Standalone Motion Controller

[Mic_Scale]

Hi guys,

I would like to purchase a standalone motion controller for 6 existing stepper motors and their drivers.  By standalone I mean that it will be controlled via Usb or TCP/IP and located outside of the PC.

Also, I would like to be able to build a Labview application for it, so Labview drivers and support are important.

As a reference, the Parker ACR9000 meets most of our demands, only it does not have Labview drivers coming with it.

The Datasheet for the ACR9000 is given here: http://www.parkermotion.com/literature/pdf/ACR9000_brochure307.pdf

Could anyone  please suggest a suitable hardware ?

Thanks.

Michael.

[Brian_Beal]

The Delta Tau Clipper would meet your needs.  4 or 8-axis, stepper or servo.  Serial and Ethernet comms.  Labview drivers are available for a price, but you probably don't need them.  ActiveX library gets installed with the configuration software.

[yaHeard]

Hi,

National Instruments offers an Ethernet Motion Control system using the NI PXI System and LabVIEW Real-Time.  The system comes with a 4-slot PXI chassis so you can customize which motion controllers you would like to have installed.  If you would like to have 6 axes in one controller, I would recommend the PXI-7356 stepper/servo controller.  An 8-axis controller is also available so combined with the 4-slot chassis, you'd have the option to go all the way to 24 axes of control all running on a Real-Time system, so it gives you a lot of room for expansion.  If you are running a simple motion control program for the 6 steppers, then it will be a bit more than you'd need, but I wanted you to be aware of the variety of hardware setups available to you.

[A.C.E.]

Mic_Scale,

Did you (or anyone else) end up controlling the ACR9000 through LabVIEW?  I have just started on a program with an unfortunately aggressive deadline; I have the ActiveX and .NET files provided by Parker but would like to know if you've had a positive experience incorporating these into LabVIEW...or if there are stumbling blocks to look out for.

Thanks,

Alex

[Mic_Scale]

Hi Alex,

to your question, this project has descended in it priority, although I did manage to activate the ACR9000 through Labview.

I don't have a ready-to-send driver for you to use, but Parker provided us with some basic explanation.

I'm attaching the pdf file which talks about this, a file that has to be linked via Labview to use the ACR functions and my simple example of checking connection with the ACR through USB (You can modify).

[A.C.E.]

Thanks, Mic_Scale!

I figured as much with all the info I downloaded from Parker's site - but it did not include the pdf document you sent.  The Parker people I talked to, all of whom were really helpful, seem to only know of one other person using the ACR9000 with LabView.  I've got some stuff up and running within VIs - if/when you pick this project back up let me know and these might save you some time. It's a work in progress right now.

Alex

[Mic_Scale]

You're Welcome, Alex

Ask any question you got.

I personally like to work with Ascii commands with devices in Labview, and not use drivers as they are, or dll's for that matter.

I didn't find the commands for the ACR9000, and didn't come to a conclusion whether it's possible or not.

If you come across the answer to this, please feel free to let me (actually everybody here) know about it.

Thanks for your offer to help in the future, stay tuned, and it'll be great if you upload your drivers.

Michael.

[A.C.E.]

Michael,

See the attached zip folder for an example of how to write command-line instructions to the ACR9000 via LabVIEW.  I think this is what you are referring to.  I learned an important lesson yesterday - have the Parker people send you the most up-to-date manuals and help files, because the ones online are a bit old and do have some errors in them.

See the VI Properties-Documentation part of the attached VI for information on what the default command does.  The key for me was learning that I have to assign a "Master" through the ActiveX terminal (i.e., "prog 0", "prog 1") - otherwise the commands you send seem to do nothing at all.

Alex

[Mic_Scale]

Hi Alex,

Can you please save this file as a 8.0 Version and reupload please ?

 I have Labview 8.2, and it won't let me load your 8.5 version.

Thanx.

[A.C.E.]

Here you go -

Alex