Hello,

I ordered a KFLOP board few days ago for a laser cutting application and since then, I read many topics on the forum and almost all the user manual. I'm trying to figure out how I will implement my application on the board and I have some questions to clarify some points. First here is what my application has to do :

A client will produce a DXF file, which will be converted into G Code using LazyCam or any program. Then the G Code file will be converted into coordinated motion with the Gcode interpreter (With specific velocity and acceleration). As I said, it is a laser cutting application so it also needs a PWM output with variable frequency and duty cycle (to set the power of the CO2 Laser). From now the client was on his computer but once the settings are done, it will be uploaded to the flash memory and will run in stand alone. From there, the client has an HMI connected to a PLC and may have to change the feed rate and the power of the laser (duty cycle of the PWM). He also may have to switch from a path to an other (which have been uploaded to the flash memory previously)

My questions are :

1. Is it possible to upload many G code project (converted into coordinated motion) into the flash memory and then use an external command (in stand alone mode) to load a specific project into the Coordinated Motion Buffer ?

2. Is it possible to change the velocity (feed rate) and the duty cycle / frequency of a PWM output with external command (in stand alone mode) ?

3. Once the program is uploaded in the flash memory, can I come back to the computer, add an other project (coordinated motion) to flash memory and then select this project "easily" with external command or do I need to modofy the C program. What I tought here is the following sequence : 

1- I read received  ASCII command with RS232 which contain the name of the sequence or the       enplacement of the sequence

2- Load this sequence to the buffer

3- Execute the buffer

Concerning the PWM output, I know that the frequency is set by dividing the clock (16.67 MHz) with entire number so I may not have the specific frequency for the laser (I don't have this information yet but it is in the range of 10 kHz to 100 kHz). If I can't get it, I could use a I/O bit to know when laser has to be ON/OFF and generate a PWM with external composants.

I may look a bit confused (I do not have received the KFLOP board yet). I also started to work with controllers recently so I'm not an expert.. If you have some advices concerning this application they are welcome :)

Thank you very much,

Guillaume

Hello,

I ordered a KFLOP board few days ago for a laser cutting application and since then, I read many topics on the forum and almost all the user manual. I'm trying to figure out how I will implement my application on the board and I have some questions to clarify some points. First here is what my application has to do :

A client will produce a DXF file, which will be converted into G Code using LazyCam or any program. Then the G Code file will be converted into coordinated motion with the Gcode interpreter (With specific velocity and acceleration). As I said, it is a laser cutting application so it also needs a PWM output with variable frequency and duty cycle (to set the power of the CO2 Laser). From now the client was on his computer but once the settings are done, it will be uploaded to the flash memory and will run in stand alone. From there, the client has an HMI connected to a PLC and may have to change the feed rate and the power of the laser (duty cycle of the PWM). He also may have to switch from a path to an other (which have been uploaded to the flash memory previously)

My questions are :

1. Is it possible to upload many G code project (converted into coordinated motion) into the flash memory and then use an external command (in stand alone mode) to load a specific project into the Coordinated Motion Buffer ?

2. Is it possible to change the velocity (feed rate) and the duty cycle / frequency of a PWM output with external command (in stand alone mode) ?

3. Once the program is uploaded in the flash memory, can I come back to the computer, add an other project (coordinated motion) to flash memory and then select this project "easily" with external command or do I need to modofy the C program. What I tought here is the following sequence : 

1- I read received  ASCII command with RS232 which contain the name of the sequence or the       enplacement of the sequence

2- Load this sequence to the buffer

3- Execute the buffer

Concerning the PWM output, I know that the frequency is set by dividing the clock (16.67 MHz) with entire number so I may not have the specific frequency for the laser (I don't have this information yet but it is in the range of 10 kHz to 100 kHz). If I can't get it, I could use a I/O bit to know when laser has to be ON/OFF and generate a PWM with external composants.

I may look a bit confused (I do not have received the KFLOP board yet). I also started to work with controllers recently so I'm not an expert.. If you have some advices concerning this application they are welcome :)

Thank you very much,

Guillaume

Hi Guillaume,

I agree with Moray using a PC would be would be a much simpler approach.  Do you plan on making a lot of these so that the software effort would justify the cost savings?

But for stand alone operation I see two basic approaches:

#1 - You can temporarily use a PC and define and run a GCode Path in a normal manner.  In this case the GCode Interpreter and Trajectory Planner running in the PC will create a Buffer of Coordinated Motion Segments and download them to KFlop's memory and execute it.  The Coordination Motion Buffer memory can then be saved to Flash Memory.  Later in Stand alone mode the memory can be restored and re-executed.  KFLOP has 2 MBytes of Flash Memory.  1 MByte is available for User Data Storage.  A single Coordinated Motion Segment requires 216 bytes of memory.  So 1 MByte could save a maximum of ~4800 segments.  Something like a simple rectangle may only require about a dozen segments.   Something like an ellipse may require a few hundred segments.

I recall one user using this method for a stand alone automated cake decorator to repeatedly dispense fixed patterns like "Happy Birthday".

You would need to create code to Flash the data, keep track of each set of data, copy it back when needed, etc.  See the examples in the \C Programs\FlashNonVolatile\ directory for how to flash and restore memory.

#2 - In this approach the HMI would specifie a simple pattern like a a rectangle or ellipse parametrically and C code in KFLOP creates the Coordinated motion on-the-Fly.  For simple straight line motions such as rectangles, lines, triangles and such see the  CoordMotionInKFLOPTest.c example (which uses functions in CoordMotionInKFLOPFunctions.c).  For a fractional Ellipse see the Ellipse.c example. 

