CNC Build Ep 7: Custom Mach 4 ATC Tool Station Setup! Setting up ATC Tool Pockets / Tool Forks /S30C
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- Опубліковано 25 чер 2024
- Hey CNC Woodworkers! This is my custom Mach 4 Screen Set and code to make setting up an Automatic Tool Changer super easy in Mach 4, with no macro editing required. The hard part about setting up an ATC is finding the "tool station positions", also known as "tool pockets" or "tool forks". The User Interface I added makes it a lot easier to do this process. I walk through how to download and install the screen set. Then I go into setting up the Input and Output pin mappings in Mach 4 for my Avid CNC and ATC spindle. I'm using a HITECO QD-1F spindle from CNC Depot, but their popular S30 and S30C ATC spindle will also work fine with this screen set. In fact, any ATC spindle will work with it; the only difference may be what pins are actually controlling the relays. The code is fairly generic, and will probably work with any Mach 4 CNC machine, but I am using an Avid CNC and requires their release of Mach 4 (it has some things I build upon). Once you setup all the pocket positions, you can use any screen set you want, as long as you still use my custom Macros for doing the Tool Change. This screen set is fairly specific to a spindle-based CNC machine; I removed a lot of things related to a torch machine (plasma table CNC) and the laser. The screen set is open source and free. I make no warranty on it working...use at your own risk!
EDIT: for the slide distance, you will also want to ensure your largest diameter bit will clear the tool fork, not just the collet! My largest is 2", which is about the diameter of the collet.
To download the screen set and code, get the latest release from here:
Corbin's ATC Screen Set Release: bit.ly/mach4custom
Github Source Code: bit.ly/3pXJOVv
ATC Hardware Setup Video: • CNC Build Ep 5: How to...
Textual directions: bit.ly/Avid_CNC_ATC_Setup
CNC Build Playlist: • Avid CNC Build
Ep 1: What CNC To Buy - • CNC Build Ep 1: What i...
Ep 2: Welded CNC Table - • CNC Build Ep 2: How to...
Ep 3: Making an Avid CNC Precise: • CNC Build Ep 3: How to...
Ep 4: How to Tram a CNC: • CNC Build Ep 4: How to...
Ep 5: Automatic Tool Changer: • CNC Build Ep 5: How to...
Ep 6: ATC Tool Rack Build - • CNC Build Ep 6: Automa...
Ep 7: ATC Setup in Mach 4 - • CNC Build Ep 7: Custom...
Ep 8: ATC Tool Heights - • CNC Build Ep 8: How to...
Ep 9: ATC Post Processor Setup - • CNC Build Ep 9: ATC Po...
Ep 10: 3D Printed Dust Boot - • CNC Build Ep 10: Print...
Ep 11: Improving the Avid CNC Table - • CNC Build Ep 11: Impro...
Ep 12: CNC Spoilboard - • CNC Build Ep 12: Make ...
The Vista CNC P1B pendant I use (no affiliation):
www.vistacnc.com/a02_product/p...
Lee from Vista CNC customized the driver for me so that the 0.100 step does 0.0001
thanks everyone!
Corbin Dunn
www.corbinstreehouse.com // blog
www.corbinsworkshop.com // CNC files and Products
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:26 Backing Up Mach 4
1:01 Screen Set Download & Install
4:47 Input & Output Signal Setup
7:15 First Tool Pocket / Station
9:56 Finding Positions
12:12 Slide Distance
13:22 Initial Dry Run Test
16:12 Add More Pockets/Stations
17:30 Z Bump and Z Clearance
18:44 Assigning Tools to Pockets
20:47 ATC Tools User Interface
23:44 Main User Interface
25:48 Conclusion...not done!
Other notes: this provides a custom M6 tool change script, along with noting the spindle start and stop times to make sure enough time duration has passed. All the files are just text file source code in the Lua programming language; you can open them in a text editor to see what they do.
#cncwoodworking #cnc #avidcnc - Навчання та стиль
Hi Corbin, this series of videos and the corresponding links and downloadable stuff is so completely and totally outstanding, that I'm at a loss for words. Three cheers for this incredible accomplishment. Thank you for this amazing contribution to fellow CNC-ers around the world! All the best
No problem! I'm glad you found it useful, and I always appreciate hearing from people.
Thank you so much all of the videos Corbin! I keep forgetting to turn on the air so having that pressure sensing info was fantastic! I clicked on your referral link to order the switch, got it today, and got it all hooked up! Works great! Your screen is well done and way better than mine so I'm using that too! It would be a long list if I were to itemize everything your videos were helpful with so I'll stop with that! I appreciate all the time and effort you put into these vids, sharing your screens, etc, thanks!
