Adept windows sounds kool.
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Ive fantasized about using tig welding as opposed to mig welding as an extruder, less smoke more accurate, dont necessarily have to break your arc.
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There are two parts. One is on the controller and the other is on the PC. We didnāt get the PC with the donation.
Here it is on ebay
However, it should work without it.
It appears that the London Hackerspace is working on the same robot and controller and perhaps we can help each other out.
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/london-hack-space-robotics
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/london-hack-space-robotics/dxBy8_i0I_Y/discussion
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Well, I took the power supply board out tonight ā¦ cleaned it up a bit
It had a few bodge wires and cut traces on it
I cleaned it up a bit ā¦ need someone with a bit more knowledge to do some basic testing on it
Iāve been thinking about things ā¦ I want to see if we can get it running AIM
We can enable power in manual mode. If we look at the auto.v2 file, which is the file that starts everything up.
; Initialization commands
MC SPEED 100 ;L552;L658
MC STACK 0 = 20 ;L354
MC STACK 1 = 20 ;L540
MC STACK 3 = 50 ;L304;L354
MC STACK 4 = 20 ;L586
MC STACK 6 = 50 ;L580
MC def d=\aim\
; Wait For PC To Connect
MC load connect.pg
MC execute 1 con.main
MC cycle.end 1
; Load the Application
MC load load.pg
MC execute 1 load.main
MC cycle.end 1
; Start AIM
MC EXECUTE/C AIM
We can see that it sets the speed to 100, first thing. Oh btw MC means monitor command or commands like you run in at the dot prompt. This file is basically a batch file / shell script to start AIM. So, my idea is to get it into manual mode with the green power on and then enter SPEED 100 and see what happens.
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Oh. also we might should replace the battery in it. We should take it apart enough to see what kind it is. I know it is a lead acid battery. It is suppose to save the calibration and other settings, I think.
EDIT: I just remembered that when we had the control panel off the other day I took some pictures. And one of them had a UPC.
Guess what that goes with? Yup, a battery
6V 7Ah Lead Acid Emergency Battery
https://hdsupplysolutions.com/shop/p/6v-7ah-lead-acid-emergency-battery-p325781
Perhaps Tannerās has one?
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You canāt run speed 100 in manual mode, itās a design limitation for operator safety (they would usually be in the vicinity of the arm)
The system could be tripping because of the higher current for full speed when automatic kicks in. Maybe make an automatic script that runs at a lower speed to give that a test?
-Jim
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If we canāt get it to work with the old controller. We could just build a new one and power it with a rasp pi and some open source software (STMBL and LinuxCNC)
Here is what the London Hack space did with it
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Just an FYi I gave Ben AdeptWindows and the manuals with workshop lessons, and donated an old computer yāall can use as a dedicated controller. Works best under Windows XP, but can also work in Windows 10. Just ensure the firewall is disabled.
The max effective payload is actually 6kg, however the RX60 isnāt initially developed for robotic welding. Itās better as a paint or CNC milling bot, or PNP. You can use anything that takes a digital input/output via the IO on the robot to trigger whatever you want.
I can come by tomorrow and help a bit more if needed.
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What time will yāall be there? Iām going to bring my robot and cables that match your controller, see if we canāt get passed the error. Iāll also write a simple PNP program we can test with.
Also, Iāll have to double check. But I think yāall need to apply 24vdv to one of the pins on the jumper plug.
Hey @Christopher_Thomas ā¦ thanks for stopping by and working on it with us. And all the software you gave us and the actual hardware manual forthcoming ā¦
I am looking into ROS http://www.ros.org/
If we canāt make this old robot controller work, we will build our own.
We will have a working robotic arm! Two, if I have any sayā¦
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https://github.com/rene-dev/stmbl/blob/master/docs/src/Getting%20Started.adoc here is the github for stmbl ive been looking into robot retrofitting for awhile and mesa hardware and linux cnc with stmbl seems to be the most viable option @Draco I dont know anything about ROS though but ive heard of it. Linux cnc has a great user base and alot of support as does the group of folks who developed STMBl. Also STMBLs can be built for about 100 usd a piece which is totally unheard of with drivers of their specs. Im about to start building my first STMBLā¦ getting the Adept controller is being given a fish, whereas building a stmbl controller that is cross compatible (stmbls work with encoders of many types, resolvers, almost a universal servo drive also they dont require 3 phase) is learning how to fishā¦i suggest we cannibalize the old controller and immediately stop wasting our time with it, it will only continue to have problems and god forbid somthing burns up and we are unable to replace it.
@Draco i suggest we build a controller using a mesa 7i80 card ethernet db-25 board and a mesa 7i77 board with 6 stmbls a a 24 volt power supply a 5 volt power supply a rectifier and tank capacitorā¦thats basically all the hardware we need minus a parent computer.
Also @Christopher_Thomas mentioned that the broken rx60 might actually not be having a mechanical issue but an encoder issue resulting in its inabilty to commutate its 3rd axis properly, i.e. evil noises. @draco i have all the parts for a v3.4 stmbl which id donate to the space as its antiquatedā¦ and a 7i80 and 7i77 which i can lend ā¦shall i bring them next week to get started?
I canāt remember if yāall put the motor under load when yāall tested. When power is applied to the RX60L, can you press the joint release and move the joint freely without noises?
@Christopher_Thomas the elbow on the large rx-60 does not move smoothly with the brake releasedā¦it grinds when moving it by handsā¦however with the motor removed it moves smoothly without protest. Do the motors have an internal gearbox?