Th Ellpse example was created for a user utilizing a tangential knife glass cutting machine.  Although a Computer running Mach3 was used to enter the ellipse parameters the motion was created within KFLOP for a smoother and higher performance manner in essentially a stand alone mode.

In either case you can control PWM for the Laser Power with something like the example OutputSpeedToDAC.c.  But of course you would command to a PWM instead of a DAC.  KFLOP's PWMs operate at 65KHz or at integer divisors of this frequency.

HTH

Regards

TK

 

 Hello Morray

Thank you for fast support !

I installed KMotion and had a look at the example files but still not very deep.

Using a computer running Windows would have been the best solution but yes, there is allready a PLC controlling other functions and other machines so I'll need flashe the code and control it in stand alone.

Concerning uploading new code it can be done by connecting computer directly. I won't have to change the code very often so it is okay to stop the application. Ideally, I would upload a couple of GCode project (converted into coordinated motion) like circles, squares, ellipse, etc, and once it is uploaded, I would execute only the circle, or only the square with an external command. Do you think it is possible ?

Guillaume

ReExecuteCoordMotionBuffer-13402.c

Hi Guillaume,

You must reset the starting point back to the beginning and when calling a C Function you must include parenthesis otherwise the C compiler just evaluates the address of the function rather than executing it.

See the attached example.

Regards

TK

 

Hello Tom,

First thanks for the support ! I just began to work with my Kflop and I like it. 

Concerning your last response I'll give a try with the first option. I may have to do some weird pathern so creating the Coordinated motion on-the-fly would be tricky.. My only concern with the first option is the amount of flash memory.. My pathern will consist of many circles or sort of squares so I hope it will have enough memory to store at least 1 pathern. 

For now, I'm testing some feature and I have an issue.. :

When I execute Gcode with KmotionCNC and let it finish, (it consist of a simple circle and it executes perfecly) and then I try to re-execute it with the ExecBuf command in a C program, nothing happens. The program is quite simple.. :

            #include "KMotionDef.h"

            #include "CoordMotionInKFLOP.c"

            main()

                {

                    ExecBuf;

                 }

 I thought the GCode Interpreter would have created Coordinated Motion Segments and stored it in the KFlop's buffer and then with "ExecBuf" I could re-execute it. Am I missing something ? (probably..)

Thanks in advance,

Guillaume

On Thursday, June 16, 2016 9:39 PM, "Tom Kerekes tk@... [DynoMotion]" <DynoMotion@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

Hi Guillaume,

I agree with Moray using a PC would be would be a much simpler approach.  Do you plan on making a lot of these so that the software effort would justify the cost savings?

But for stand alone operation I see two basic approaches:

#1 - You can temporarily use a PC and define and run a GCode Path in a normal manner.  In this case the GCode Interpreter and Trajectory Planner running in the PC will create a Buffer of Coordinated Motion Segments and download them to KFlop's memory and execute it.  The Coordination Motion Buffer memory can then be saved to Flash Memory.  Later in Stand alone mode the memory can be restored and re-executed.  KFLOP has 2 MBytes of Flash Memory.  1 MByte is available for User Data Storage.  A single Coordinated Motion Segment requires 216 bytes of memory.  So 1 MByte could save a maximum of ~4800 segments.  Something like a simple rectangle may only require about a dozen segments.   Something like an ellipse may require a few hundred segments.

I recall one user using this method for a stand alone automated cake decorator to repeatedly dispense fixed patterns like "Happy Birthday".

You would need to create code to Flash the data, keep track of each set of data, copy it back when needed, etc.  See the examples in the \C Programs\FlashNonVolatile\ directory for how to flash and restore memory.

#2 - In this approach the HMI would specifie a simple pattern like a a rectangle or ellipse parametrically and C code in KFLOP creates the Coordinated motion on-the-Fly.  For simple straight line motions such as rectangles, lines, triangles and such see the  CoordMotionInKFLOPTest.c example (which uses functions in CoordMotionInKFLOPFunctions.c).  For a fractional Ellipse see the Ellipse.c example. 

Th Ellpse example was created for a user utilizing a tangential knife glass cutting machine.  Although a Computer running Mach3 was used to enter the ellipse parameters the motion was created within KFLOP for a smoother and higher performance manner in essentially a stand alone mode.

In either case you can control PWM for the Laser Power with something like the example OutputSpeedToDAC.c.  But of course you would command to a PWM instead of a DAC.  KFLOP's PWMs operate at 65KHz or at integer divisors of this frequency.

HTH

Regards

TK

On 6/16/2016 10:55 AM, gyelle10@... [DynoMotion] wrote:

 

 Hello Morray

Thank you for fast support !

I installed KMotion and had a look at the example files but still not very deep.

Using a computer running Windows would have been the best solution but yes, there is allready a PLC controlling other functions and other machines so I'll need flashe the code and control it in stand alone.

Concerning uploading new code it can be done by connecting computer directly. I won't have to change the code very often so it is okay to stop the application. Ideally, I would upload a couple of GCode project (converted into coordinated motion) like circles, squares, ellipse, etc, and once it is uploaded, I would execute only the circle, or only the square with an external command. Do you think it is possible ?

Guillaume

 

Hi Tom,

Your example works fine thank you!

Is there a way to get more Flash memory ? Like an extension card or something like that ? I did a litle project and it takes 1160 Coordinated Motion Segments and I'll need to flash much more then that for my application... (I'm affraid 4800 segments will not be enough..)