Awesome, thanks! I super-appreciate the comment..it helps motivate me to make more videos.
Just wanted to say thank you for making this entire series and I hope you continue to add to it. After reading about ATC on some of the forums it seemed like a daunting challenge but you've really cleared it up for me (among other things with the AVID). Thank You.
Thanks! I'm glad it helped you out a bit. I do have some more videos planned for this series: my t-track table, a vertical work table/station (which I haven't built yet), and a rotary axis (which I don't even own yet).
Great video! Your making ATC look less intimidating.
Yeah! It isn't too hard - especially with the screen script I wrote up.
On the slide distance you want to make sure your largest diameter bit clears the fork. I have bits that extent beyond the collet nut.
Yes!! Thanks Jason - that is a great point and something to be aware of!!
Great video. Excellent explanations
Thanks!
This has been incredibly helpful - because of you my ATC system is basically set up (minus the beautiful wiring). I don't own your machine but I own Avids old electronics which I've completely changed at this point. I have a chinese 5.5kw water cooled spindle and this has been relatively easy to set up. Thanks for your help. This is amazing.
Awesome - I'm glad it helped you out! What brand spindle did you get, and where did you order it from? (Aliexpress?) I'm also curious how long it took to get it...sometimes stuff from China can take a while to arrive (for people in the US, at least).
@@CorbinDunn My comments keep getting censored. I bought the ATC 5.5kw spindle from Jinan Lihan on alibahbah.
I got your message about comments not working -- sorry about that!! I don't know why UA-cam filters them; I don't have any restrictions on commenting, and I'm not sure why certain comments aren't allowed. I'll have to investigate.
I changed the UA-cam comment moderation from "Standard" to "None". Unfortunately it doesn't even let me review comments when it doesn't let them go through. Darn youtube!
@@CorbinDunn aah so it just depends on personal settings on your own channel. Sounds good. I'll try again if you want a direct link - lets see what happens.
Hello Corbin. Many thanks for doing these informative ATC videos. They are a great help. I am in the beginning of adding ATC to my shop-built CNC router. I have a question about the racks and forks for the tool holders. The question is why is it necessary to design the forks to require a side-slide motion to fetch or return a tool? Why can't the forks be designed to allow the ATC spindle to simply come straight down over a fork, grab the tool, and then go straight up? And return a tool by coming straight down over the fork, release the tool, and then leave going straight up. Thanks.
Hi Richard, My apologies for the slow reply; I was gone for a bit. Some racks do the "drop in" style, and I have seen them. I had read somewhere about some problem with them...but at this point I kind of forget what it was. Most industrial CNC machines seem to use the slide in version, so I figured it was the best way to do it.
Great work on this! Thank you for sharing. I am trying to change the UI of Mach4 just for what the relays say, can you please recommend how to learn this? Is there a channel on UA-cam that helps with this or anything. Also, can you please share how you got the pendent to work with Mach4.
Editing the names is super easy. Just Disable the machine, and then you should see a menu item at the top to edit the screen (I can't check the name at this moment as i'm away from my machine). In Edit mode...click on the label, and there is an inspector on the left that has the Label for it...change it. Super easy! Backup the file first if you are worried you might mess something up.
Pendant: VistaCNC has a driver and directions on how to install it.
Corbin, i installed your screen set over the weekend. It's awesome! I went ahead and changed everything over to metric. This was relatively easy to figure out as well. I don't have a pendant, is there an easy way to bring the jog feature back into the new screen set? Thanks again!
Awesome! Do you use a keyboard? Can you jog with that? Or do you preview a touch screen? I've been super curious if people used this feature or not...sounds like I should find somewhere to put it back in the screen. FYI - you can use any other screen set you like once you get it all setup; the M6 tool change macro will still work fine with another screen set.
...and I know I should make it more generic to support metric "out of the box". I blame the US being stuck in the stone ages!
@@CorbinDunn I ended up going back to the original screen set to jog with the mouse. There may be another way, which I haven't figured out yet. But after jogging, I went back to your screen set. I simply like it better. Like I said, switching everything to metric wasn't that difficult.
And yes, I use a keyboard
@@klausmesserer1361 - Cool - FYI, you might already know this, but you can turn on the Keyboard jog button, and then just use the arrows on your keyboard. Hold down shift to do a rapid jog, and hold down ctrl to do an incremental jog. This is how I jog when I don't use the pendant, and before the pendant I used a wireless keyboard.
