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[00:01:17] <amorneau> I am trying the wizard, but the motors don t move. However, I have checked with Sherline and my motors have 200 steps per rev with 20TPI lead screw
[00:02:16] <alex_joni> * alex_joni goes to bed.. 2am here
[00:02:32] <alex_joni> amorneau: hang around, I'm sure someone else will help you soon ;)
[00:02:34] <amorneau> OK thanks alex_joni...
[00:02:43] <alex_joni> amorneau: check the pinout you're using..
[00:03:20] <amorneau> making progress, thanks
[00:03:45] <jlmjvm_> also to figure the steps,what kind of drives do you have,full step,half step,micro?
[00:04:32] <amorneau> OK... but you go to sleep, I ll let you know tomorow...
[00:04:55] <alex_joni> good night all
[00:05:06] <jlmjvm_> nite alex
[00:05:51] <jlmjvm_> what kind of drives do you have?
[00:09:34] <jlmjvm_> if you have microstepping drives it would be 2000 steps per rev with a 20 tpi screw
[00:10:32] <jlmjvm_> which would be quite a diff,10 to 1
[00:10:47] <jlmjvm_> for the input scale number
[00:13:32] <jlmjvm_> when you said it was moving about 1 tenth what emc commanded,was that measured or just eyeballed,or was it 2 screw turns
[00:32:31] <eric_U> jmkasunich: you really here?
[00:33:02] <cradek> nobody will admit to being here unless he knows the impending topic
[00:33:14] <cradek> nobody in his right mind, I mean :-)
[00:33:19] <eric_U> wondering about what it would take to get the 5i20 driver expanded to 8 axis
[00:33:46] <eric_U> I figured he would like my first question better than my second :)
[00:33:57] <cradek> heh
[00:34:57] <eric_U> I used to know what it took to make an emc driver, but I never looked at the HAL drivers
[00:36:36] <eric_U> that's funny, it's right there on page 12 of the hal manual
[00:38:08] <eric_U> it seems that the vhdl exists for an 8 axis m5i20 driver, it's just a matter of loading it and writing the HAL code for it
[00:39:29] <Dogfishguzzler> So should I look forward to octahedrapod support by the new year?
[00:40:02] <eric_U> there is already hexapod
[00:40:10] <Dogfishguzzler> I just ordered the machine based on the assumtion of you guys were about to tackle this issue.
[00:40:27] <eric_U> your statement lacks credibility :)
[00:40:40] <Dogfishguzzler> eric_U: da hell you say!?
[00:40:59] <eric_U> I said they haven't made that many l293's yet
[00:41:17] <Dogfishguzzler> I'm credible, I'm an anonymous string of text, I'll dare you question my credibility.
[00:42:19] <eric_U> all I'm sayin' is that I bought a bridgeport in 2001, and it hasn't moved under emc control yet
[00:42:31] <Dogfishguzzler> damn really?
[00:42:43] <eric_U> which is a little on the slow side, granted, but not un-heard of
[00:43:03] <eric_U> I'm working on it :)
[00:43:09] <Dogfishguzzler> I got a floppy drive motor to move a bit on my first try. I can't wait till I can afford some drives and motors.
[00:43:25] <Dogfishguzzler> Are you knew to linux, emc, both, neither?
[00:43:29] <eric_U> stepper systems took me a few hours
[00:44:02] <Dogfishguzzler> new* to linux
[00:44:28] <eric_U> not new at all
[00:44:43] <Dogfishguzzler> lol, thanks for the encouraging words
[00:44:53] <eric_U> I'm cautious
[00:45:10] <eric_U> I think that's the word for it
[00:45:14] <Ziegler> woah... look at >>
http://www.google.com
[00:45:25] <Dogfishguzzler> lol
[00:45:33] <Ziegler> Generated Tue, 04 Dec 2007 00:45:21 GMT by . (squid)
[00:46:25] <Ziegler> uh never mind... now its back
[00:46:31] <Ziegler> that was weird
[00:47:24] <Dogfishguzzler> As an observer only, yes it was weird.
[00:48:26] <Ziegler> all Igot when I visited google was "Generated Tue, 04 Dec 2007 00:45:21 GMT by . (squid)"
[00:50:27] <Ziegler> never mind its an OpenDNS thing
[00:53:11] <Dogfishguzzler> So, I still dont know the difference between two phase and four phase. Is that how many 'routines" it must do to go one rev? Or has that something to do with whole vs half stepping?
[00:53:37] <Dogfishguzzler> neither?
[00:54:13] <Dogfishguzzler> I want to know how to identify a moter as one or the other.
[00:54:20] <Dogfishguzzler> motor*
[00:57:23] <eric_U> 4 wires = 2 phase
[00:58:58] <eric_U> 5 wrires = 4 phase
[00:59:25] <eric_U> any other number = either
[01:02:09] <jlmjvm_> cant a 2 phase also be 8 wire
[01:02:24] <eric_U> either
[01:03:19] <eric_U> your choice
[01:05:06] <jlmjvm_> what kinda bridgeport do you have
[01:05:17] <Dogfishguzzler> thanks
[01:05:33] <eric_U> series II bridgeport
[01:05:44] <eric_U> meant to say series II cnc
[01:05:55] <jlmjvm_> cool,i got a series 1
[01:05:57] <eric_U> so it has ballscrews
[01:06:09] <jlmjvm_> yep,factory cnc
[01:06:23] <eric_U> I thought about that, and decided I needed more travel
[01:07:07] <eric_U> that was Joe Vicar's fault
[01:07:29] <eric_U> do you have a ballscrew on your knee?
[01:07:37] <jlmjvm_> coolest thing about this mill is that you can tilt the head and go thru a standard garage door
[01:07:52] <jlmjvm_> no,series 1 had regular screw
[01:07:59] <eric_U> mine is fixed head, just ask my daughter about that
[01:08:16] <Dogfishguzzler> * Dogfishguzzler jlmjvm now has my attention
[01:08:28] <eric_U> so it has a ballscrew spindle?