Thanks in advance,

Guillaume

 

On Wednesday, June 29, 2016 2:23 PM, "Tom Kerekes tk@... [DynoMotion]" <DynoMotion@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

[Attachment(s) from Tom Kerekes included below]

Hi Guillaume,

You must reset the starting point back to the beginning and when calling a C Function you must include parenthesis otherwise the C compiler just evaluates the address of the function rather than executing it.

See the attached example.

Regards

TK

On 6/28/2016 2:14 PM, gyelle10@... [DynoMotion] wrote:

 

Hello Tom,

First thanks for the support ! I just began to work with my Kflop and I like it. 

Concerning your last response I'll give a try with the first option. I may have to do some weird pathern so creating the Coordinated motion on-the-fly would be tricky.. My only concern with the first option is the amount of flash memory.. My pathern will consist of many circles or sort of squares so I hope it will have enough memory to store at least 1 pathern. 

For now, I'm testing some feature and I have an issue.. :

When I execute Gcode with KmotionCNC and let it finish, (it consist of a simple circle and it executes perfecly) and then I try to re-execute it with the ExecBuf command in a C program, nothing happens. The program is quite simple.. :

            #include "KMotionDef.h"

            #include "CoordMotionInKFLOP.c"

            main()

                {

                    ExecBuf;

                 }

 I thought the GCode Interpreter would have created Coordinated Motion Segments and stored it in the KFlop's buffer and then with "ExecBuf" I could re-execute it. Am I missing something ? (probably..)

Thanks in advance,

Guillaume

On Thursday, June 16, 2016 9:39 PM, "Tom Kerekes tk@... [DynoMotion]" <DynoMotion@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

Hi Guillaume,

I agree with Moray using a PC would be would be a much simpler approach.  Do you plan on making a lot of these so that the software effort would justify the cost savings?

But for stand alone operation I see two basic approaches:

#1 - You can temporarily use a PC and define and run a GCode Path in a normal manner.  In this case the GCode Interpreter and Trajectory Planner running in the PC will create a Buffer of Coordinated Motion Segments and download them to KFlop's memory and execute it.  The Coordination Motion Buffer memory can then be saved to Flash Memory.  Later in Stand alone mode the memory can be restored and re-executed.  KFLOP has 2 MBytes of Flash Memory.  1 MByte is available for User Data Storage.  A single Coordinated Motion Segment requires 216 bytes of memory.  So 1 MByte could save a maximum of ~4800 segments.  Something like a simple rectangle may only require about a dozen segments.   Something like an ellipse may require a few hundred segments.

I recall one user using this method for a stand alone automated cake decorator to repeatedly dispense fixed patterns like "Happy Birthday".

You would need to create code to Flash the data, keep track of each set of data, copy it back when needed, etc.  See the examples in the \C Programs\FlashNonVolatile\ directory for how to flash and restore memory.

#2 - In this approach the HMI would specifie a simple pattern like a a rectangle or ellipse parametrically and C code in KFLOP creates the Coordinated motion on-the-Fly.  For simple straight line motions such as rectangles, lines, triangles and such see the  CoordMotionInKFLOPTest.c example (which uses functions in CoordMotionInKFLOPFunctions.c).  For a fractional Ellipse see the Ellipse.c example. 

Th Ellpse example was created for a user utilizing a tangential knife glass cutting machine.  Although a Computer running Mach3 was used to enter the ellipse parameters the motion was created within KFLOP for a smoother and higher performance manner in essentially a stand alone mode.

In either case you can control PWM for the Laser Power with something like the example OutputSpeedToDAC.c.  But of course you would command to a PWM instead of a DAC.  KFLOP's PWMs operate at 65KHz or at integer divisors of this frequency.

HTH

Regards

TK

On 6/16/2016 10:55 AM, gyelle10@... [DynoMotion] wrote:

 

 Hello Morray

Thank you for fast support !

I installed KMotion and had a look at the example files but still not very deep.

Using a computer running Windows would have been the best solution but yes, there is allready a PLC controlling other functions and other machines so I'll need flashe the code and control it in stand alone.

Concerning uploading new code it can be done by connecting computer directly. I won't have to change the code very often so it is okay to stop the application. Ideally, I would upload a couple of GCode project (converted into coordinated motion) like circles, squares, ellipse, etc, and once it is uploaded, I would execute only the circle, or only the square with an external command. Do you think it is possible ?

Guillaume

 

 Hello guys,

I noticed that when I execute my GCode within KMotionCNC and then execute the CoordMotionBuffer, I only have 30 segments, and when I execute the GCode within KMotion and then execute the CoordMotionBuffer, it takes 3045 segments. Both execution of the buffer has the same result and it's the good one. Do you know why there is a major difference in the numer of segments ? Would it works fine if I flash the 30 segments produced with KMotionCNC and then load/execute it again ? 

I only use 2 axis for now, I may use the 3rd axis to control the laser PWM (I'm still not sure) but I won't use more axis so I could use their memory. Is there any example on how to release the axis-related fields for a,b,c,u,v  and on how to use it after  ? I'm not really used to working with controllers .

The GCode I use for now is the following : 

It consist of an array of 8 circles but the application may need more circles per array and more rows. (I should have this information shortly). It also may be rows of different shape (not circles) in future projects.