Hi Corbin, i've just discovered yours videos ...very cool.................for this one you're with Mach 4...do you know if it'ld be possible with GRBL1.1 protocole ??
thank's a lot
Philip
Hi Philip - I hadn't heard of GRBL; I think it is a Gcode interpreter/controller based on some quick googling. It looks pretty cool! So, if I understand it right, it does the same thing that Mach 4 does. Mach 4 is the Gcode interpreter, and it communicates with some hardware that actually does the motion control, which for an Avid CNC that is usually an Ethernet Smooth Stepper (ESS).
So....I don't really know the answer to your question. What are you trying to do?
@@CorbinDunn Hi Corbin, the same system as yours for changing tools...but under Grbl protocol............Sincerely..........Philippe
Hi Corbin! Thank you so much for making a great Mach 3/ 4 screen set. I have just 1 issue. The Z bump isn't reactive enough. Its pressing on the fork bending it. So when a tool is picked up, the drawbar is pushing the fork down. When a tool is released, the spindle isn't going up soon enough when the drawbar releases it. I don't understand the line you put in the lua file for Zbump?
MCCntlGcodeExecuteWait("G00 G90 G53 Z%.4f", zPos + ToolForks.GetZBump()) -- rapid here seems scary..but okay
There seams to be a pause before the spindle moves up or down with the drawbar action. Then the movement is too fast once it goes.
I am using the same Zbump amount as I did with the CNC Depot screen set, that worked just fine, no fork bending.
Any insight to correct the fork bending?
Thank you.
I got it to stop bending the forks by commenting out 2 lines. Line 259 MCCntlGcodeExecuteWait("G04 P%.4f", 0.3) and Line 310 MCCntlGcodeExecuteWait("G04 P%.4f", 0.2) 😁
Great, I'm glad you got it figured out! My spindle seems to release a lot slower than other peoples, and if I don't have the pauses it will potentially start to rip the forks away on release. Maybe I can make them optional for other people.
These videos have been extremely helpful. I recently upgraded my ESS along with Mach 4 at the suggestion of AVID to solve some motion issues. I found the problem with the motion issue, (not the software), and went to set up my ATC again. It had been working previously with the older software. Now, when I go to assign Pin 1:1 to Output #6 I can't get Pin 1:1 to show up in the pull down menu and I can't write it in. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
I'm not too sure why things won't show up in the menu; I don't do it often enough to be really familiar with all the Mach 4 UI for the setup. I'm guessing the mapping doesn't exist where it expects it. It might be easiest to just start over and follow the pin mapping directions from the start to reset it all correctly.
Thanks for the reply @@CorbinDunn I also have feelers out on the Warp9 chat room.
@@user-zi4wp4fm9l One thing to note: it will only show up with the alias name you setup in the ESS config "Pins Config" tab. Maybe you have it named something else, or used somewhere else.
Does this only work with avid ess boards. Or will the open share work with hicon controllers.
I started with Avid's version of Mach 4, so it has some dependencies on it for things like the touch plate. Other than that, the code is fairly generic; I could probably remove all Avid-specific things and make it more generic.
Although, some things, such sending the signal to open the drawbar (and close it), are abstracted via Mach 4's plugin mapping, and I talk about how to hook it up via ESS. So, you could simply map it to whatever mechanism your controller board uses. In theory, it should work, but I'm sure it'll take some fiddling to figure out any problems.
bonjour de France🙂
non je parle des sondes de la broche(spindle)s1 s2 s3
qui confirme spindle stop
pince open or close
outil présent
cordialement
Bonjour
très beau travail
une question comment avez-vous géré les sonde de broche S1 S2 S3
Hi! I think you are asking how I picked the input pin numbers. I just found ones that weren't being used in the ESS setup, and used those.
@@CorbinDunn bonjour de France😉
non je parle des sondes de la broche(spindle)s1 s2 s3
qui confirme spindle stop
pince open or close
outil présent
cordialement
@@ferrandferrand3456 Oh, I understand now! I have not hooked those up for my spindle (HITECO QD-1F), but it does have the output signals. It would be nice to add those checks for safety to ensure the spindle is stopped and a tool is locked (or not). The only check I have is if the air is on or off, and prevent the tool change when the air is off.
@@CorbinDunn bonjour
sur mon projet cnc j'installe une broche HSD 919 de 7kw
qui possède les 3 sonde
comme je suis débutant c'est pour ca que je vous posait la question
bonjour avez vous reçu mes ligne de scripte
cordialement