[01:08:38] <jlmjvm_> yep
[01:08:53] <eric_U> I like that better, but I'd also like to have a ballscrew on the knee
[01:09:08] <eric_U> maybe someday when I'm feeling rich again
[01:09:16] <jlmjvm_> it would be cool for a w axis
[01:09:27] <eric_U> I have a linear encoder for the knee
[01:09:50] <jlmjvm_> the series 2 had them because the table was so much heavier
[01:10:06] <eric_U> mine has an acme screw
[01:10:12] <eric_U> I have the ballscrew spindle
[01:10:15] <jlmjvm_> oh really
[01:10:32] <eric_U> I think the ballscrew knee was temporary
[01:10:42] <jlmjvm_> every series 2 i ever saw was ballscrew knee
[01:10:48] <jlmjvm_> k
[01:10:49] <eric_U> they probably got rid of it after the air assist died and killed someone
[01:11:22] <eric_U> the knee and table probably weigh the same amount as a series I
[01:12:00] <jlmjvm_> the 1 im talking about is twice as big
[01:12:23] <eric_U> a series I weighs 2k and a series II weighs 5.5k
[01:13:13] <jlmjvm_> thought the 1 was closer to 3k
[01:13:17] <eric_U> my air assist doesn't work on my knee, and it's a big workout
[01:13:31] <eric_U> the cnc version probably weighs more
[01:13:54] <eric_U> I've only seen the weight for the manual
[01:14:22] <eric_U> the pdp-11 probably weighs 1000lb
[01:14:52] <eric_U> did you get yours with the computer?
[01:14:59] <eric_U> and tape drive?
[01:15:17] <jlmjvm_> no,mine only had the back cabinet
[01:15:29] <eric_U> I got both cabinets, but they were stripped
[01:15:41] <eric_U> no motors either
[01:16:02] <jlmjvm_> u need some motors
[01:16:12] <eric_U> not any more
[01:16:28] <eric_U> did yours come with the motors?
[01:16:33] <jlmjvm_> yep
[01:16:52] <jlmjvm_> got newer ones now
[01:17:01] <eric_U> do you know how many teeth are on the z axis drive pulley?
[01:17:23] <eric_U> 26?
[01:17:25] <jlmjvm_> they have 2 different ones
[01:17:44] <jlmjvm_> sounds right cause the little 1 is 13
[01:17:56] <eric_U> some were the same
[01:18:01] <eric_U> 26 for both
[01:18:16] <eric_U> I was just curious because you can't buy a 13 tooth pulley
[01:18:24] <jlmjvm_> mines like that,big pulley
[01:18:36] <jlmjvm_> actually you can
[01:18:42] <eric_U> where?
[01:19:08] <eric_U> cause that would make me happy/make me feel stupid all at the same time
[01:19:33] <jlmjvm_> i can get you the info tomorrow where the mill is,they found some,but i think they have to bored to size
[01:19:54] <eric_U> bored to size is no problem
[01:20:20] <jlmjvm_> their 13 tooth pulley was worn badly,they told me last fri they found some
[01:20:33] <eric_U> so you haven't taken delivery yet?
[01:20:50] <jlmjvm_> no,just heard
[01:21:02] <eric_U> what motors are you using?
[01:21:45] <jlmjvm_> i have some pacific scientific steppers,the square kind
[01:22:09] <eric_U> those must have been tough to find
[01:22:26] <jlmjvm_> got lucky on ebay 1 day
[01:22:31] <eric_U> nice
[01:22:40] <eric_U> I'm using brushless servos
[01:22:54] <Dogfishguzzler> How about your used ones jlmjvm, what would you need to part with thise?
[01:22:59] <Dogfishguzzler> those*
[01:23:18] <jlmjvm_> sure
[01:23:19] <eric_U> you can't drive them with a l293
[01:23:32] <Dogfishguzzler> lol
[01:23:45] <Dogfishguzzler> If i had real motors I would be looking at a gecko
[01:23:50] <eric_U> actually, they are large enough to fry a gecko if you aren't careful
[01:23:52] <Dogfishguzzler> They dont cost that much
[01:23:53] <amorneau> Hi, I have just created a new configuration with stepconf, but I get a limit switch on joint 0, 1, 2 and 3 when I try totoggle the machine power. My Sherline has no limit switches. What can I do?
[01:24:39] <Dogfishguzzler> whatever I needed I would buy. But I if i can get good motors cheap I'm willing to ask even if I dont use them for two more years.
[01:25:09] <eric_U> I'm willing to wait up to 6 years, but not a day more
[01:25:14] <Dogfishguzzler> lol
[01:25:26] <Dogfishguzzler> I set my limit @ 47 years.
[01:26:02] <amorneau> dogfishguzzler: where do you set that option?
[01:26:06] <Dogfishguzzler> Once I'm 80 I won'y give a crap I'm sure, but it would be nice if I did!
[01:26:12] <eric_U> amorneau: I wish I knew off the top of my head, but you can tell it to ignore
[01:26:22] <jlmjvm_> you will have to turn those lines off in your hal file
[01:26:29] <Dogfishguzzler> Edit>preferences>aged>limts
[01:27:18] <eric_U> amorneau: ignore the Dog, he's been guzzling fish again
[01:27:43] <Dogfishguzzler> HEY! I resemble that remark.
[01:27:46] <eric_U> Dogfishguzzler: he went off to the garage to find that option
[01:27:53] <eric_U> it's your fault
[01:27:57] <Dogfishguzzler> it's there eric
[01:28:13] <amorneau> eric_U: I am out of options, so I d try anything at this point
[01:28:14] <jlmjvm_> bbl
[01:28:45] <jlmjvm_> amorneau:do you know where your hal file is
[01:28:47] <eric_U> I've never used stepconf, maybe I should go play with it even though I'm not using a stepper
[01:29:36] <jlmjvm_> you will have to comment out the limit switch lines
[01:30:11] <fenn> put a # at the beginning of lines that look like this: net min-x => axis.0.neg-lim-sw-in
[01:30:18] <fenn> net max-x => axis.0.pos-lim-sw-in
[01:30:51] <amorneau> fenn: is that in the ini or hal file?
[01:30:55] <fenn> the hal file
[01:32:00] <amorneau> something like: net both-home-a => axis.3.neg-lim-sw-in
[01:32:20] <fenn> yeah
[01:32:36] <fenn> do you have home switches?
[01:32:48] <amorneau> Not limits, yeah!