N5 (File Name = Pièce142-3 on Thursday, June 30, 2016)

N10 (Default Plasma Post) 

N25 G0  X0.0  Y12.5

N30 M3(PLasma On)

N35 G4 P0.1000

N50 G3  X25.0000  Y12.5000  I12.5  J0  F18000

N55 G2X50.0000  Y12.5000  I12.5000  J-0.0000

N60 G3X75.0000  Y12.5000  I12.5000  J-0.0000 

N65 G2X100.0000  Y12.5000  I12.5000  J-0.0000 

N70 G3X125.0000  Y12.5000  I12.5000  J0.0000

N150 G2 X150.0000  Y12.5000  I12.5000  J0.0000 

N155 G3 X175.0000  Y12.5000  I12.5000  J0.0000 

N160  G2X200.0000  Y12.5000  I12.5000  J0.0000 

N165  X175.0000  Y12.5000  I-12.5000  J-0.0000 

N170  G3X150.0000  Y12.5000  I-12.5000  J-0.0000 

N175  G2X125.0000  Y12.5194  I-12.5000  J-0.0000  

N180  G3X100.0000  I-12.5000  J0.0000 

N1180  G2X75.0000  Y12.5000  I-12.5000  J0.0000 

N1185  G3X50.0000  Y12.5000  I-12.5000  J0.0000 

N1190  G2X25.0000  Y12.5000  I-12.5000  J0.0000 

N1195  G3X0.0000  Y12.5000  I-12.5000  J0.0000 

N11100  X0.0017  Y12.2924  I12.5000  J-0.0000 

N11105 G4P0.10

N11110 M5 (Plasma Off)

N11195 M30

Thanks alot for your support, 

Guillaume

On Wednesday, June 29, 2016 4:56 PM, "Hardy Family hardy.woodland.cypress@... [DynoMotion]" <DynoMotion@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

I haven't actually tried this, so YMMV, but compression might work for you.

Each motion segment takes 216 bytes, but if you look at the actual structure (PARAMETRIC_COEFF) then you will see that many of the values will be unused in your application, so you should be able to compress these structs quite nicely.

For example, if you are only using 3-axis then you can throw away the axis-related fields for a,b,c,u,v (but not the t^N coefficients which happen to be called a,b,c!).  This would cut the size down to 128 bytes with very little effort.

With more effort, you'll find other optimizations like storing only as many bits as actually needed for the char and short fields.  You might even get away with throwing away some of the double precision e.g. store in 6 bytes instead of 8.  For example, the first field is the motion type, and it only has to store the values 0..5, which can be done with 3 bits instead of the allocated 8.

So I think this would almost double your capacity if you only need 3 axis.  Are 9000 segments enough?

If that's still not enough, you can then use a general-purpose compressor like Lempel-Ziv, but that's a big project because you will have to port some open source code to the kflop.  Also, LZ/LZW don't always do so well when compressing binary (float) data.  You'd have to experiment on the PC first to see if it was worth while.

The gather buffer is about 8MB, so you can use that as a buffer when you compress/uncompress the data.

Regards,

SJH

On Wed, Jun 29, 2016 at 1:02 PM, gyelle10@... [DynoMotion] <DynoMotion@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

Hi Tom,

Your example works fine thank you!

Is there a way to get more Flash memory ? Like an extension card or something like that ? I did a litle project and it takes 1160 Coordinated Motion Segments and I'll need to flash much more then that for my application... (I'm affraid 4800 segments will not be enough..)

Thanks in advance,

Guillaume

 

On Wednesday, June 29, 2016 2:23 PM, "Tom Kerekes tk@... [DynoMotion]" <DynoMotion@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

[Attachment(s) from Tom Kerekes included below]

Hi Guillaume,

You must reset the starting point back to the beginning and when calling a C Function you must include parenthesis otherwise the C compiler just evaluates the address of the function rather than executing it.

See the attached example.

Regards

TK

On 6/28/2016 2:14 PM, gyelle10@... [DynoMotion] wrote:

 

Hello Tom,

First thanks for the support ! I just began to work with my Kflop and I like it. 

Concerning your last response I'll give a try with the first option. I may have to do some weird pathern so creating the Coordinated motion on-the-fly would be tricky.. My only concern with the first option is the amount of flash memory.. My pathern will consist of many circles or sort of squares so I hope it will have enough memory to store at least 1 pathern. 

For now, I'm testing some feature and I have an issue.. :

When I execute Gcode with KmotionCNC and let it finish, (it consist of a simple circle and it executes perfecly) and then I try to re-execute it with the ExecBuf command in a C program, nothing happens. The program is quite simple.. :

            #include "KMotionDef.h"

            #include "CoordMotionInKFLOP.c"

            main()

                {

                    ExecBuf;

                 }

 I thought the GCode Interpreter would have created Coordinated Motion Segments and stored it in the KFlop's buffer and then with "ExecBuf" I could re-execute it. Am I missing something ? (probably..)

Thanks in advance,

Guillaume

On Thursday, June 16, 2016 9:39 PM, "Tom Kerekes tk@... [DynoMotion]" <DynoMotion@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

Hi Guillaume,

I agree with Moray using a PC would be would be a much simpler approach.  Do you plan on making a lot of these so that the software effort would justify the cost savings?

But for stand alone operation I see two basic approaches:

#1 - You can temporarily use a PC and define and run a GCode Path in a normal manner.  In this case the GCode Interpreter and Trajectory Planner running in the PC will create a Buffer of Coordinated Motion Segments and download them to KFlop's memory and execute it.  The Coordination Motion Buffer memory can then be saved to Flash Memory.  Later in Stand alone mode the memory can be restored and re-executed.  KFLOP has 2 MBytes of Flash Memory.  1 MByte is available for User Data Storage.  A single Coordinated Motion Segment requires 216 bytes of memory.  So 1 MByte could save a maximum of ~4800 segments.  Something like a simple rectangle may only require about a dozen segments.   Something like an ellipse may require a few hundred segments.

