Jonathan Barnes said:
O.K. the mill got there..... pity about the cutter :-(
Speed ( feed rate ) control is very important.
Yes, that's very true. But I've just now started getting an inkling that
the signal I'm looking at might be one pulse per 0.0005". The thought
of that being true makes me drool. I have complete control of the
motor - and today, Jimmy brought in a stepper motor: the 34T2FEHH at
http://www.bodineonline.com/hy-sync.html
so I have about a billion options. And everything's already here -
I don't even need a budget! Maybe a couple of good power devices
or just a driver board - that's the kind of thing it's cheaper to
buy.
My plan for the first demo is to go to some point and zero the
unit, and tell it, "OK, go to 24.3470 and stop." And have it
go, "Whirrrrrr-r-r--r---r----up." and stop dead nuts. I've done
that open loop with steppers, and the feeling when the boss and
about 6 cow-orkers see a stepper do that, which the programmer
before me had going clackety-clackety-clack, when they see and
hear it go "whirrrrrzzzzp.", and they all go, "OOhh, Aaaahh."
there's no feeling that compares to that, except maybe singing
in front of 300 adoring parents in the talent show and getting
thunderous applause.
Cheers!
Rich