[01:32:52] <jmkasunich> eric_U: since 2001 and not converted yet? I bought my shoptask in 1998 and is still isn't converted
[01:33:13] <fenn> jmk i thought you cut a pawn on the lathe part?
[01:33:30] <jmkasunich> nope, you must be thinking of somebody else
[01:33:32] <eric_U> my y axis encoders are talking to my mesa, that has to count for somehting
[01:33:42] <jmkasunich> I mounted the motors for the first time last week
[01:33:49] <jmkasunich> they still aren't hooked to the drives or anything
[01:33:58] <fenn> maybe it was lawrence glaister
[01:34:21] <jmkasunich> could be, I think he has a shoptask
[01:36:17] <Dogfishguzzler> So, can you configure a shoptask with emc to use the spndle as a fourth axis?
[01:36:29] <amorneau> fenn: thanks, it works now, except that my z axis is going somewhere when I home it
[01:36:38] <jmkasunich> the limitation isn't emc, its the spindle drive train
[01:36:38] <Dogfishguzzler> Ofcourse you need motors drives etc
[01:37:13] <fenn> i guess this is an enco lathe, not a shoptask? well it's yellow at least :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX4SWe8WFA4
[01:37:20] <Dogfishguzzler> lol
[01:37:39] <jmkasunich> I can't imagine any reasonably priced (hobbiest scale) motor that could be both a spindle motor and a rotary axis motor
[01:37:58] <fenn> you just need more gears
[01:37:59] <jmkasunich> rotary tables usually use worm gears to reduce speed and increase torque
[01:38:27] <fenn> backlash would be an issue eh
[01:38:39] <jmkasunich> yep
[01:39:07] <dmess> mechanical boxes SUCK....
[01:39:11] <amorneau> fenn: when I select "Home axis z", instead of making Axis reset the position to 0, the Z axis moves up... what is this?
[01:39:29] <amorneau> please?
[01:39:31] <Dogfishguzzler> Yeah that makes sense.
[01:39:34] <jmkasunich> the requirements for a rotary axis and a lathe spindle are different enough that I wouldn't seriously consider trying to make it do double duty
[01:39:52] <jmkasunich> amorneau: it is trying to home the axis to a home switch
[01:39:55] <fenn> amorneau: it is doing a homing sequence.. it's supposed to move until the home switch trips and then it knows it's at the home position
[01:39:58] <Dogfishguzzler> That makes perfect sense
[01:40:13] <dmess> ALWAYS ensure there is a rotary axis glass scale to close the loop...
[01:40:22] <jmkasunich> if you don't have a switch, your ini file need to tell EMC that you don't have a switch
[01:41:00] <amorneau> jmkasunich: sure, but how? I just commented out the limits in the hal
[01:41:14] <Dogfishguzzler> dmess: Closed loop, is'nt that servo talk?
[01:41:18] <jmkasunich> in the ini file, set HOME_SEARCH_VEL and HOME_LATCH_VEL to zero
[01:41:25] <dmess> tahcho's and resolvers have failed in the last few days
[01:41:35] <amorneau> jmkasunich: thanks
[01:41:42] <eric_U> dmess: that's no fun
[01:41:46] <jmkasunich> (there is a page in the manual about homing configuration, and a drawing, that explains it)
[01:42:01] <eric_U> dmess: I wouldn't think a resolver could fail
[01:42:44] <amorneau> jmkasunich: thanks, I ll have a look. I got all those fancy options from stepconf.
[01:42:44] <dmess> no i think we can save her.. but the Mandelli... went awrye...
[01:42:49] <Dogfishguzzler> night all, thanks for another round of informative literature.
[01:43:02] <eric_U> tachos are all on death's door
[01:44:09] <dmess> we still have 20 yr old machines.. hiedy 150... it was DIRTY..
[01:44:13] <eric_U> that's why someone invented the tachsyn
[01:45:14] <amorneau> By the way... I like the new separate Override for spindle and feed. Thanks for all the answers
[01:45:17] <eric_U> right about that time, they said, "oops, why aren't we using encoders?"
[01:46:15] <dmess> somting added pulses to the y axis.. the pathe went into the rubarb... was a PROVEN program.... then DOVE back into the original part....
[01:46:50] <eric_U> nice, after the part was made, right?
[01:47:35] <dmess> this was on a fanuc 180e
[01:48:23] <dmess> it FARKINGIBLETY-wonblows.. o/s
[01:49:03] <dmess> celerol processor..
[01:50:12] <dmess> this is a full 5 axil machine boys.. and it SUCS and burps at the leaste oputune time...
[01:50:35] <eric_U> I scanned this article today:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/7376406nx011415k/
[01:50:53] <eric_U> they said emc2 is ok, but it should use fifos instead of shared memory
[01:52:16] <eric_U> I was impressed they admitted that emc2 exists
[01:54:20] <fenn> " the prototype controller and test results are present" - does that mean they actually wrote a new cnc control?
[01:54:38] <jmkasunich> probably
[01:54:40] <eric_U> at least they wrote a couple of front-ends
[01:55:22] <jmkasunich> there is a huge difference between a control that works well enough for an acedemic to write a paper, and a control that works in the real world
[01:55:30] <jmkasunich> the old 80-20 rule
[01:55:47] <eric_U> there are two kinds of successful academics: ones that think their farts don't smell, and those who have farts that don't smell all that bad
[01:56:35] <fenn> i just dont see the point of writing all about your magical software, and never actually showing the code to anyone
[01:56:57] <eric_U> truth is, if you made something as complex as emc2 work at an academic institution, you wouldn't be a successful academic
[01:57:39] <eric_U> although funding is probably different in China
[01:58:06] <DanielFalck> could someone from the non academic world call them on it and ask for some proof that it works? would anyone care?
[01:58:14] <eric_U> nope
[01:58:21] <fenn> i think they would ignore you and nobody would care
[01:58:27] <fenn> at least that's been my experience
[01:58:33] <DanielFalck> the publisher probably doesn't care either
[01:58:45] <eric_U> I'm disappointed springer printed it
[01:59:03] <eric_U> but there are so many journals nowadays, most are trash
[01:59:22] <fenn> it's just a career advancement mechanism really
[01:59:32] <fenn> 'look we wrote 10 papers'
[01:59:53] <jmkasunich> publish or perish
[01:59:59] <eric_U> my boss won "most cited paper" for IEEE transactions in controls
[02:00:03] <jmkasunich> or is that "publish porridge" ?
