EMC Milling Machine

This project was started for the following reasons:
1. Expand the capabilities of my original cnc mill
2. Gain experience with EMC2 and HAL
3. Gain experience with QCAD

The original cnc mill used a micro-controller attached to a serial port.
The mill now uses a parallel port interface controlled by the HAL of EMC2.

Below is a list of steps I followed to get EMC2 running:
1. Obtain a copy of the EMC2 live cd: http://linuxcnc.org/iso/emc2-ubuntu6.06-desktop-i386.iso
2. Design the HAL schematic that will be used to control the machine.
3. Change the config files to work with the machine.
4. Test and refine...

After the config files are working, I have at least one upgrade to perform...
Drill some holes for mounting/clamping.

Test with 3D_Chips.ngc...

Clamp the work down.

First pass over work finished.

The cutting bit is not long enough for one pass...

Screen-shot of second pass over work running.

Second pass over work running.

Second pass over work finished.



My first QCAD design...

My first QCAD design.

Finished part.

Screen-shot of finished part.

Finished part.

1. The X-axis was inverted for 3D_Chips.ngc .
2. Take a close look at HAL. It can be used for more than just milling machines.
3. I get better real-time results (runs faster) when I use HAL in place of the micro-controller.
4. I would not run the live CD on anything less than 700MHz-CPU with 256M-RAM.
5. "tkemc" seems to be a good light-weight interface for EMC.