I recall one user using this method for a stand alone automated cake decorator to repeatedly dispense fixed patterns like "Happy Birthday".

You would need to create code to Flash the data, keep track of each set of data, copy it back when needed, etc.  See the examples in the \C Programs\FlashNonVolatile\ directory for how to flash and restore memory.

#2 - In this approach the HMI would specifie a simple pattern like a a rectangle or ellipse parametrically and C code in KFLOP creates the Coordinated motion on-the-Fly.  For simple straight line motions such as rectangles, lines, triangles and such see the  CoordMotionInKFLOPTest.c example (which uses functions in CoordMotionInKFLOPFunctions.c).  For a fractional Ellipse see the Ellipse.c example. 

Th Ellpse example was created for a user utilizing a tangential knife glass cutting machine.  Although a Computer running Mach3 was used to enter the ellipse parameters the motion was created within KFLOP for a smoother and higher performance manner in essentially a stand alone mode.

In either case you can control PWM for the Laser Power with something like the example OutputSpeedToDAC.c.  But of course you would command to a PWM instead of a DAC.  KFLOP's PWMs operate at 65KHz or at integer divisors of this frequency.

HTH

Regards

TK

On 6/16/2016 10:55 AM, gyelle10@... [DynoMotion] wrote:

 

 Hello Morray

Thank you for fast support !

I installed KMotion and had a look at the example files but still not very deep.

Using a computer running Windows would have been the best solution but yes, there is allready a PLC controlling other functions and other machines so I'll need flashe the code and control it in stand alone.

Concerning uploading new code it can be done by connecting computer directly. I won't have to change the code very often so it is okay to stop the application. Ideally, I would upload a couple of GCode project (converted into coordinated motion) like circles, squares, ellipse, etc, and once it is uploaded, I would execute only the circle, or only the square with an external command. Do you think it is possible ?

Guillaume

Trajectory Planner Settings-13410(1).png

> On Jun 30, 2016, at 10:08 AM, gyelle10@... [DynoMotion] <DynoMotion@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
>
> Guillaume

Hi Guillaume,

The beginning of the Coordinated motion buffer would be &ParametricCoeffs[0] (address of the 0th entry of the motion buffer)

The End of the data would be &ParametricCoeffs[ParametricIndex+1] (address of the next available segment including terminator segment)

Hi Tom,

You are right, the diffence in the number of segments between Kmotion.exe and KmotionCNC.exe was the "Arc to segments", when this setting is uncheck, it only takes 68 segments to produce 3 rows of 8 circles and the result is still smooth circles . (I updated my GCode to obtain theses 3 rows, you can find it lower in this mail). 

I'm now trying to save theses segments into flash memory.. I have to admit that I'm not really at ease to copy the CoordMotionBuffer into flash. I looked at the "WriteData.c" file found in the FlashNonVolatile programs and I understand a litle what happen here but I'm not sure how to copy the CoordMotionBuffer adresses instead of random values.

 

GCode :

N5 (File Name = Pièce142-3 on Thursday, June 30, 2016)

N10 (Default Plasma Post) 