[02:00:06] <fenn> jmkasunich: i dont think that's what it means
[02:00:07] <eric_U> 5 cites in 2 years
[02:00:20] <eric_U> 4 from his own students
[02:00:43] <eric_U> and that's actually a prestigious journal
[02:00:45] <fenn> heh the more papers you publish, the more you get to cite your own papers
[02:01:03] <DanielFalck> could we mount a publicity campaign on slashdot and raise hell with them to get their attention?
[02:01:15] <fenn> is there a citation graph coverage index? :)
[02:01:21] <eric_U> yes
[02:01:50] <eric_U> citeseer and citeulike have info about that
[02:01:51] <jmkasunich> DanielFalck: what exactly do you want to raise hell about?
[02:02:43] <eric_U> What is worse, some academic in china supports all the chinese cnc makers, or they adopt emc2?
[02:03:14] <eric_U> not sure myself, just throwing the question out there
[02:03:36] <fenn> i think it'd be great if the chinese adopted emc2, but they'd probably claim they invented it
[02:04:07] <eric_U> not a problem, unless they start suing people
[02:04:16] <fenn> the gov't introduced their own 'red linux' or something, stripped of all copyright notices
[02:04:19] <eric_U> they aren't in the patent troll mode yet
[02:04:23] <fenn> i may be retelling an urban legend
[02:05:03] <dmess> i wont gige ANYTHING more to the Chinese.... peace out....
[02:05:04] <DanielFalck> jmkasunich: I don't know.
[02:05:52] <jmkasunich> I really can't bring myself to care about the antics of academics
[02:05:54] <eric_U> sure would be fun to look at that code, I wonder if it's nist code?
[02:06:23] <eric_U> I thought the nist code did use fifos
[02:06:28] <dmess> they could do in a day what would take us a year...
[02:06:51] <jmkasunich> eric_U: don't be so sure
[02:07:43] <dmess> there are a BILLION of themmm
[02:07:43] <eric_U> not sure, it's been years since I looked at that
[02:08:00] <fenn> dmess that's only 4x the number of americans
[02:08:16] <dmess> ok
[02:08:17] <eric_U> if you're one in a million, there are 1100 people just like you in china
[02:08:35] <fenn> dmess: and 90% of them dont have access to computers
[02:08:38] <dmess> where is your arguament|???
[02:08:42] <jmkasunich> but they're academics....
[02:08:48] <dmess> wanna bet..
[02:09:25] <dmess> NA sends boxes over there to have th gold retrieved...
[02:09:52] <dmess> you think the melt them ALL
[02:09:58] <fenn> yep
[02:10:40] <fenn> communism isnt about saying 'hey i'm gonna just steal some of these computers we're disassembling and go start a software company'
[02:11:17] <dmess> HEY and japanese babies are being made in china cause they're cheaper...
[02:11:19] <fenn> its like saying you have access to fighter jets because you make landing gear
[02:11:54] <jmkasunich> what are you babbling about?
[02:12:08] <dmess> i make knobbly washers....
[02:13:56] <amorneau> Guys, I have the same homing problem on the lathe. I have set both HOME_SEQUENCE to 0 but both my axis move when I home. Any other good pointers?
[02:14:18] <jmkasunich> HOME_SEARCH_VEL and HOME_LATCH_VEL
[02:14:24] <amorneau> thanks
[02:14:45] <jmkasunich> HOME_SEQUENCE is something else, has to do with what order you want the axes to home in when you hit home all
[02:15:01] <jmkasunich> (for example, on a mill, home Z first so the quill is retracted before you move x and y)
[02:15:31] <dmess> gotta sleep.. O:-)
[02:15:40] <fenn> 7/12/2007 There are now an estimated 137 million internet users in China,
[02:16:04] <fenn> so my 90% estimate was right on
[02:16:13] <jmkasunich> 92.3% of whom use the internet to find pr0n or mp3s
[02:16:19] <jmkasunich> (just like everywhere else)
[02:16:33] <amorneau> jmkasunich: so is it a good idea to have z as 0 and x and y as 1 (HOME_SEQUENCE)?
[02:16:45] <jmkasunich> that depends on your machine
[02:16:59] <jmkasunich> if you don't have home switches, it doesn't much matter....
[02:17:13] <amorneau> Brand Spanking new Sherline
[02:17:16] <jmkasunich> (think about it - if homing doesn;'t actually move the axes, who cares which one doesn't move first)
[02:17:41] <amorneau> You are right, I guess I am tired. Thanks for the help
[02:17:53] <fenn> if an axis homes in a forest and nobody's there to hear it, does it make a sound?
[02:18:01] <amorneau> :-)
[02:53:55] <Ziegler> gents... nMn on stepper as holding torque
[02:53:59] <Ziegler> what does that stand for?
[02:55:35] <Ziegler> anyone?
[02:55:48] <jepler> if it's mNm it would be milli newton meters
[02:56:39] <jepler> 100 milli newton meter ~ 14 oz-in
[02:58:18] <jepler> e.g., here's a page that says "NMn" but means milli newton meters:
http://www.micropump.ca/micropump_magnetic_drive_options.htm
[03:01:01] <Ziegler> ah thanks
[03:02:57] <Ziegler> nMn must have been a type
[03:02:59] <Ziegler> typo
[03:22:59] <eric_U> on my servo system, can I tell emc2 not to move z in a program that has x, y and z moves?
[03:24:12] <jmkasunich> I don't think so
[03:24:24] <jmkasunich> if the program says to move an axis, emc is gonna move it
[03:24:41] <eric_U> and then when it doesn't move, I'll get a following error
[03:25:00] <jmkasunich> I can think of a couple ugly hacks to prevent it from moving, but nothing that can be turned on and off at will
[03:25:47] <jmkasunich> ugly hack #1 - set the scale to some silly number, so when EMC commands one inch of movement, the motor only moves a step or two
[03:26:14] <eric_U> my z axis has a brake that I didn't want to mess with
[03:26:30] <eric_U> I'll just make it work
[03:27:19] <cradek> the boss can do that (dry run without Z) but I'm not sure how useful I think it is
[03:27:33] <jmkasunich> is this a "for now, I'm tuning and tweaking on x and y, and I want to disable Z, only while building the machine" thing? or a "I'm gonna want to disable Z for random jobs" thing?
