Control Questions (Lathe Tailstock Limit Switch setup)

[Gary Campbell]

A few newbie questions if I may...

Can someone direct me to the documentaion regarding Wizard settings of inputs (mostly) and outputs (a little)? For the most part they are self explanatory, but I am sure that the control handles some of them differently than others and if so, see what those differences are and experiment with them a bit. I see a few docs related to v11, but not 12.

Can reports be renamed? Lets say I set a given machine up in a particular way and wanted to have a name unique to that machine type or size rather than a serialized identifier.

Are the limits (or home limits) discreet? IOW, will a low (-) limit stop motion in the positive direction? Can multiples in a given direction be used?

Do probe inputs need to be defined as such? Are there options?

Thanks in advance, GC

[diycncscott]

Can someone direct me to the documentation regarding Wizard settings of inputs (mostly) and outputs (a little)? For the most part they are self explanatory, but I am sure that the control handles some of them differently than others and if so, see what those differences are and experiment with them a bit. I see a few docs related to v11, but not 12.

Answer: Unless inverted(Labeled as NO in the Wizard), inputs need to be pulled to the 24V COM to be closed = green on the IO screen = Logic 1.
If assigned as NO in the Wizard, an input will be = Logic 1 when not connect to 24V COM and will be displayed a green with a line over it.(inverted)

Can reports be renamed? Lets say I set a given machine up in a particular way and wanted to have a name unique to that machine type or size rather than a serialized identifier.

Answer: No, but that's a great idea. I'll look into having that added in a future release.

Are the limits (or home limits) discreet? IOW, will a low (-) limit stop motion in the positive direction? Can multiples in a given direction be used?

Answer: Yes. If a separate input is used for each an axis and/or direction, you can still move the other axes or in the opposite direction. However any limit trip WILL cancel a job if in progress and will prevent starting or entering MDI until cleared.

Do probe inputs need to be defined as such? Are there options?

Answer: No, probe inputs can be assigned to any available input.

[Gary Campbell]

Thanks Scott...
I may have not asked the first question clearly. See attached photo... Since there are different selections, I assume different actions. Any docs?

[tblough]

Can reports be renamed? Lets say I set a given machine up in a particular way and wanted to have a name unique to that machine type or size rather than a serialized identifier.

Answer: No, but that's a great idea. I'll look into having that added in a future release.

You can't rename the report before it's created, but you can certainly use Windows to rename it after. When you restore the report, it asks you to select the file and it doesn't care about the name at that point either.

Cheers,

Tom

[diycncscott]

At the moment, there is no Wizard documentation because the Wizard and the item descriptions are supposed to be self evident and users can use this forum if they have questions. Acorn in general is being supported by heavy emphasis on instructional videos. Also we are adding functionality to the Wizard and will continue to do so for a while, once that settles down we can make a quick start doc and more detailed Wizard video on all the items in the Wizard.

If an input is going to be wired to a sensor to indicate that the tool is chuck is closed, then the user would select "ChuckIsClosed" for that input. The PLC already contains logic pertaining to whether the chuck is closed or not. (ie.. disable spindle when open etc.. timeout if "CloseChuck" output is turned on and 3 seconds elapses(configurable) without the input closing to confirm it etc.. If it's not used, it get's commented out by the Wizard.

There are many more pre-defined operations being defined that will be accompanied by documentation but as I mentioned, the current ones- homes, limits, spindle ranges etc.. were thought to be self evident.

[Gary Campbell]

Scott...
Thanks for the info. I will post my scenario as it could help someone in the future. My current build is a G0752 lathe. I am using npn inductance proximity sensors, 3 of them. One is on X+ (home towards operator), second is on the Z+ (home away from chuck). The third is located to prevent the cross slide from colliding with the tailstock as some of the products I turn require it.

As stated above the settings for the switches to home the axes are self evident, but since there are multiple choices I was looking to see which scenario of the other options would work the best for my "anti crash" limit switch.

[cnckeith]

Gary,
hello. we setup a limit on the tailstock on our in house lathe as well.
we used input #3 and set it to "FirstAxisPlusLimitOK" that way when the limit on the tail stock is tripped CNC12 will act just like its any other limit switch.

on a Lathe, Acorn considers the First Axis = Z and the Second Axis = X
we used Input 1 for Z home input, Input 2 for X home input, and Input 3 for Tailstock "anti crash" as you say limit input

[Gary Campbell]

Last question on this item... thanks for the previous good info.

Is there a software (soft switch) limit override or will I need to provide a momentary physical switch to back off the triggered limit?

TIA, GC

[cnckeith]

Take a look at the virtual control panel there's a button there that says "limit switch override."
Touch that button and gives you 5 Seconds the jog off the switch.

And if you really really want to you can install a momentary switch as well either way works fine.