On Sat, 27 Nov 2010 05:00:08 -0600, Karl Townsend
wrote:

On Sat, 27 Nov 2010 00:37:41 -0600, Ignoramus8184
wrote:

I have a Haas 5C indexer, similar to eBay item 310175166880, except mine
is a stepper driven model. It has a chuck on its nose also.

The way it works is that you program it like a VCR, and upon pressing
a button, it advances one step of the program. You can, say, specify
that it needs to divide a circle in 23 divisions. There is a provision
of a remote button at the end of a two conductor cable, and it can be
wired to the CNC mill.

Which is what I did.

Now the mill can use the M64 and M65 G codes to tell the indexer to
advance. I wrote a G code subroutine advance_indexer that does its
namesake job using M64, M65 and waiting.

After this I added a GUI button "advance indexer".

I used an "audio extension cable" to provide a disconnect capability.

What is really amazing is how easy it was. I was tired, garage was
cold, I made several dumb mistakes (like forgetting to install a DC
SSR into the slot that I wanted to use), and yet the whole job took 2
hours from start to finish.

Thank you, EMC2. Also kudos to Jon for his easy to use PPMC system.

Great project Iggy. Say, did you look at just hacking into the step
driver and giving step/direction signals? Then you'd have a full
fourth axis.

The barn got too cold for work, so I moved to the heated shop.
Yesterday, I took a probe I scored on the bay and mounted it in a tool
holder then added an input for it. And a quick plugin connection.

My first macro is "find hole center". I put a user button on the
screen and thne jog to roughly put the probe in the hole, just press
the button and the machine stops after finding the center.

Today, I'll add a teach function so I can do several holes and record.
Useful for copying parts or making something to bolt up.

Next, I'll make an outline probe routine. Go all around the perimeter
of a part and touch off edge then record point. very useful to copy a
broken part or make something to match up. (I had connected a laser
last year, they are great at surfaces but poor at edge find)


If you're like me, you get addicted to how easy it is to add great
functionality to PC controls.

Karl

Bonus Algebra question:

I wanted two estimates of hole diameter. In the above routine, first
you can get X center and a chord length. After moving to Xcenter, you
get Y center and a diameter and now know how far off center the above
chord it. So, for a given chord length and distance from center: what
is the dimaeter of the circle? Note, the data I have is the four touch
points on the hole.

This would be helpful to know on worn parts.

Karl