Summary

This is a project about building and controlling a Plate Saw Machine. The whole projekt can be found at the following Git-Hub Link: "https://github.com/VirToReal/VirToCut". YouTube-Video: https://youtu.be/xQ6T13urcc0

What is this?

This is a Plate Saw Machine, which cuts straight stripes from a plate. The machine can be controlled via Software automatically, or trough the software/control-panel manually. The cutting-distance of the saw blade and the material feed can be controlled, too. The thickness of the saw blade will be added automatically in manual-mode.

To control the saw via software in automatic-mode, you can use a code syntax i developed for this machine which will look like that: >> A50 B300 // Feed Material 50mm and cut into that material 300mm. >> A50 B300 >> A30 B300 >> A30 B300 >> A10 B300 >> ROTATE // Saw stops, user have to rotate the plate 90°, some visual assistance shows user which stripes have to be placed into the machine (not ready yet) and confirms via software/hardware- button. >> A100 B100 >> A100 B100 >> WAIT // Saw stops, user have to place a new pair of stripes into the machine and confirms to proceed. >> A80 B60 >> A80 B60 >> WAIT // Saw stops, user have to place a new pair of stripes into the machine and confirms to proceed. >> A50 B20 >> A50 B20 >> A50 B20

The result can be seen the graphic I made in the gallery above. To press the plate on the workbench, I constructed a structure which do this for you if you select the right material from a drop-down menu.

Generating dynamical Structures

You can generate your own components by using the "ConstructionTemplate.scad"-File with OpenSCAD (http://www.openscad.org). Every component are adjustable in their dimensions as described in the “OpenScadDokumentation”-Folder. In OpenSCAD you also able to switch between the complete overview as the picture below and each single printable part as listened in the “OpenScadDokumentation”-Folder by using the “printmode”-Variable within the “ConstructionTemplate.scad”-File. All details are described in the file itself.

Necessary Skills

To get this project to work, you need some experience in printing parts with a 3D-Printer. Also some knowledge in electrical engineering are required, because you have to make a PCB and wire up a power-supply, raspberry-pi and an arduino-mega-2560 + ramps-shield. My files for milling/etching the PCB are to be found in the "KiCad"-Folder. The Files can be edited with the KiCad-Software (http://kicad-pcb.org). I used FlatCam (http://flatcam.org) to mill the "Gerber"-Files from KiCad.

Software

I use Python to send G-Code-Commands from the Raspberry-Pi to the Arduino over a serial interface. Marlin (http://marlinfw.org) is running on the Arduino and interprets the received G-Code-Commands and drives the engines with the RAMPS1.4 Shield (http://reprap.org/wiki/RAMPS_1.4). My Marlin-Configuration can be found in the "Marlin Firmware"-Folder.

The Python-Software can be found in the "Python Software"-Folder. At the moment its only available in German. If its necessary, I will rewrite it in english, too. But feel free to make a Fork ;-). The Software is already able to generate saw-pattern-templates, to cut a plate in different sized plates automatically.

TODO

But consider, the project is not fully completed yet. Some smaller improvements still has to be made:

• Structure on the material feeder, which prevents the material from rotating. Thought on something like a feather tensioned clamp.

• Some smaller software updates (don't find the right time at the moment).

  Any help would be appreciated.