[03:28:01] <eric_U> for now, I just want to see the stinkin' thing move after 6 years of bumbling around thing
[03:28:37] <jmkasunich> set the Z axis scale to 1e-6 and have fun ;-)
[03:29:11] <jmkasunich> ah, wait, that might not work
[03:29:18] <eric_U> the worst part is most of the hard things are done, and the mesa ribbon cables are still kicking my butt
[03:29:36] <jmkasunich> I wish the mesa stuff was a lot farther along
[03:29:44] <jmkasunich> I had great ambitions in the spring
[03:29:48] <eric_U> me too, but 4 axis will have to work for now
[03:29:57] <jmkasunich> then I spend the summer getting divorced ;-(
[03:30:01] <eric_U> no fun
[03:30:11] <jmkasunich> no
[03:30:17] <jmkasunich> just starting to get back into things now
[03:30:26] <eric_U> at least you got the machine tools, right?
[03:30:30] <jmkasunich> yes
[03:31:09] <eric_U> is the 8 axis vhdl in usable condition?
[03:31:16] <jmkasunich> I dunno
[03:31:24] <jmkasunich> I haven't touched any mesa stuff since spring
[03:31:30] <jmkasunich> I'm guessing it is
[03:31:42] <eric_U> did pete fix the vhdl for the encoder problem?
[03:32:03] <eric_U> or did someone else?
[03:32:03] <jmkasunich> the existing driver could probably be modified to work with it, but I'm not sure how the driver would tell whether the FPGA has 4 or 8 axis loaded
[03:32:20] <jmkasunich> I think pete fixed it, and someone else put it in CVS
[03:32:29] <jmkasunich> but again, I don't know for sure
[03:32:38] <eric_U> release notes says it's fixed
[03:33:16] <eric_U> I'll be happy to have 4 axis working
[03:34:08] <eric_U> then I'll worry about more
[03:35:04] <eric_U> for now I gotta figure out those stupid ribbon cables
[03:35:28] <jmkasunich> what is the issue with the cables?
[03:35:53] <eric_U> I want to put the breakout boards inside my computer
[03:36:25] <eric_U> they take up lots of space
[03:36:40] <eric_U> because of the way they are laid out
[03:37:01] <fenn> you can disable Z by looping the out signal back into emc - like in the sim .hal configs
[03:37:38] <eric_U> that's an idea
[03:38:03] <jmkasunich> that was gonna be ugly hack #2 ;-)
[03:38:07] <jmkasunich> but I got distracted
[03:39:03] <eric_U> I'm off to fight with ribbon cables again
[03:52:17] <fenn> jmk: i have a story about plastic pulleys too.. i tighten the setscrew hub onto the shaft and give the pulley a little twist to make sure it's on tight - the hub spins inside the plastic pulley, no knurling or anything
[03:52:33] <a-l-p-h-a> jmkasunich, MESA? ;) j/k
[03:52:48] <fenn> so i put a drop of superglue on it
[03:53:13] <a-l-p-h-a> fenn, does it hold?
[03:53:25] <a-l-p-h-a> must be not that much torque.
[03:53:44] <fenn> dunno, it seemed at least as strong as it was when i got it
[03:53:58] <fenn> i wasn't going to go breaking it again just to find out
[03:54:11] <a-l-p-h-a> fair enough
[03:54:13] <fenn> but anyway, i switched to one of my frankenstein pulleys in the end
[03:54:31] <a-l-p-h-a> any of you on facebook? know how random people from the past just come out of the woodwork?
[03:54:55] <a-l-p-h-a> This girl I had a crush on in grade school... GRADE SCHOOL!!! added me last night to facebook... guess what she does now?
[03:55:11] <a-l-p-h-a> She's a MAXIM girl!!! damn.
[03:55:38] <toastydeath> hahah
[03:58:31] <a-l-p-h-a> This girl that lived down the street from me... like 5 houses down, is not a playboy bunny (not a playmate, but a bunny) one of the countless models that playboy has... (no nudes). Just stupid outfits with bunny rabbit ears.
[03:58:55] <a-l-p-h-a> Wonder how proud her parents are? they're blue collar... :/
[03:59:30] <a-l-p-h-a> I know too many random people.
[04:04:56] <eric_U> my mouse cursor just up and disappeared on my fedora system
[04:08:17] <eric_U> that was annoying, I guess upgrading from fedora 5 to fedora 7 wasn't such a good idea after all, screensaver screws something up just about every time it cuts in
[04:18:37] <eric_U> wasn't there just another update on emc yesterday?
[04:22:05] <eric_U> only in country music do Tennessee, east, and me rhyme with each other
[04:33:34] <cradek> and probably only in bad country music
[04:42:43] <fenn> wow tapping is so much easier with these ground thread taps
[04:43:02] <fenn> you just run it in, and it's done
[04:43:21] <fenn> no oil, no squeaking back and forth
[04:46:04] <cradek> what brand? greenfield?
[04:47:03] <fenn> i think it's just "enco brand"
[04:47:42] <a-l-p-h-a> I read 'band' and saw 'Tennessee'... I think... damn it... is someone going to start playing spoons??
[04:47:51] <fenn> enco's site is down, will look when its up
[04:48:32] <a-l-p-h-a> cheers folks.
[04:52:38] <eric_Unter> good taps are worth the money
[05:27:15] <fenn> i think this is the tap.. it says "hss bosnia" on it:
http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=325-4790&PMPXNO=5809876&PARTPG=INLMK32
[06:19:06] <fenn_> fenn_ is now known as fenn
[06:19:33] <fenn> alright - finally finished the lathe's new leadscrew
[06:19:51] <fenn> but not before it drew blood
[06:34:36] <ds2> automotive machinists are strang people ;)
[06:36:32] <eric_U> Thought I was gonna get the machine to move, but I failed
[06:36:54] <eric_U> all the encoders work, axis is the world's best etch-a-sketch
[06:43:20] <fenn> http://fenn.dyndns.org/pub/camera/DCP_0785.JPG http://fenn.dyndns.org/pub/camera/DCP_0786.JPG
[06:44:53] <eric_U> took me a while to see that mount
[06:45:28] <fenn> it's polycarbonate
[06:45:28] <fenn> the leadscrew is 1/2-10 acme
[06:45:29] <eric_U> what kinda lathe?
