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Tronic's AMC motor motion-controller with pwm/servo output

Discussion in 'SimTools compatible interfaces' started by tronicgr, Aug 30, 2007.

  1. rappa

    rappa New Member

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    thanks ne02005
    the bord have programmer, now I don´t have must time to finish the job but I will put here what I'm doing, will be beautiful in the box :)

    Rappa
  2. rappa

    rappa New Member

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    hello today arrived the ft232bl, more pictures :)

    Attached Files:

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  3. erichans

    erichans New Member

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    Hi Thanos,
    Long time! Is there any way, since you last posted the above, to run Motors 3 and 4. other than by using a second computer? My need for this has arisen as I wanted to add a seatbelt tensioning motor which would work during acceleration and deceleration. Initially, I tried this by just parallelling the seatbelt motor with the pitch motor, but due to different loads and travel distances the two motors did not run in sync. I then realised the seatbelt motor would need to run as a separate axis with it's own feedback pot. Everything else is mechanically ready ready. Thanks.

    Also you had mentioned the need for a software person capable of making a GUI in VB6 for changing the Kp values, instead of using the Hyperterminal. I have found such a person and if you send me some details, I'll pass them on to him.

    Regards, Erich.
  4. Gianni

    Gianni New Member Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
    DC motor, 4DOF
    Hi Thanos,
    I have been reading all past posts regarding your AVR-v1.5 and H-Bridge-v1.0 and I must congratulate you for your huge effert in sharing this great work with us. I have completed the assembly of all components and now busy testing interfacing with my computer. Beside few hick-ups with my LCD module (Powertip PC1602-H) requiring -1.4V supply to the Contrast pin 3. For this, I have added 2x1A diode in series between the Ground Power Jack input and the LM2940, my power supply is 9V.
    Now, I have a new problem in interfacing with the Pony Program. I have followed all the instructions reported in this Forum, changed crystals, the Pony .ini file etc. etc. all without success.. and ofcourse with the 'Device Missing -24 report). When the Pony Program reads the card, there is no sign of the RED led flickering or turning on, but it is ok if the reset button is pressed. I have been measuring the voltage on the RESET jumper, the reset button set the pin 9 of the ATMEG8535-16PU down to 0V (ground) while the signal from the BC547 can only take this to +4V, which I don't think is enough to reset the ATMEGA. I have changed R1 and R2 with lower resistors values (1K and 1.2K) and now the RED leed does come on, but voltage only reads +2V and I cannot get this to improve. if I 'play' with the reset button while the Pony program is working, I manage to set the fuses and get some reading, but when running the firmware, the verification fails and I'm back with all 000000... in the memory. At the time of ordering the BC547 I have managed to get only the BC547A, is this major difference? I have also tried to run Pony Program with the RED led disconnected, this to make sure no voltage gained from it.. but still reading +2V on the reset pin..
    I would be really grateful if you could advise some solution to this problem, maybe suggest a different transistor. I have gone so far with this project and I'm impatient to start building my 2DOF steel frame chair and share design and information with everyone.
    Best regards.
    Gianni (new member)
  5. Frakk

    Frakk Active Member

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    Erich, have you thought about using a decent RC servo for your seatbelts? The more powerful models have a lot of torque and you can move them 180degrees, which is good enough because to tighten a seatbelt you don't need much movement. IMO they are the cheapest and simplest solution, compact in size and the feedback is already built in.

    200oz/in if you give it about 6V:
    http://www.hitecrcd.com/servos/show?name=HS-755HB

    Gianni, double check your soldering and component placement. BC547 or BC547A doesn't matter. Check your diode polarity, transistor pins, soldering and traces, and also the DB9 pin connection. Maybe something is not connecting properly.
  6. sterex

    sterex New Member

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    hi tronicgr,

    i am a newbie, i 've been learning from your site for a long time now, even before i came to know about x-sim. infact it is your valuable site that lead me here. Anyway i tried to see your website today, but it seems like there is a bit of a problem. an error message 404 comes up anytime i wanted to visit your site.
  7. tronicgr

    tronicgr

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    I know its down. I cant get it back online right now. So I uploaded it as offline here:
    http://rapidshare.com/files/351277079/t ... ffline.zip

    You can view it as if it was online. ;D


    Thanos
  8. Gianni

    Gianni New Member Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
    DC motor, 4DOF
    Hi Frakk, some how R5 resistor got swopped with a 20 ohms... :blush: will continue inspection before fire it up again.. Thank you.
  9. erichans

    erichans New Member

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    Hi Frakk,

    Thanks for that.Yes I had thought on using a servo, but would still need to drive a WW motor finally as the power required is quite a lot--much more than a servo can offer. Am I correct in saying that the servo portion of the AMC 1_5, in it's present state, cannot be used? Any suggestions?

    Regards, Erich.
  10. Frakk

    Frakk Active Member

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    You are correct, the firmware needs a bit of tweaking to get it working. Thanos uses software pwm to drive the servos so it is not a big deal to run 2 motor drivers and the 4 servos.

    Just a quick calculation for torque:

    13kg/cm (180oz/in) for the servo I showed you (there are stronger ones).
    That means with a 2cm diameter (.8) spool, you can pull that 13kg (32lb) pressure on your body with the seatbelt. This gives you (pi * r) travel (180deg): 3.14cm(1.2)
    If you use a 3cm dia.(1.1) spool, you are at ~8.7kg (21.3lb) pressure on your body with a travel of 4.7cm (1.85)

    I haven't tried anything like this, but 21lb seems to be fairly good for almost 2 of travel.
    And there is also this one with double the torque (24.7kg/cm or 350oz/in):
    http://www.hitecrcd.com/servos/show?name=HS-805BB

    The metal gear version goes around $50 on ebay, which is not bad at all if you compare that to the price of a DC motor + H-bridge + all the time it takes to build + weight and space and mounting it with the feedback pot.
  11. ne02005

    ne02005 Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    Hi Thanos, I got 100% working your AMC 1.5 and Hbridge. on a SIMFORCE GT
    Thanks for everything!

