GoCNC CNC Studio USB, User Manual

Page 1: ...Version 1 0a Copyright GoCNC de Uhlandstraße 24 58675 Hemer Germany Alle Rechte vorbehalten User Manual ...

Page 2: ...agala Uhlandstraße 24 58675 Hemer Germany www gocnc de info gocnc de Date 24 06 2012 Hardware version 1 2 Software version 1 0a Manual version 1 2 MS Windows is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation AutoSketch AutoCAD AutoSketch for Windows are registered trademarks of the Autodesk AG CorelDRAW is a registered trademark of the Corel Corporation Other products named herin are trademar...

Page 3: ...DRIVER INSTALLATION 10 FIRST STEPS 15 PROGRAM START AND FUNCTIONS 16 THE PROGRAM WINDOW 16 THE SETTINGS WINDOW 18 THE EDIT CNC FILE WINDOW 21 THE STEPP 2500 SETTINGS WINDOW 21 SETTING A GOCNC HOBBY A4 ADVANCED MILLING MACHINE 23 EMULATION 26 HOMING AND MACHINE ZERO POINT 28 PARK POSITION 28 MILLING EXAMPLE 29 HPGL FILE PREPARATION 30 TOOL LENGTH SENSOR 35 TOOL CHANGE PROCEDURE 35 VERSION CHANGES 3...

Page 4: ...a CNC machine with a parallel port A supplied USB Box is used for control in real time This box features in addition to a USB and parallel connection its own CPU its own software and its own memory in which the milling data is cached The milling data is sent from the PC via USB to the box where it is processed by the box and exported to the machine in real time through the parallel connection of t...

Page 5: ...icator Automatic and manual spindle control on off Manual switching of the cooling or suction equipment using the mouse Speeds of all axes can be set individually Ramps for all axes can be set individually Axis resolution for all axes can be set individually Thread pitch of the drive spindles can be configured at will Variable pin assignment of all inputs and outputs Maximum 23 076 steps per secon...

Page 6: ... CNC STUDIO USB USER MANUAL Installation the software Start the file CNC Studio Setup exe and follow the instructions on the screen Click the mouse on the Continue button mouse to start the installation ...

Page 7: ...DIO USB USER MANUAL 7 After you have finished reading the information about your software click on Continue Read the licence agreement and if you agree with the conditions click on I agree and then on Continue ...

Page 8: ...ur hard drive where you would like to install CNC Studio and click the mouse on Continue You have to confirm the selected installation path by clicking the mouse on Start Now wait a few seconds until the CNC Studio software has been transferred to the hard drive ...

Page 9: ...CNC STUDIO USB USER MANUAL 9 Installation is complete Click on Continue to close the installation program Now you can find CNC Studio under Programs in your Windows Start Menu ...

Page 10: ...Studio USB Box to your PC with the supplied USB cable Afterwards open the Control Panel in the Windows menu Change the view setting of the window to Large Symbols and look for the System symbol Start the program System with a mouse click At the top left of the System window is the Device Manager Start that program ...

Page 11: ... entry Stepper Motor Controller and double click on it In the new window that opens Properties of Stepper Motor Controller select the Drivers tab Now double click on Driver details Afterwards in the Update driver software stepper motor controller window click on the option Search the computer for driver software ...

Page 12: ...t window click on Search and select the folder in which you installed the CNC Studio software on your PC That installation program also installed the required drivers in this folder Check the box Include subfolders and then click on Continue ...

Page 13: ...his case simply select the option Install this driver software anyway After a few seconds the following window will appear This concludes the installation of the drivers for the CNC Studio Check the parameters in the window Properties of Stepper Motor Controller before installation of Properties of Stepper Motor Controller ...

Page 14: ...fully completed close the window Properties of Stepper Motor Controller Your Device Manager should now show a new device named USB stepper motor controller Close the Device Manager window and the Control Panel window CNC Studio is ready to be started for the first time ...

Page 15: ...he first time As already described in the Installation section the program can be found under Windows Programs CNC Studio Once the program starts a system information window will open showing you details about the version of your software the date of manufacture and the number of controllable axes and integrated CNC interpreters The window will close automatically after a few seconds Afterwards th...

Page 16: ...the job process The Editor window allows you to configure your CNC program directly 2 Manual drive You can also operate your machine manually by clicking on the buttons in this section All axes can be moved at speed and the speeds are defined in Settings The Y and X axes can also be moved simultaneously diagonally This is also where the milling spindle and the cooling and suction equipment can be ...

Page 17: ...d proportions of the working area adapt to the parameters of your machine which you entered in the settings You can display your job file graphically on this area and likewise this area is used for displaying the emulation 6 CNC program This is where your CNC program is loaded and displayed as a test You can also have your milling job file displayed on the working area of the machine 5 or start an...

Page 18: ... parameters are taken from your machine s documentation controller card Please note that different values are entered for each type of controller card By ticking the Invert box you can invert the level of the particular signal 2 CNC router settings Parameters of the machine Steps per revolution This is where the number of steps required per full rotation for the stepper motors of each axis are ent...

Page 19: ...in mm for the clearing of the reference switch is set Preferably this distance should be determined by trial and error on each machine Clerance steeps Every machine has backlash The backlash depends on the type of threaded spindle its quality and the wear and tear on the machine This value has to be determined and can be different for all axes Over time the backlash of your machine can change and ...