[06:46:00] <fenn> a guy named dave gingery wrote a series on how to build machine tools from scratch - this lathe is based on that, with many modifications
[06:46:16] <eric_U> cool never seen a gingery
[06:46:28] <eric_U> I always wanted to do that, back in the day
[06:47:03] <eric_U> I almost bought his books at one point
[06:48:28] <fenn> here is a better picture of the lathe overall:
http://fenn.dyndns.org/pub/camera/DCP_0259.JPG
[06:48:58] <eric_U> is that a concrete base?
[06:49:16] <fenn> there's a 2" square aluminum bed, and that sits on a block of concrete
[06:49:37] <fenn> it's tapered so the chips fall off
[06:50:14] <fenn> the extra mass really helps with chatter
[06:52:56] <fenn> and also the... anisotropy
[07:00:05] <ds2> is that CNC'ed?
[07:02:26] <fenn> in progress
[07:03:08] <fenn> i have to make a new nut for the x axis, and then it should be ready i think
[07:03:12] <fenn> also the spindle encoder
[07:03:29] <fenn> not sure exactly what i will do for that
[07:03:53] <fenn> probably something like what lawrenceG did
[07:04:52] <fenn> oh, yeah, and all the electronics :\
[07:05:18] <ds2> cool
[07:05:18] <fenn> * fenn crosses off the next six months on his calendar
[07:05:36] <ds2> did you faithfully follow gingery's design for the mechanical stuff?
[07:05:46] <fenn> no
[07:06:17] <fenn> it looks about the same though
[07:06:20] <ds2> what did you vary? I got a half started/half finished (you decided which) variant sitting around
[07:06:55] <fenn> well i used a 3/8-16 leadscrew for the cross-slide (bad idea)
[07:07:12] <fenn> and then i re-engineered the cross slide to be like the boring-table for a myford ML7
[07:07:18] <ds2> even though you are CNC"ing it?
[07:07:46] <fenn> no, i'm going to put in a 1/4-20 delrin nut
[07:08:03] <fenn> i had no idea what CNC was when i was building this
[07:08:07] <ds2> 1/4-20 all thread bends a lot
[07:08:20] <ds2> ah I see. what did you use as the main lead screw?
[07:08:26] <fenn> i thought i was pretty smart because i had saved a couple battery powered drills that i could chuck on in place of a handle
[07:10:01] <fenn> also used 3/8-16 for the main leadscrew originally, but i just put on 1/2-10 acme one this week
[07:10:01] <ds2> guessing you bought the 1/2-10 nut?
[07:10:01] <fenn> no, i made a tap from a chunk of leadscrew, and tapped a delrin block
[07:10:09] <ds2> interesting
[07:10:35] <ds2> I am still considering using a 1/2-20 V thread lead screw w/delrin pillow blocks
[07:11:17] <fenn> if you can order stuff from enco, the acme stuff is really cheap
[07:11:37] <fenn> it's about $8 for 6 feet
[07:11:48] <ds2> yes, except I have a 1/2-20 casted bronze half nut already
[07:12:11] <ds2> that looks a lot like the tool post I made for it
[07:13:24] <ds2> your project sounds like a good inspiration for me to finish mine
[07:13:36] <fenn> i started with the aluminum split nut, but it was too sloppy so i made one out of brass
[07:14:11] <fenn> just tap a block and cut away the parts you dont want
[07:14:11] <fenn> anyway the split nut is worse than useless if you are going to cnc it
[07:14:35] <ds2> that's pretty much what I did... bunch of people were going to do a bronze pour so just joined in to try it
[07:15:08] <ds2> *nod* but I'm keeping it manual... got another project lathe that'll get CNC'ed
[07:15:56] <fenn> i didnt think cutting a big pile of gears sounded like fun
[07:16:24] <ds2> electronic leadscrew!
[07:16:29] <ds2> but still manual
[07:16:54] <fenn> i guess i started to get frustrated when i was building a 4-jaw chuck and needed a chuck to hold onto some of the small parts
[07:17:24] <fenn> so then i bought a nice old manual lathe
[07:17:30] <ds2> heh
[07:17:41] <fenn> it came with _two_ sets of gears
[07:17:52] <fenn> and every attachment imaginable
[07:17:59] <ds2> I'm putting in a 3/4-16 spindle nose on it so I can use stock taig parts
[07:18:09] <ds2> nice
[07:19:25] <fenn> i think i'm going to do 1-6 or is it 1-8?
[07:19:25] <ds2> what common lathe uses those?
[07:19:25] <fenn> dunno, but i got a 3 jaw chuck with that thread
[07:19:25] <ds2> oh
[07:20:04] <ds2> what kind of bearings are you using in the headstock?
[07:20:37] <fenn> um, i think one is oilite and the other is solid brass
[07:21:34] <ds2> either your local area is better equipped or you knew about enco much longer... 3/4 was also the largest oilite the local hardware stores had
[07:25:55] <fenn> i got them from mcmaster-carr because i didnt know about enco
[07:26:50] <fenn> also, i turned down the spindle so it would have a nose on the end :)
[07:27:37] <fenn> actually i started off with 1/2" for the spindle
[07:27:58] <fenn> then i threaded it 1/2-20 and mounted a drill chuck on it
[07:30:02] <fenn> so for now i have a 1/2-20 threaded hole, with a long 1/2-20 setscrew in it, but eventually it will be MT2 with a threaded flange
[09:14:52] <fenn> lerneaen_hydra: is this your lathe?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX4SWe8WFA4
[09:16:28] <lerneaen_hydra> fenn, um, yep
[11:32:18] <SWPadnos___> SWPadnos___ is now known as SWPadnos
[17:10:06] <skunkworks502> Guest902: hi
[17:10:56] <Guest902> hey all
[17:11:43] <skunkworks502> How is the PA state?
[17:11:50] <Guest902> Question: is anyone trying to use a touchscreen monitor for their input to EMC
[17:12:17] <Guest902> Snowy, cold and windy - just perfect!
[17:12:26] <skunkworks502> same here.
