Originally Posted by
MrHorsepower
Hi guys, My big mouth may have gotten me into trouble again. I'm Plant Superintendant for a large manufacturing firm in the Twin Cities. We do A LOT of drilling tapping and countersinking, most of which happens in one of our VMC's. I have been kicking around the idea of building an X-Y gantry table, like a router, that I could hang some pnumatic drilling and tapping heads on, to ease to pressure on the VMC's. I mentioned this to the powers that be and they said "go for it".
I am looking for some recomendations as far as controll goes. I will need an X axis, and 2 Y axis. I will also need to output to approx. 8 relays either directly or through a PLC. I would like to be able to add 2 Z axis in the future.
I've got a pretty good handle on the mechanical part of my design, but I could use some help with the control.
My gantry will wheigh in at about 325lbs when loaded up, however rapid travel is not that important.
Should I buy a control package or piece it together? I would take recomondations either way.
I have the company credit card, so to speak, but I don't want to get foolish with it incase it doesn't increase productivity like I think.
Any help would be great.
Thanks.-Dave