N25 G1  X0.0  Y12.5

N35 G4 P0.1000

N50 G3 X25.0000  Y12.5000  I12.5  J0  F18000

N55 G2 X50.0000  Y12.5000  I12.5000  J-0.0000

N60 G3 X75.0000  Y12.5000  I12.5000  J-0.0000 

N65 G2 X100.0000 Y12.5000  I12.5000  J-0.0000 

N70 G3 X125.0000 Y12.5000  I12.5000  J0.0000

N80 G2 X150.0000 Y12.5000  I12.5000  J0.0000 

N85 G3 X175.0000 Y12.5000  I12.5000  J0.0000 

N90 G2 X200.0000 Y12.5000  I12.5000  J0.0000 

N95    X175.0000 Y12.5000  I-12.5000  J-0.0000 

N100  G3X150.0000  Y12.5000  I-12.5000  J-0.0000 

N105  G2X125.0000  Y12.5000  I-12.5000  J-0.0000  

N110  G3X100.0000  Y12.5000  I-12.5000  J0.0000 

N120  G2X75.0000   Y12.5000  I-12.5000  J0.0000 

N125  G3X50.0000   Y12.5000  I-12.5000  J0.0000 

N130  G2X25.0000   Y12.5000  I-12.5000  J0.0000 

N135  G3X0.0000    Y12.5000  I-12.5000  J0.0000

N145 G4P0.10

N155 G1 X0 Y38.5

N145 G4P0.10

N160 G3 X25.0000  Y38.5  I12.5  J0

N55 G2 X50.0000  Y38.5 I12.5000  J-0.0000

N60 G3 X75.0000  Y38.5  I12.5000  J-0.0000 

N65 G2 X100.0000 Y38.5 I12.5000  J-0.0000 

N70 G3 X125.0000 Y38.5  I12.5000  J0.0000

N80 G2 X150.0000 Y38.5  I12.5000  J0.0000 

N85 G3 X175.0000 Y38.5  I12.5000  J0.0000 

N90 G2 X200.0000 Y38.5  I12.5000  J0.0000 

N95    X175.0000 Y38.5  I-12.5000  J-0.0000 

N100  G3X150.0000  Y38.5  I-12.5000  J-0.0000 

N105  G2X125.0000  Y38.5  I-12.5000  J-0.0000  

N110  G3X100.0000  Y38.5  I-12.5000  J0.0000 

N120  G2X75.0000   Y38.5  I-12.5000  J0.0000 

N125  G3X50.0000   Y38.5  I-12.5000  J0.0000 

N130  G2X25.0000   Y38.5  I-12.5000  J0.0000 

N135  G3X0.0000    Y38.5  I-12.5000  J0.0000

N145 G4P0.10

N155 G1 X0 Y64.5

N145 G4P0.10

N160 G3 X25.0000  Y64.5  I12.5  J0

N55 G2 X50.0000  Y64.5 I12.5000  J-0.0000

N60 G3 X75.0000  Y64.5  I12.5000  J-0.0000 

N65 G2 X100.0000 Y64.5 I12.5000  J-0.0000 

N70 G3 X125.0000 Y64.5  I12.5000  J0.0000

N80 G2 X150.0000 Y64.5  I12.5000  J0.0000 

N85 G3 X175.0000 Y64.5  I12.5000  J0.0000 

N90 G2 X200.0000 Y64.5  I12.5000  J0.0000 

N95    X175.0000 Y64.5  I-12.5000  J-0.0000 

N100  G3X150.0000  Y64.5  I-12.5000  J-0.0000 

N105  G2X125.0000  Y64.5  I-12.5000  J-0.0000  

N110  G3X100.0000  Y64.5  I-12.5000  J0.0000 

N120  G2X75.0000   Y64.5  I-12.5000  J0.0000 

N125  G3X50.0000   Y64.5  I-12.5000  J0.0000 

N130  G2X25.0000   Y64.5  I-12.5000  J0.0000 

N135  G3X0.0000    Y64.5  I-12.5000  J0.0000

N11195 M30

FlashCoordMotionBuffer-13438.c

FlashToCoordMotionBuffer-13446.c
FlashCoordMotionBuffer-13446(1).c

Also, in Tom's example p pointed to the start of the flash chip (0x90000000) but your code set p to the start of the next meg (0x90100000).

So, in Tom's code the compiler works out the addess using

0x90000000 + sizeof(double) * (0x100000/sizeof(double)) = 0x90100000

This is what I expected to see when I looked at the code, but in the  433 distribution of ReadSavedData.c

#define FLASHC ((volatile char *)0x90100000)  //  2nd Meg of Flash
void SetFlashBank(volatile unsigned short *add);

main()
{
    double *p=(double*)FLASHC;  // pointer to the FLASH Chip

So in fact p already points to the user space, yet when accessed, the code is still adding (0x100000/sizeof(double)) -

    printf("Saved 0 1 2 = %f %f %X\n",p[0+0x100000/sizeof(double)],
                                      p[1+0x100000/sizeof(double)],
                                      *(int*)(&p[2+0x100000/sizeof(double)]));

So now I'm still confused how this can work.

--

Hi Guillaume,

You are correct the coding in the ReadSavedData.c example is wrong.  It works because the Flash Bank was being set correctly.  Where the words were being accessed the address was off by 0x100000 but because only the bottom 14 bits of the address are used when reading Flash words (the upper bits are determined by the bank) it wouldn't matter.

Note when reading out large amounts of Flash data you must be sure to set the Bank whenever you cross a 16KByte boundary.

A corrected example is below.

Regards

TK

#include "KMotionDef.h"

void SetFlashBank(volatile unsigned short *add);

main()
{
    double *p=(double*)FLASH_USER;  // pointer to the FLASH Chip
       
    SetFlashBank(p); // the DSP external bus is banked, this routine selects the bank for the address
    // now we can access the data
    printf("Saved 0 1 2 = %f %f next word = %X\n",p[0],p[1],*(int*)(&p[2]));
}

 

Hello,

I was following the ReadSavedData.c example and when it access to the flashed data, it calls : " p[0+0x100000/sizeof(double)] " and it works fine when I previously flashed data with the WriteData.c example. I tried with p[0] and it finally works with my file :)

Concerning the execution of the motion with the data that I've copied back in the CoordMotionBuffer, I didn't expect to see any motion here. As I said, I execute what is in the buffer once I've copied back the data. I do it with an example that Tom gave me and it works fine when there are data :

LastCoordSystem0=&ParametricCoeffs[0];  // reset to start at beginning

ExecBuf();

Everything work fine now but I do it seperatly (I execute each thread manually). I can work on communication for real stand alone now.

Thanks for your time!

Regards,

Guillaume

 

On Monday, July 4, 2016 5:02 PM, "Hardy Family hardy.woodland.cypress@... [DynoMotion]" <DynoMotion@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

Why are you adding 0x100000/sizeof(double) in the array index?  That will definitely index beyond the end of the buffer.

p is pointing directly to the data you saved, so the items will start at index 0.

I haven't done this before, but I would think that you need to do more than just copy the data to get the machine to move.  You need to call some functions which actually tell the kflop firmware how many items are in the buffer, and start the motion.

As I mentioned, C is very low level.  All you did was copy a bunch of bytes from one location to another.  There's no magic that tells it what to do with the data.

So it is very unlikely to work the way you think.  Copying the data out of the ParametricCoeffs buffer should be fine, but to actually replay the moves you should look at Tom's examples.  You will probably need to examine each item in turn, and make the appropriate coordinated motion function call(s).

Regards,

SJH

On Mon, Jul 4, 2016 at 12:46 PM, gyelle10@... [DynoMotion] <DynoMotion@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

[Attachment(s) from gyelle10@... included below]

Thanks a lot for the tips!

I think it works fine (now it takes 0.284108 seconds to flash the CoordMotionBuffer).