[17:12:39] <skunkworks502> some people have used touch screens for emc
[17:12:42] <skunkworks502> I have not yet.
[17:13:19] <skunkworks502> supposed to get another 6 inches thru the day and tomorrow
[17:14:08] <Guest902> What part of linux are they writing the the conrols tru, emc or the linex shell?
[17:14:53] <skunkworks502> for the touch screen? most touch screens just act as a mouse.
[17:16:20] <Guest902> just had my linux box go down --- tried another computer and it seemed to work up until I ran a few simulations in EMC
[17:16:46] <skunkworks502> what does it do?
[17:17:20] <Guest902> seems that there may be a processor or memory issue - it locks up and now it won't reboot - think it is heat related.
[17:17:49] <skunkworks502> eww - that doesn't sound good
[17:18:08] <alex_joni> Guest902: if it locks solid it might also be related to RT performance
[17:18:20] <alex_joni> does it crash as soon as you start emc? or after a while?
[17:19:12] <Guest902> I've been trying to get a dedicated system for a new Mesa 5I20 and 7I33 I ordered
[17:20:26] <Guest902> It crashed once after getting EMC running through the simulations of several g-code programs, then the computer won't reboot
[17:22:25] <Guest902> the live cd install was a pain, the GRUB 17 error was worked through by doing a low level format of the hard drive; this got me to a level to install the program the run tthe simulations
[17:23:07] <alex_joni> sounds like a hardware issue
[17:24:22] <Guest902> I know that i've only 256M ram, and once i do get trough the re-booting process, I'll check the RT perf
[17:25:32] <Guest902> is anyone running EMC on a MAC - I was given a eMAC, but don't know how to boot it using the Live CD
[17:25:43] <alex_joni> not that I know of
[17:27:26] <Guest902> I just may end up rebuilding another computer as a backup
[17:29:58] <Guest902> I really wanted to try the new release today
[17:31:52] <skunkworks502> what are you planning on running with emc2?
[17:32:24] <jepler> the "sim" (not for controlling hardware) version of emc has been compiled on one powerpc mac but no "rt" (for controlling hardware) version of emc ever has been.
[17:33:10] <jepler> I doubt that the emac has any ports that are useful for controlling hardware anyway (e.g., no PCI slot, no PC-compatible parport)
[17:33:33] <Guest902> I'm building a servo driven 3 axis router mill
[17:34:32] <Guest902> all parts have been kludged together from my hardware collection
[17:35:40] <Guest902> MAC does have the USB interface - maybe a candidate for a stepper controller - open loop?
[17:37:54] <jepler> emc2 doesn't use USB for motion control
[17:38:40] <Guest902> My bad - I keep trying to think and nothing happens!
[17:41:28] <skunkworks502> most of the 'usb' interfaces you see out there (for :cough: mach) are thier own motion controllers. The program gets 'downloaded' to the device and it is then run from there.
[17:43:52] <Guest902> that's where I knew the closed loop servos and encoder needed a PT OS; I played with the MACH in Windows via serial port, but longed for something different
[17:45:04] <skunkworks502> emc will work good for you.
[17:45:43] <Guest902> trying the LIVE CD and install was painless the first time around, but I had the ability to swap out harddrives to match what OS I wanted to use; I really didn't want to get into dual booting
[17:47:28] <Guest902> the original computer just would not reboot for me in windows xp or linux - so I figured I had an onboard harddrive controller issue with the motherboard
[17:48:35] <Guest902> it ran fine for 3 months - then during one of the swaps of the harddrives, neither would reboot.
[17:52:03] <Guest902> dusted off a dell xps, moved the Pentium 3 CPU to it and spent the better half of last night loading the live CD and trying to install to the harddrive
[18:03:47] <skunkworks502> hmm - I have installed it on many a hardware.. I rarely have issues. Right now I just installed it on a pentium III 550 (bcm motherboard)
[18:41:15] <Guest902> Just tried my dell PIII - dying slowly, now Linux window locks up while following the mouse pointer movements
[21:48:43] <[1]a-l-p-h-a2> [1]a-l-p-h-a2 is now known as a-l-p-h-a2
[22:04:58] <jlmjvm_> alex_joni:the 2.2.2 update solved the problem today
[22:05:10] <jlmjvm_> works great
[22:06:26] <alex_joni> good
[22:08:55] <jlmjvm_> i have to update a mill from 2.1.7 to 2.2.2 tomorow,it has a usc in it.
[22:09:31] <alex_joni> remember the wiki page with the changes you need to make
[22:10:44] <jlmjvm_> believe so,on this i need to keep the current config and give it the new emc.nml
[22:18:08] <jlmjvm_> http://pastebin.com/d3bb230d8
[22:18:48] <jlmjvm_> heres the latest version of the TLO script if anyones interested
[22:28:55] <Dogfishguzzler> I'm gonna toss my question out there again. What is the difference between two and four phase steppers? I know know that 4 wires generally will mean two phase but whats the difference. Phases of what?
[22:29:09] <SWPadnos> number of coils
[22:29:26] <SWPadnos> 4 phase means there are 4 separate coils that need to be energized in sequence to make the motor move
[22:29:56] <SWPadnos> 2 phase (bipolar) means there are two coils, which need to be sequenced in the correct polarities to make the motor turn
[22:30:05] <Dogfishguzzler> oh okay, that's easy enough to understand.
[22:30:43] <alex_joni> http://elect.awardspace.com/stepper/
[22:32:51] <alex_joni> http://nanotec.de/page_static__schrittmotor_animation__en.html
[22:33:18] <SWPadnos> a phase is more or less a separate current path
[22:33:44] <Dogfishguzzler> Great description, I'll be able to remember that easy.
[22:35:25] <alex_joni> http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/step/
[23:21:20] <Dogfishguzzler> Okay I've read those docs (Thanks alex_joni) and I still have a question. How can a bipolar motor ever be four phase? Or should I say how can a motor with 4 wires every be four phase?
[23:23:53] <archivist> depends on forward current/revers and powered or not
[23:24:08] <archivist> 4 states total
[23:24:52] <Dogfishguzzler> What about motors with hundreds of possibles states?
