PLC Program For Emco PC Turn 55 (using original turret board and motor) <Success>

[martyscncgarage]

You are certainly persevering. I'll be glad to hear the outcome.to this one.
Does the turret home.to tool 1 on power up? I think it should, then set the control.to tool 1?

[Muzzer]

I really don't understand why it's not possible / easy to store variables such as the table position (or carousel position) before power down. Clearly a lot of other data IS stored such as tool offsets, current program etc. I see no benefit in having to rehome the machine when it can't possibly move (mine has no handles for one thing) and having the option to "park" it with the table / saddle next to the homing switch positions is a royal PITA eg if you are part way through setting something up.

Was there some historic reason / decision not to support this? My other controller manages it seamlessly and it's really convenient. Never had a problem with loss of position between periodic homing events.

Is there some way to store variables prior to powering down so they can be accessed again at power up?

[martyscncgarage]

I am unfamiliar with programming ATCs in the PLC. I made an assumption about homing the turret to tool one on power up. That may or may not be the case. Jasen is trying on his own to write the PLC code for his turret.

Marty

[Threedj16]

You are certainly persevering. I'll be glad to hear the outcome.to this one.
Does the turret home.to tool 1 on power up? I think it should, then set the control.to tool 1?

Yeah, read the post before last, I've already solved homing setting tool 1 and Aux 11 jogging forward 1 tool. Now just working out an M6 call, whether it be from Gcode, the ATC function call or Midi. Any tool change should (and does) activate my cnctch.mac which trips the M6 section of the code above to activate.

[Threedj16]

I really don't understand why it's not possible / easy to store variables such as the table position (or carousel position) before power down. Clearly a lot of other data IS stored such as tool offsets, current program etc. I see no benefit in having to rehome the machine when it can't possibly move (mine has no handles for one thing) and having the option to "park" it with the table / saddle next to the homing switch positions is a royal PITA eg if you are part way through setting something up.

Was there some historic reason / decision not to support this? My other controller manages it seamlessly and it's really convenient. Never had a problem with loss of position between periodic homing events.

Is there some way to store variables prior to powering down so they can be accessed again at power up?

So far, all of the other system variables I've used work just fine. Just not this one for some reason. It's in the plc manual to do exactly what I'm trying to do. No clue at the moment, but problably a simple something I'm doing wrong.

[Threedj16]

Woohoo! This baby is put to bed now. Mario @ Centroid hooked me up today. Even though I was close to having everything working, he showed me a better way of having it all put in stages so there would be less interference from one process logic to the other (which was happening a lot). It was a great learning experience for anyone interested in learning PLC code. So not only did I get my turret fully functioning, it was like a class on the Acorn PLC code. He explained his logic, I asked a lot of questions and took notes. I'll make a few new posts on some great tidbits for those wanting to learn.

My turret has a few oddities even though it's extremely simple (1 home optical sensor and 1 optical sensor to count each tool), there had to be timers used in order for them to activate the logic at the correct timing. For example, when the tool is locked into the pawl, it's backed off the optical switch (and open). So to move forward to the next tool, you have to setup a timer to basically ignore the first pulse (which will be for the current tool it's on) and then start counting after that every tool. And another timer was for getting the tool 1 to rotate slightly further after the optical switch tripped, otherwise it would trip too soon and lock into position 6. So ended up being more complicated than just simple tool call, output on, switch count, output off deal.

So anyway, I'll post a report file in a bit, as I need to clean up all my source files that I used for experimenting so it doesn't confuse folks. But this would would be simple to modify for anyone using an Emco style turret with the two optical switches. Just remember you have the system parameters to modify in CNC12 (pretty sure that is all documented in the source). What isn't is documented here in my thread. Even though the logic is in the PLC source, activation still occurs in places like the cnct.hom, cncctch.mac and mfunc18.mac. So you would possibly need to mod those files if you chose different inputs/outputs. Also my homing file using the limit switch and hall affect sensor dual home for each axis, so that would need to be changed for you application if not required. I'll have the report posted soon so maybe it will help someone else out.

[martyscncgarage]

Great Jasen.
Please post the inputs and outputs you used and how they were assigned as well.

Don't forget a video demonstrating the turret working after making tool calls. Until then, it's all "fish stories"

Marty

[Threedj16]

Great.
Please post the inputs and outputs you used and how they were assigned as well.

Don't forget a video demonstrating the turret working after making tool calls. Until then, it's all "fish stories"

Marty

LOL...cut me a little slack, you know I just got home from the dentist...... I'm getting there!

[martyscncgarage]

Okay...but right after the novacaine wears off!

[Threedj16]

Okay...but right after the novacaine wears off!