I'm now working on the final step, which is to copy the flash memory into the CoordMotionBuffer to finally execute it in stand alone. 

Here is my C program (I attached a version to this mail : FlashToCorrdMotionBuffer.c) :

#include "KMotionDef.h"

#define FLASHC ((volatile char *)0x90100000)  //  2nd Meg of Flash 

void SetFlashBank(volatile unsigned short *add);

main()

{

PARAMETRIC_COEFF *p=(PARAMETRIC_COEFF*)FLASHC;  // pointer to the FLASH Chip

SetFlashBank(FLASHC); // the DSP external bus is banked, this routine selects the bank for the address 

// now we can access the data 

int i;

for(i=0; i<14904; i++) //Copy contain of the flash into CoordMotionBuffer

{

ParametricCoeffs[i]=p[i+0x100000/sizeof(double)];

}

}

The program executes without warning and error, but when I execute the CoordMotionBuffer nothing happens. I executed the Buffer before I execute this program and it went well (so the 

CoordMotionBuffer was not empty when I copied it into flash) I also attached the C program that I used to flash the CoordMotionBuffer.(FlashCoordMotionBuffer.c)

Thanks in advance,

Guillaume

On Monday, July 4, 2016 2:02 PM, "Hardy Family hardy.woodland.cypress@... [DynoMotion]" <DynoMotion@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

You are defining T0 and T1 as int.  Define them as 'double', otherwise it will truncate to a whole number of seconds.

In C, you have to be very aware of data types.  It's a low-level language (one step up from assembler).

You are setting pointers (addresses) directly into 'int'.  Although the compiler allows this, it's not good practice.  Instead of doing that complicated address arithmetic, if you want to find the number of bytes to program then put:

int N = (ParametricIndex+1)*sizeof(ParametricCoeffs[0]);

Regards,

SJH

On Mon, Jul 4, 2016 at 9:28 AM, gyelle10@... [DynoMotion] <DynoMotion@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

[Attachment(s) from gyelle10@... [DynoMotion] included below]

Hi Tom,

I need help with my Cprogram that copy the CoordMotionBuffer to the FLASH_USER. Here is my C program (I also attached to the mail)

#include "KMotionDef.h"

#include "KMotionDef.h"

main()

{

int T0,T1;

int Adress0 = &ParametricCoeffs[0];

int Adress_end = &ParametricCoeffs[ParametricIndex+1];

int N = Adress_end - Adress0;

// N is the number of adresses needed in the CoordMotionBuffer. It contains N/216 segments.

T0=Time_sec();

// write N bytes of the CoordMotionBuffer to the 2nd MByte of the Flash Chip

ProgramFlash((volatile char *)ParametricCoeffs,N/sizeof(short int),FLASH_USER,""); 

T1=Time_sec();

printf ("Flash Complete Erase+Programming time = %f seconds\n",T1-T0);

}

When I execute it (after I executed my project so the CoordMotionBuffer isn't empty, I verified it and N=14688) there is no errors and no warnings, but it takes 0.000000 seconds to complete the task (shown in the consol with the "printf" command). I guess my program doesn't work because it normaly takes  0.018062 seconds to copy the 16 bytes of the example program (WriteData.c)...

Do you know why it doesn't work ? I guess it is in the ProgramFlash(...) arguments.

Thanks again,

Guillaume

Hi Guillaume,

Trying to change accelerations and velocities after he motion has already been planned is very difficult.  Trajectory Planning is very complex considering the desired feedrates with all the velocity/acceleration constraints of all the axes involved as well as the curvature of the path and look ahead of curvature and constraints.  KMotionCNC uses the parameters set in the Trajectory Planner not the KFLOP settings to do the planning.  See:

http://www.dynomotion.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page#Velocity.2C_Acceleration.2C_and_Jerk

A simple analogy I like to use is to imagine planning a trajectory for your car to accelerate to 60MPH in 10 seconds and then cruise at 60MPH.  If you change your mind and decide to go 120MPH by running the Trajectory twice as fast, the result will be accelerating to 120MPH in 5 seconds which probably isn't possible (requires 4X the acceleration).  Similarly to go 30MPH would result in a 20 second acceleration which wouldn't fail but would be highly sub-optimal.

For simple paths that are relatively slow and constant speed where accelerations aren't critical it may work ok.  If I would have known you wanted to do dynamic acceleration and velocity I would have pushed you more in the direction of doing the Trajectory Planning in KFLOP (Although not nearly as capable as the PC Trajectory Planner).

Anyway the current instantaneous commanded feedrate can be easily computed within KFLOP.  See the VelocityToPWM.c example which controls a PWM output proportional to the current xy feedrate.

HTH

Regards

TK

 

I mean that you need to look at the speed being commanded by the kflop firmware.  This should be available without requiring any hardware encoders, but just off-hand I don't know how to do this.

There might be a way to obtain the theoretical instantaneous speed of each axis (assuming FRO=1.0), which would make things much simpler.  Tom would have to answer this.

Regards,

SJH

On Thu, Jul 7, 2016 at 10:54 AM, gyelle10@... [DynoMotion] <DynoMotion@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

Hi SJH,

I like the Idea ! But I don't have any feedback to look at the current speed... I'm working in open loop with step motors.

Is there a function to get the current frequency of the PWM step output so I could compare this frequency to a desired one ? 

Guillaume

 

Sent from Yahoo Mail. Get the app

On Thursday, July 7, 2016 1:31 PM, "Hardy Family hardy.woodland.cypress@... [DynoMotion]" <DynoMotion@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

PS: you might find some instability with the above, because the speed does not instantaneously follow the FRO.  So it might cut down the FRO too much, then have to compensate by increasing it, and the speed will start oscillating.

