I was browsing the internet for info on an easily adaptable X-Y table and, while there are a lot of web pages, didn't really find a good "general purpose" one. I'm sure they exist but, aren't "easy" to find so, I thought I'd try a post here. I'm thinking of the, X-Y Tables for Dummies version.
The initial assumption is that the mechanical table will be stepper motors that will rotate lead screws for the physical motion in all three axes (horizontal (X and Y) and vertical (Z)). I'm not thinking production speeds so inertia problems would not be an issue. In fact, a way to slow the speed down would be essential for most applications.
I'm thinking about using the table for engraving, painting, forming, indexing and for plasma cutting of metal plates as the main uses but, there are limitless uses for such a table. By having a "general purpose" hardware/firmware/software interface the outputs to the motors could be easily scalable (by a NON-programmer type) to allow various sizes of tables, stepper angular resolutions and lead screw pitches to be used in the mechanical portion.
If you are sitting there thinking, "Gee, that sounds like something I know how to do" then you're the sort I'm looking to respond.
In keeping with the concept of not having to be a programmer to use the setup, the soft/firmware interfaces need to be truly intuitive. Lets say there is a need to engrave a sheet of plastic with a pattern using a high-speed cutter (like a Dremel motor mounted on the X-Y-Z axes of the table). The table (or possibly the tool) would move such as to engrave the pattern while also controlling the depth of the cut.
One "programming" method could be to simply use the pantograph approach. That is, to trace the pattern with some sort of digitizing tablet and have the engraver follow. A slightly more sophisticated version that would store the digitized points in a buffer would be very desirable since it would "smooth out" times the tracer might get ahead of the engraver and thus not force the engraving cutter to travel too fast.
If the coordinates of the pattern were known, another "programming" method could be to manually enter the points into a memory and then allow the table and cutter (continuing with the notion of an engraver as the device) to either go point-to-point (for simple patterns), at a user defined speed or in a "connect the dots" mode where the cutter would travel from one node to the next in the pattern (for more complex projects). In either case, the programming needs to be as simple as entering the coordinates as X-Y-Z memory addresses (binary or hex) without having to learn computer programming.
Another programming method would use computer generated X-Y-Z coordinates from a CAD file. Probably the easiest would be to assume the file to be an AutoCad DXF file since most CAD programs seem to be able to generate and read those. Also, an X-Y-Z table is a simple device well suited to the limited "abilities" of the DXF files (ie: No fancy shading or 3-D modeling). The CAD approach would also allow the draftsman to scale the project to the table, if necessary, without any external mechanical or microprocessor scaling needed. This approach would allow a person to only need to know the CAD program and not computer programming but, would require a way to specify the X-Y-Z table as the output device.
I can think of the mechanics of this and I can think of the electronics of it. Where I falter is in thinking of the microprocessor and computer interfaces for it. That's where I'm hoping some of the expertise here will help.
I think that a table with the attributes I've described (obviously a very cursory description here) is a salable item. Also, key components would be salable (motors and lead screws, mounting fixtures for mechanical devices and boards to provide the stepper drivers, the processor, memory interfaces, digitizer interfaces, computer interfaces, etc.).
Any and all ideas, thoughts or additional concepts or features will be welcome.
The initial assumption is that the mechanical table will be stepper motors that will rotate lead screws for the physical motion in all three axes (horizontal (X and Y) and vertical (Z)). I'm not thinking production speeds so inertia problems would not be an issue. In fact, a way to slow the speed down would be essential for most applications.
I'm thinking about using the table for engraving, painting, forming, indexing and for plasma cutting of metal plates as the main uses but, there are limitless uses for such a table. By having a "general purpose" hardware/firmware/software interface the outputs to the motors could be easily scalable (by a NON-programmer type) to allow various sizes of tables, stepper angular resolutions and lead screw pitches to be used in the mechanical portion.
If you are sitting there thinking, "Gee, that sounds like something I know how to do" then you're the sort I'm looking to respond.
In keeping with the concept of not having to be a programmer to use the setup, the soft/firmware interfaces need to be truly intuitive. Lets say there is a need to engrave a sheet of plastic with a pattern using a high-speed cutter (like a Dremel motor mounted on the X-Y-Z axes of the table). The table (or possibly the tool) would move such as to engrave the pattern while also controlling the depth of the cut.
One "programming" method could be to simply use the pantograph approach. That is, to trace the pattern with some sort of digitizing tablet and have the engraver follow. A slightly more sophisticated version that would store the digitized points in a buffer would be very desirable since it would "smooth out" times the tracer might get ahead of the engraver and thus not force the engraving cutter to travel too fast.
If the coordinates of the pattern were known, another "programming" method could be to manually enter the points into a memory and then allow the table and cutter (continuing with the notion of an engraver as the device) to either go point-to-point (for simple patterns), at a user defined speed or in a "connect the dots" mode where the cutter would travel from one node to the next in the pattern (for more complex projects). In either case, the programming needs to be as simple as entering the coordinates as X-Y-Z memory addresses (binary or hex) without having to learn computer programming.
Another programming method would use computer generated X-Y-Z coordinates from a CAD file. Probably the easiest would be to assume the file to be an AutoCad DXF file since most CAD programs seem to be able to generate and read those. Also, an X-Y-Z table is a simple device well suited to the limited "abilities" of the DXF files (ie: No fancy shading or 3-D modeling). The CAD approach would also allow the draftsman to scale the project to the table, if necessary, without any external mechanical or microprocessor scaling needed. This approach would allow a person to only need to know the CAD program and not computer programming but, would require a way to specify the X-Y-Z table as the output device.
I can think of the mechanics of this and I can think of the electronics of it. Where I falter is in thinking of the microprocessor and computer interfaces for it. That's where I'm hoping some of the expertise here will help.
I think that a table with the attributes I've described (obviously a very cursory description here) is a salable item. Also, key components would be salable (motors and lead screws, mounting fixtures for mechanical devices and boards to provide the stepper drivers, the processor, memory interfaces, digitizer interfaces, computer interfaces, etc.).
Any and all ideas, thoughts or additional concepts or features will be welcome.
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