Page 1 of 1
triac atc & mach3
Posted: Wed 13 Dec , 2006 19:16 pm
by comet
Hi,
has anyone here managed to run an atc with mach3?
if so I would be very interested in finding out how to do it.
cheers
Posted: Wed 13 Dec , 2006 21:05 pm
by Denford Admin
I'm sure davidimurray will have some tips for you
It depends on the current type of toolchanger as to how difficult it would be, but I'm pretty sure you will need to add your own control logic and electronics (eg PIC chip) - as the PC (printer port?) communications turn around time wouldn't be fast enough to control the toolchange I/O
Posted: Thu 14 Dec , 2006 17:50 pm
by davidimurray
You certainly could. Toolchanger would probably be the most difficult part of a Mach conversion as you may need to build some electronics along the way.There are a variety of ways you could do it.
e.g
Using individual parallel port pins on a second port
Use a microcontroller
Use something like the ModIO board from Peter Homann
Depending on how the interface is between the toolchanger and the PNC3 controller you may even be able to simply cut in and hijack the signal - could be RS232? Unfortunately i've never got my hand on an ATC model to play with.
The one thing you will have to do is write some VB script in mach to get it working.
Unfortunately I don't think you will find a 'fools' guide to doing it - but there is plenty of guidance out there.
I may even be able to help with some wiring diagrams for a Triac ATC
Their is very little you can't do with Mach -
https://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=641.0
https://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=627.0
https://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=1234.0
Some inspiration for you.
Cheers
Dave