Page 20: ...gh trial and error Additional clearance mm This defines the tool lift height in mm when passing over a workpiece without milling The Z axis setting is increased above the zero point by this value for a pass Plunge depth mm This defines how far below the zero point the tool is lowered during a pass Repititions x Defines how often the pass should be repeated In case of a repeat the plunge depth will...

Page 21: ... in the Editor onto the hard drive under the same name switches automatically to the Program window and loads the same file in the Job File section New drawing Draws the file loaded in the Editor in the machine view of the Editor Emulate Emulates the pass of the file loaded in the Editor in the machine window of the Editor Emulation delay Controls the delay in the emulation of a file Copy Copies t...

Page 22: ...USB USER MANUAL Stepp 2500 Settings That is the settings Manual for often used Stepp 2500 CNC board The control board Stepp 2500 is not included in the delivery CNC Studio also works with other boards Version changes ...

Page 23: ...controller card is being used since this is included as a standard accessory with the Hobby A4 machine Set the signals as follows Pin 1 Spindle On Off Pin 2 Direction X Pin 3 Step X Pin 4 Direction Y Pin 5 Step Y Pin 6 Direction Z Pin 7 Step Z Pin 8 Not assigned Pin 9 Not assigned Pin 10 Reference XYZ Pin 11 Not assigned Pin 12 Not assigned Pin 13 Not assigned Pin 14 Not assigned Pin 15 Not assign...

Page 24: ...y clicking on the control arrows in the Test signals section of the Settings window If the machine should move in the opposite direction of the arrow you will have to invert the Direction X signal by ticking the Invert box next to Direction X Once the X axis moves in the direction you want the Y axis can be configured When configuring the Y axis the same parameters are entered as for the X axis On...

Page 25: ...k all of the settings again and when everything is OK the machine is ready for use The values for the following parameters can be changed as needed Micro steps 1 2 4 8 16 must always agree with the controller card Steps for ramp test and enter best values Maximum speed mm s test and enter best values Start stop speed 1 to 5 Manual drive fast mm s enter as needed Manual drive slow mm s enter as nee...

Page 26: ...emulation CNC Studio will draw your CNC file job in the Working area section delineating the milled lines in red and the linear movements in green To start the emulation first open a job file Click on the Open file button and load the file Testfile plt from the folder Programs CNC Studio HPGL The file should now be shown as Text view in the Job File section ...

Page 27: ... Now click on the Start emulation button and CNC Studio will start the emulation of the job sequence without milling the job file The speed of the emulation can be slowed down using the parameter emulation delay Finished Emulation ...

Page 28: ...dard settings for machines which have all of the reference switches connected as N O contact at the input of the controller card The All at once parameter can be set only on machines that have all reference switches connected individually to different inputs of the controller card Save the settings and change pack to Program Start the homing run of your machine by clicking on Homing XYZ All axes i...

Page 29: ...the Manual drive buttons to the rear so that you have enough space on the machine table to clamp the workpiece on the front left corner After securing the workpiece perform a homing run Afterwards your machine should move to the front left corner above the workpiece Press the Open file button and load the job file Testfile plt from the folder Programs CNC Studio Demos into the program Click on New...

Page 30: ...ns about how to create HPGL files with other drawing programs please consult the manual of the drawing program you want to use This user manual does not describe how to use other programs Start Corel Draw and select the function File New Enter the following data in this window Name The name for your file size Custom Width The width of the working area of your machine Height The length of the worki...

Page 31: ... diameter of 9 mm and the outer circle a diameter of 11 mm Select the Rectangle tool from the menu on the left and draw with it on the working space see illustration The rectangle should have an internal measurement of 100 mm after reaming Milling is done with a 2mm cutter Therefore we have to draw a rectangle with a height of 102 mm and a width of 102 mm Mark the drawn rectangle with the mouse cl...

Page 32: ...tangle Select both objects with the mouse by pressing the Ctrl button during selection In the menu click on Align and Distribute and select the option Align Centres Horizontally This option aligns the centre points of both objects horizontally Now select Align and Distribute and the option Align Centres Vertically Now the centre points of both objects are aligned vertically Now our drawing is fini...

Page 33: ...ds for the HPGL format After you have selected the plt as the file type click on Save Now a small window should open where you can enter the parameters for the HPGL format Check the specifications It s very important that millimeters and not inches are entered on Page The width and height of the file must not be larger than the working area of your machine it can be smaller and make sure that the ...

Page 34: ...34 CNC STUDIO USB USER MANUAL You can now import the finished file in the CNC Studio and experiment a little This is how the file will appear in CNC Studio and emulate mill process ...

Page 35: ... readily accessible Perform a homing run of the machine After homing use the Manual drive to position the machine as close as possible directly above the tool length sensor Use Manual drive to lower the Z axis carefully and check the position The inserted tool should be centred above the sensor Once the tool is centred above the sensor change the window from Program to Settings Click the mouse on ...

Page 36: ...nd then click on Measure tool Now the measuring process will be repeated for the new tool Following the measurement the Z axis will be lifted the difference in length between the new and the old tool will be ascertained and a new workpiece zero point will be calculated After every measurement the workpiece zero point will be matched to the tool currently installed ...

Page 37: ... PA commands Import HPGL Files from Eagle PCB Target PCB TurboCad AutoCad and others programs exportierte HPGL und HPGL Dateien können direkt eingelesen werden Integrated Excellon Drill interpreter Excellon switch parameters from inches to millimeters in the editor with T71 command Excellon Drill bits to be changed manually via table tool measurement proceduer integrated Spindle can be started aut...

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