PC Based Machine Control
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Anybody here do any PC or MS windows developement for machine control? Jeff Patterson Programmers speak in Code. http://www.anti-dmca.org
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Anybody here do any PC or MS windows developement for machine control? Jeff Patterson Programmers speak in Code. http://www.anti-dmca.org
Not quite sure what you mean... We manufacture stepper controllers and a LPT port interface that can be used with Yeager Automation's PC based machine control software to automate milling machines... We've also written a DXF to GCode converter after finding that most of the ones that are available are crap... Steven J. Ackerman, Consultant ACS, Sarasota, FL http://www.acscontrol.com steve@acscontrol.com sja@gte.net
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Anybody here do any PC or MS windows developement for machine control? Jeff Patterson Programmers speak in Code. http://www.anti-dmca.org
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Anybody here do any PC or MS windows developement for machine control? Jeff Patterson Programmers speak in Code. http://www.anti-dmca.org
You betcha. The company I work for builds high speed ink jet printers. High speed means we print up 1000 feet of paper per minute (around 17 feet per second) at 300 dpi. We use several PC's and/or single board computers in parts of the process. The central 'controller' is an industrial PC running Windows XP. It includes the user interface and overall sequencing for the process. Fluids management and print data handling is distributed. Everything hooks together via Ethernet or fiber optic connections. A lot of people in the machine control industry malign Windows as a poor environment in which to do machine control, since Windows is not a 'real-time' operating system. Truth of the matter is, if you partition the problem correctly, Windows works really well. Time-critical control should be handled by discrete hardware, and not by a general purpose computer. With Windows, you've got outstanding hardware support, great developer facilities, user interface, and builtin support for distributed control (networking). This makes development a heck of a lot easier than being locked into the traditional machine control environment: Proprietary hardware, proprietary operating system, small user community, and little or no long term support from the supplier.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
You betcha. The company I work for builds high speed ink jet printers. High speed means we print up 1000 feet of paper per minute (around 17 feet per second) at 300 dpi. We use several PC's and/or single board computers in parts of the process. The central 'controller' is an industrial PC running Windows XP. It includes the user interface and overall sequencing for the process. Fluids management and print data handling is distributed. Everything hooks together via Ethernet or fiber optic connections. A lot of people in the machine control industry malign Windows as a poor environment in which to do machine control, since Windows is not a 'real-time' operating system. Truth of the matter is, if you partition the problem correctly, Windows works really well. Time-critical control should be handled by discrete hardware, and not by a general purpose computer. With Windows, you've got outstanding hardware support, great developer facilities, user interface, and builtin support for distributed control (networking). This makes development a heck of a lot easier than being locked into the traditional machine control environment: Proprietary hardware, proprietary operating system, small user community, and little or no long term support from the supplier.
Software Zen:
delete this;A lot of people who malign windows for machine control have never done it. Or they don't know what they are doing. No matter what platform you use, it is ALWAYS about managing the weaknesses and strengths of the platform. Tim Smith I'm going to patent thought. I have yet to see any prior art.
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Anybody here do any PC or MS windows developement for machine control? Jeff Patterson Programmers speak in Code. http://www.anti-dmca.org
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Not quite sure what you mean... We manufacture stepper controllers and a LPT port interface that can be used with Yeager Automation's PC based machine control software to automate milling machines... We've also written a DXF to GCode converter after finding that most of the ones that are available are crap... Steven J. Ackerman, Consultant ACS, Sarasota, FL http://www.acscontrol.com steve@acscontrol.com sja@gte.net
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You betcha. The company I work for builds high speed ink jet printers. High speed means we print up 1000 feet of paper per minute (around 17 feet per second) at 300 dpi. We use several PC's and/or single board computers in parts of the process. The central 'controller' is an industrial PC running Windows XP. It includes the user interface and overall sequencing for the process. Fluids management and print data handling is distributed. Everything hooks together via Ethernet or fiber optic connections. A lot of people in the machine control industry malign Windows as a poor environment in which to do machine control, since Windows is not a 'real-time' operating system. Truth of the matter is, if you partition the problem correctly, Windows works really well. Time-critical control should be handled by discrete hardware, and not by a general purpose computer. With Windows, you've got outstanding hardware support, great developer facilities, user interface, and builtin support for distributed control (networking). This makes development a heck of a lot easier than being locked into the traditional machine control environment: Proprietary hardware, proprietary operating system, small user community, and little or no long term support from the supplier.
Software Zen:
delete this;Gary Wheeler wrote: High speed means we print up 1000 feet of paper per minute (around 17 feet per second) at 300 dpi. Zow! What industry needs to do inkjet printing like this? Gary Wheeler wrote: A lot of people in the machine control industry malign Windows as a poor environment in which to do machine control, since Windows is not a 'real-time' operating system. Truth of the matter is, if you partition the problem correctly, Windows works really well. Time-critical control should be handled by discrete hardware, and not by a general purpose computer. ...or you could write/use a real-time kernel that runs beneath the Windows OS. We've used tools that provide this approach successfully as well as the hardware approach.
Mike Mullikin :beer: You can't really dust for vomit. Nigel Tufnel - Spinal Tap
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Gary Wheeler wrote: High speed means we print up 1000 feet of paper per minute (around 17 feet per second) at 300 dpi. Zow! What industry needs to do inkjet printing like this? Gary Wheeler wrote: A lot of people in the machine control industry malign Windows as a poor environment in which to do machine control, since Windows is not a 'real-time' operating system. Truth of the matter is, if you partition the problem correctly, Windows works really well. Time-critical control should be handled by discrete hardware, and not by a general purpose computer. ...or you could write/use a real-time kernel that runs beneath the Windows OS. We've used tools that provide this approach successfully as well as the hardware approach.
Mike Mullikin :beer: You can't really dust for vomit. Nigel Tufnel - Spinal Tap
Mass-mail advertising (we do the addressing), statement printing (bills, banks, etc.), that sort of thing. When you've got 10 million pieces of mail to be printed or addressed, we're just the ticket.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
You betcha. The company I work for builds high speed ink jet printers. High speed means we print up 1000 feet of paper per minute (around 17 feet per second) at 300 dpi. We use several PC's and/or single board computers in parts of the process. The central 'controller' is an industrial PC running Windows XP. It includes the user interface and overall sequencing for the process. Fluids management and print data handling is distributed. Everything hooks together via Ethernet or fiber optic connections. A lot of people in the machine control industry malign Windows as a poor environment in which to do machine control, since Windows is not a 'real-time' operating system. Truth of the matter is, if you partition the problem correctly, Windows works really well. Time-critical control should be handled by discrete hardware, and not by a general purpose computer. With Windows, you've got outstanding hardware support, great developer facilities, user interface, and builtin support for distributed control (networking). This makes development a heck of a lot easier than being locked into the traditional machine control environment: Proprietary hardware, proprietary operating system, small user community, and little or no long term support from the supplier.
Software Zen:
delete this;This is what I was hoping to hear. The company that I work for builds automation on a large scale. USD > $1 million, we mostly do PLC work, not very glamourous and it is becoming old hat for me. Time to try something new. Just about every machine we build has a SCADA package attached but they are kind of dull. Much like using AOL to surf the internet. I don't know if it is off topic for "The Code Project" but I would like to see machine control topics here as well. Or at least OPC, I/O and fieldbus information. Since I'm pretty new to the subject of C/C++ programming, I think my contributions would be pretty limited but I would do what I can to contribute. Jeff Patterson Programmers speak in Code. http://www.anti-dmca.org