breakout boards, though I'm still designing that!
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Re: X6-2200L
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Re: X6-2200L
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Re: X6-2200L
Nice to have room to be able to lay out the control box nice n tidy, rather than jamming it into the omio black box. It's looking good.
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Re: X6-2200L
Before I finish the electronics I wanted to work out the best approach for home/limit switches.
One thing in particular I wanted to try was checking the repeatability of 'hall effect' type switches when used as homing switches, however in reality these need to be positioned so that the metal passes over the top of them sideways rather than head on. I have already proved (don't ask) that they aren't a good option for limit switches when moving on rapids since the machine's inertia causes them moving parts to smash into them. The sensing distance (probably only 2-3mm) isn't enough to allow machine to decelerate.
Attachment 414918
Anyway, I did some tests with a simple GCODE script which zeores the axis using the proximity switch, then moves the gantry 100mm to a dial gauge. I'm pleased to report I got VERY repeatable readings (more or less identical each time) so am happy that these are good option for homing.
This machine comes three very basic switches only, so the plan is:
- microswitch limits on both ends of x and y and upper of z (so 5 in total)
- Hall effect home switches on X, Y and Z (these will be offset say 20mm from the limits of the movement)
- Touch plate sensor for Z tool height. I already have this working via a scripted macro.
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Re: X6-2200L
Sounds very thorough. Personally, I find the microswitches sufficient to find some rough machine zero on startup and then I touch off with a probe on some known datum (usually the workpiece) before cutting; soft limits work pretty well including deceleration to avoid end-of-travel collisions. But if you plan to do repetitive work on a jig or something, being able to home accurately and know that the work offsets you've saved are valid would be pretty handy.
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Re: X6-2200L
Thanks - TBH I never really used soft limits on my previous machine, not sure why! I had micros on each axes (5 of)
I had a quick play with the soft limits using the OMIO. They certainly do the job, however not sure there's any deceleration as such since the machine comes to a rather aprupt stop, plus it definitely loses some some steps since it needs rehoming again to restore the correct positioning (proved with the dial guage!)
Sorry I stand corrected - I need to use the 'slow zone' in the soft limit settings :)
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Re: X6-2200L
Update... I completed this stand/bench in the garage. It's yellow to match my DeWalt tools (sort of!)
Attachment 417270
It will also hold the control box and spindle VFD
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Re: X6-2200L
Also completed this PCB to go in the control box. This has quite a few functions, but essentially will interface between the PC, the breakout boards, the control panel and the home, limits and eStop systems. It will all make sense once I have put it all together!
Attachment 417272
The main components are:
- a 5V DC-DC converter for the other breakout boards (to isolate the PC's 5v/ground from my own)
- an AND logic gate, essentially this will activate the stepper drives when the PC's ENABLE signal is high (from Mach 3), the eStop isn't activated, and the limits aren't activated. There will be a button on the control panel which will enable the limits to be 'jogged off', otherwise you'd be stuck in a constantly disabled state
- 8 channel buffer, this is switched on/off by the output from the AND gate (actually, it has to be inverted since the buffer is enabled when the control input is 'low'. This will be used to switch off various indicators when the machine is 'disabled'
- a load of transistors/resistors to change between the various logic states and also interface between the 24V and 5V levels