Allen Bradley Sercos CNC Type Control?

[Chris Elston 79]

Does anyone have experience with using a sercos system and making a CNC function with it? I had not done start to finish sercos system, but I wondered items like interpolated X-Y moves with AB Sercos. Is that possible? Easy? Is it easlier than I think or would you turn to some third party top level software to take remote control of the sercos system to generate CNC outputs? For example a router table with an X-Y motion with unlimited parts sizes and cut features? Basically would like to have a receipe feature in a PV+ with say 50 part numbers, then behind the 50 parts, load the X-Y servos up with the cut dimenisions. And would like to have the ability to add and edit part sizes, which can be easily done in a PLC, however I was questioning whether I could take a cad output to the PLC or some CNC interface? Or even back to the "I" word...interpolated motion commands within AB sercos. Any thoughts?

[TimWilborne 108]

Can it be done? Yes Has it been done? Yes Have I done it? Yes, but I was using version 13 with a M02AE My opinion...go with the third party controller that is designed to for CNC routers. They are less expensive, you can design shape files with variable dimensions, import cad files, you can back up and use G code if necessary, and it won't have that darn quiver when crossing from one quadrant to another that I never could work out. While the quiver could have been fixed eventually along with other little bugs, the point is why reinvent the wheel when you can purchase a system off the shelf that is already designed to do what you are looking for?

[Chris Elston 79]

What kind of a third party system is out there that could be intergrated with an HMI touch panel using a menu based part system?

[TimWilborne 108]

Do you want a complete system including the mechanical or just a controller? I don't think the HMI integration would be a problem but many of these systems are already pretty much an HMI with a XY system crammed in the back of them.

[Chris Elston 79]

Just the controller, drives, and motors X-Y-Z. Was hoping to make this into an Allen Bradley system with a PanelView + HMI.

[Peter Nachtwey 15]

TW, how did you keep the feed rate constant. This type of command is not part of the Rockwell command set. It isn't in ours either although we can compute these vector speeds on-the-fly. Each axis is still independent. To do a CNC application right one must be able to give a feed speed and the absolute velocity of both the x and y axis must always match the feed speed no matter what direction the tools is moving.

[Chris Elston 79]

Check this out...I got this information from my AB supplier just moments ago... cimlogics_demo_videos.zip

[TimWilborne 108]

I can't remember the name of the manufacturer I'm thinking of for the life of me. I think they were bought out by Northrop Grumman about 7 years ago and I thought they were based out of Canada. They may have been swallowed up. I'm pretty sure Cutting Systems Inc used to use a version of their controller on a machine we had but that's been a while ago. BTW, I absolutely do not recommend Cutting Systems Inc, they just used a good controller about 7 years ago I've also used Fagor controllers and they worked very nicely, but I don't recall a 2 axis system for something like a router table but you may check. Of course these come with very nice displays so I doubt it would work with your PV+ idea http://www.fagorautomation.com/bin/ingl/home.php For linear moves I just calculated it on the initial move. This worked fine The circles were the problem. I had to update the velocity based of the position in the quadrant for circular moved. I tried to use a Master/Slave cam to drive it. This is where my quiver came from. When the master axis would reach the top and reverse direction to start the next quadrant. The master/slave gearing at that point was so high that a slight error in the master would cause the slave to very noticeably jump