    It will be great to see some improvements on future AMC board!!!

    Wish List:

    - USB Support
    - Really Servo Outputs for Gauges
    - 3 motors outputs without loose the LCD information...
    - a Hbridge for 3 motors.

    Maybe you can works on anything!!!!

    THANKS!!! :hi:
  12. erichans

    erichans New Member

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    Thanks Frakk, for those calcs.

    Will just have to be patient until Thanos finds the time to modify the firmware to take on 4 motors and servos. Actually, I'd like to stay with WW or window motors, as I have umpteen of these. So, for me................patience!!

    Regards, Erich.
  13. erichans

    erichans New Member

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    Hi ne0,

    I second that wishlist!!!! :clap:

    Erich.
  14. Shkvarka

    Shkvarka New Member

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    I think USB support isnt nessesary...
    I will only complicate the circuit but won't change anything, it will have tha same com port speed.
    Thanos made great work! Motion sim for everyone(lazy excluded:)) ), its cheap and simple.. so let it rest like this! :)
    Ofcourse, important functionality should be extended...

    BTW
    I think Thanos will concentrate on this:
    tronic-s-amc-motor-motion-controller-with-pwm-servo-output-t559-290.html#p7350

    can't wait to see more details on building this platform :clap: :yippiee:
  15. Frakk

    Frakk Active Member

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    Hi guys,

    I have been working on a controller, a bit different approach than what Thanos did. I already have the 8 channel servo controller working and the H-Bridge is coming along, but there is still a lot of work to do. Right now I have to put school first, so we have to have patience :thbup:

    I will tell you that the number of motors to be controlled will not be limited to 6 or even 12, only by the space and size of the PCB where you can put the connectors to them. LCD will be supported without loosing any functionality. I am focusing on simplicity and ease of build for the whole system.

    I agree, USB support is not necessary. It complicates things and adds cost and harder to find microcontrollers. Atmel doesn't even have a DIP package uC with hardware USB. You can buy a USB - Serial cable that will act like a virtual COM port on your PC and use that.

    If you can think of any features please post them! I will try to implement the most important ones if it is possible.
  16. ne02005

    ne02005 Member

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    Ok, I think, With 3 wiper motors, 4 servo outputs for gauges , Gear Display, and some leds it will be very fine!!!!

    USB support doesn't matter!
  17. ne02005

    ne02005 Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
    3DOF
    there is any way to make it works with 3 wipermotors???
    In the main page Thanos says:

    - 10bit (1024) motor speed resolution
    -4 actuators/motors support
    -4 full PWM channels
    -4 servo signal outputs
    -4 encoder inputs (implemented on a second extension board soon)
    -4 potentiometer inputs (that sets the max travel angle and the proportional speed.)
    -LCD support (not yet decided its use, maybe LCD menu for settings)
    -4 trim potetiometers (for various settings or buttons for the LCD menu)

    The information is not true?
    I want a simforce gt with 3 wipermotors, and servo output for gauges support!!!
    According to said in that description would have to works.

    Someone made it works with 3 dof?

    Thanks a lot
  18. Shkvarka

    Shkvarka New Member

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    Hi guys!!

    I've finished AMC bord couple weeks ago...
    I programmed AVR successfully...
    LCD displays all informarion...
    I can connect to AMC with hyper terminal and change KP wit NO PROBLEM!
    BUT...((
    I cant connect AMC to X-Sim 2.1(doqnloaded latest)
    According to video made by Thanos(part 4) in wiki, when I press Start button it gives error there are no axis defined....
    As I understand, my AMC bord should appear in Interface settings window, am I right? So its empty, when i press Start HW rescan i takes couple mins.. I see that LED near MAX232 blinks for 3-4 seconds and then nothing chages in Interface setiings..
    Both RT and TX are connected... (tried with one RX/TX too)

    Is it seems to be a hardware problem? or software?
    Any suggestion? Any advice appreciate!!
    Waitng for your help guys!!

    Best regards, Constantine.

    2 ne02005

    I think this post would help!
    post19057.html#p19057
  19. Frakk

    Frakk Active Member

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    It is a software problem. You have to add your axis in the Math section and pair it with an input. You can also do all those math functions to it, scale, filter, offset and so on. Once that's done, you have to set them to output in the USO. Add your COM port to list, from the drop-down menu select the axis, you will see that it is = ~a01~ or = ~a02~.

    Select 8bit binary output, then select your comport to edit, set speed/bits/pairity/stopbit accordingly, also enter the required format in the middle box. If I remember correctly: AB~255~~a01~~a02~

    Have you done all these steps?
  20. Shkvarka

    Shkvarka New Member

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    Thank you Frakk!!
    I added axis!
    Could you tell me, how can I check that my AMC works correct?
    Because after I pressed start there are no changes on LCD...

    OMG!! If I move Calibration slider in math section, value changes on LCD!!!!:)
    But, anyway, could you tell me what should I do next? (I mean wich tests..)
    I have finished DSMhb too! so if i connect it to AMC...
    can I test it with motors like this one:
    http://www.mabuchi-motor.co.jp/cgi-bin/ ... D=rf_500tb