As with any feedback control, you need to consider stability.

One way to help might be to limit the change in FRO at any step.  So instead of

  fro *= d/c;

try something like

  newfro = fro * d/c;

  if (newfro < fro * 0.995) fro *= 0.995;

  else if (newfro > fro * 1.005) fro *= 1.005;

  else fro = newfro;

Regards,

SJH

On Thu, Jul 7, 2016 at 10:03 AM, Hardy Family <hardy.woodland.cypress@...> wrote:

One possibility if you want a "speed limit", but without changing accelerations or dwell times: have a thread that runs continuously looking at the current speed, and calls SetFRO() to slow it down if the speed goes over the limit.

Basically, you add a velocity control feedback loop that tries to maintain the velocity at a fixed level, but make sure you never call SetFRO with a value greater than 1.0 (otherwise it could never slow down!).

Code something like this might work:

double fro = 1.;

SetFRO(fro);

for (;;) {

  double c = get_current_feed_rate();

  double d = get_desired_max_feed_rate();

  if (c > d) {  // slow down

     fro *= d/c;

     SetFRO(fro);
  }

  else { // speed up

     if (c > 0.)

       fro *= d/c;

       if (fro > 1.) fro = 1.;
     }

     else

         fro = 1.;

     SetFRO(fro);

  }

  WaitNextTimeSlice();

}

Please report back whether this works; I might want to use it myself one day.

Regards,

SJH

On Thu, Jul 7, 2016 at 9:32 AM, gyelle10@... [DynoMotion] <DynoMotion@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

Hi all,

Is there a way to change the maximum velocity/acceleration of an axis in stand alone so that even if the speed specified in the Coordinated Motion Segments is higher,  the speed will be limited to this maximum speed ?

 Here is how I figured out my stand alone application :

1- User uses Kmotion.exe or KmotionCNC.exe to generate Coordinated Motion Segments that are stored in the CoordMotionBuffer.

2- When he is satisfed by his project1, he presses a LOAD button that automaticly save the CoordMotionBuffer into  a specific location in Flash Memory. (allocated for project 1)

3- When the user wants to execute his project 1, he first presses a DOWNLOAD button that automaticly copy the corresponding flash memory into the CoordMotionBuffer. Then, he press a GO button that execute the CoordMotionBuffer.

4- With RS232, he can send Console Commands that change settings like laser power (duty cycle of a PWM output) and I would like to change the velocity/acceleration of the XY axis.

Here is my issue : If I change the velocity/acceleration with FFVel<N>=<M>, it still uses the velocity defined in the Coordinated Motion Segments. If I use SetFRO everything is slower/faster (including the pauses in the project). 

What I tougth is to use a very high speed in Gcode (used in the Coordinated Motion Segments) and define the maximum Vel/Acc of the axis so I could change it without redoing step 1 (see above). Is this possible ?

Guillaume

 

On Thursday, June 16, 2016 9:39 PM, "Tom Kerekes tk@... [DynoMotion]" <DynoMotion@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

Hi Guillaume,

I agree with Moray using a PC would be would be a much simpler approach.  Do you plan on making a lot of these so that the software effort would justify the cost savings?

But for stand alone operation I see two basic approaches:

#1 - You can temporarily use a PC and define and run a GCode Path in a normal manner.  In this case the GCode Interpreter and Trajectory Planner running in the PC will create a Buffer of Coordinated Motion Segments and download them to KFlop's memory and execute it.  The Coordination Motion Buffer memory can then be saved to Flash Memory.  Later in Stand alone mode the memory can be restored and re-executed.  KFLOP has 2 MBytes of Flash Memory.  1 MByte is available for User Data Storage.  A single Coordinated Motion Segment requires 216 bytes of memory.  So 1 MByte could save a maximum of ~4800 segments.  Something like a simple rectangle may only require about a dozen segments.   Something like an ellipse may require a few hundred segments.

I recall one user using this method for a stand alone automated cake decorator to repeatedly dispense fixed patterns like "Happy Birthday".

You would need to create code to Flash the data, keep track of each set of data, copy it back when needed, etc.  See the examples in the \C Programs\FlashNonVolatile\ directory for how to flash and restore memory.

#2 - In this approach the HMI would specifie a simple pattern like a a rectangle or ellipse parametrically and C code in KFLOP creates the Coordinated motion on-the-Fly.  For simple straight line motions such as rectangles, lines, triangles and such see the  CoordMotionInKFLOPTest.c example (which uses functions in CoordMotionInKFLOPFunctions.c).  For a fractional Ellipse see the Ellipse.c example. 

Th Ellpse example was created for a user utilizing a tangential knife glass cutting machine.  Although a Computer running Mach3 was used to enter the ellipse parameters the motion was created within KFLOP for a smoother and higher performance manner in essentially a stand alone mode.

In either case you can control PWM for the Laser Power with something like the example OutputSpeedToDAC.c.  But of course you would command to a PWM instead of a DAC.  KFLOP's PWMs operate at 65KHz or at integer divisors of this frequency.

HTH

Regards

TK

On 6/16/2016 10:55 AM, gyelle10@... [DynoMotion] wrote:

 

 Hello Morray

Thank you for fast support !

I installed KMotion and had a look at the example files but still not very deep.

Using a computer running Windows would have been the best solution but yes, there is allready a PLC controlling other functions and other machines so I'll need flashe the code and control it in stand alone.

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