Wondering if anyone has any recommendations on how to control a 6 axis cnc machine and a 5 axis cnc machine from a single computer.
I am developing a cnc system that is comprised of a 6 axis machine and a 5 axis machine. It is not necessary for all 11 axes of the system to be synchronized, but the axes of each individual cnc machine (i.e. the 6 axis and 5 axis machines) do need to be synchronized. One machine will finish an operation before the other machine will be commanded to perform the next operation. The two machines do not need to operate simultaneously.
Up to this point I have been using Mach 3 for each individual machine. My current thought is to run two instances of Mach 3 on a computer and develop a script that will sequentially send the g-code to each instance of Mach 3. If I can't run two instances of Mach 3 on a current computer was thinking of running a single instance of Mach 3 on two computers and using a third computer to send the g-code to each instance of Mach 3.
An 11 axis cnc controller would certainly work but I am on a tight budget for this project and it seems a little overkill since not all 11 axes need to be synchronized.