[23:25:12] <alex_joni> good night all
[23:25:18] <Dogfishguzzler> later alex
[23:25:43] <alex_joni> see you todd
[23:26:33] <archivist> add states by amount of current
[23:28:06] <Dogfishguzzler> It seems to me that if a motor has four wires one has to be ground. So it would have only three possible states at most or maybe a multiple of three, but not four. I only ever hear the term 2 phase and four phase.
[23:28:46] <archivist> no all are isolated from ground
[23:29:43] <archivist> 4 wires =2 coils
[23:30:07] <Dogfishguzzler> The previous description of 'phase' being equal to one isolated circuit made more sense. However it makes me wonder how a 4 lead motor could ever be 4 phase. You'll have to be patient with me, I'm still trying to understand these motors and their differences.
[23:31:17] <archivist> imagine coil 1 with 0 current and coil 2 with current in direction A
[23:31:30] <Dogfishguzzler> Right, 4 wires, two coils=two phases; That makes perfect sense. Now, is there such thing as a four phase motor with four leads? If so I'd like to read about it.
[23:31:50] <archivist> then next step is both coils with current in direction A
[23:31:59] <archivist> then .....
[23:32:41] <archivist> reverse the currents
[23:33:29] <Dogfishguzzler> yeah, that makes sense too, but makes me wonder what if it takes a hundred or so of these moves to complete one rev, is it a hundred phase motor?
[23:34:45] <archivist> no
[23:35:17] <archivist> motos are said to have X number of steps
[23:35:27] <archivist> often 200
[23:35:46] <archivist> note those are full steps
[23:36:09] <Dogfishguzzler> Right, I'm familiar with the concept of half and micro stepping as well.
[23:37:06] <archivist> personally I dont like the terms 2 phase/4phase as as a 6 wire stepper can be connected as 4 wire
[23:37:18] <Dogfishguzzler> I don't mean to be difficult but I can't move on with EMC until I feel like I acually understand what Im doing with these motors :D
[23:37:22] <archivist> and perform the same
[23:37:35] <Dogfishguzzler> I've read that, as if the 'phases' are up to you to decide.
[23:37:44] <archivist> best to play with some
[23:38:08] <Dogfishguzzler> I have some driver IC's on order should be here this week so I can acually get my hands dirty.
[23:38:46] <archivist> look at a table of voltages for a stepper driver during its steps to see whats happening
[23:38:57] <Dogfishguzzler> But the IC's I ordered are for 'bipolar motors in the two phase mode', thats why I'm so axious to understand the differences in these motors.
[23:39:14] <Dogfishguzzler> okay, archivist, right on.
[23:39:36] <SkinnypuppY34> psst
http://www.imagesco.com/articles/picstepper/02.html
[23:39:38] <Dogfishguzzler> I have some old printer and floppy drive motors.
[23:39:57] <archivist> a 6 wire unipolar motor can be wired 4 wire bipolar
[23:40:22] <Dogfishguzzler> I can see how that would work.
[23:40:58] <Dogfishguzzler> But phases dammit! what's it mean. I guess from what your saying if I look at a voltage chart I will see either two or four distinct phases.
[23:41:15] <SkinnypuppY34> Dogfishguzzler:
http://www.imagesco.com/articles/picstepper/02.html
[23:41:34] <Dogfishguzzler> I looked at it skinnypup
[23:41:48] <Dogfishguzzler> Maybe I didnt see what I needed to brb
[23:41:52] <archivist> read as well see the coil connections
[23:44:56] <archivist> then you will note that accross the pairs is the same as a single unipolar but double the power
[23:45:06] <Dogfishguzzler> Now it looks to me like the difference in two and four phase is half stepping lol.
[23:45:22] <archivist> no its power available
[23:46:42] <SkinnypuppY34> http://sitelec.free.fr/cours/abati/flash/pas.swf ... it is in french but you can try different wiiring and step or run and stop with the lower left buttons pas a pas marche and arret
[23:46:55] <Dogfishguzzler> I think I need to buy one of those $100 reference books because I've read umpteen of those pages like I just read and they all talk as if you already have the dictionary to look up terms like 'phase'
[23:46:58] <archivist> as in unipolar its one coil at a time, bipolar is reversing the coils so opposing electromagents are on at the same time
[23:48:22] <SkinnypuppY34> I wouldn't trade the internet for a $10,000 reference book
[23:49:19] <Dogfishguzzler> Thanks skinnypup, nice page
[23:49:24] <archivist> I collect books, I dont know which side of the fence I am on
[23:49:30] <Dogfishguzzler> No I love the internet but I love books too lol
[23:50:04] <Dogfishguzzler> So I'm right, in a sense the difference between two and four phase is, the phases, or if it half steps.
[23:50:10] <Dogfishguzzler> That's sure what it looks like
[23:51:01] <Dogfishguzzler> I don't understand 'available power'
[23:51:06] <SWPadnos> it's the number of separate coils
[23:51:10] <SWPadnos> each coil is a phase
[23:51:12] <archivist> no half steps are two coils in a unipolar
[23:51:32] <SWPadnos> you can half-step a 4-phase or a 2-phase stepper
[23:51:35] <JymmmEMC> Swampy!!!
[23:51:51] <SkinnypuppY34> SWP to the rescue
[23:51:53] <Dogfishguzzler> okay SWpdnos. how does a motor with two coils become four phase? That was my original question
[23:52:30] <archivist> if you are counting coils it does not
[23:52:34] <SWPadnos> it does not become four phase
[23:52:43] <Dogfishguzzler> ever?
[23:52:44] <SWPadnos> it has four distinct drive "phases"
[23:53:01] <archivist> but a unipolar can be wired as a two coil device
[23:53:06] <SWPadnos> you can energise the A and B coils either forward or reverse
[23:53:20] <SWPadnos> that gives you four distinct drive states
[23:53:44] <SWPadnos> thse are phases, as are the phases of the moon (no relation)
[23:53:56] <Dogfishguzzler> Give me an example where there are only two phases.
[23:54:19] <SWPadnos> what kind of phase are you talking about?
[23:54:21] <JymmmEMC> little boy blue and the man on the moon...
[23:54:35] <Dogfishguzzler> You can only energise the coils in one direction?
[23:54:39] <SWPadnos> there are multiple definitions for the word phase, and more than one is applicable here
[23:55:04] <SWPadnos> for a bipolar motor, you can energize in two directions (hence bi, meaning two and polar, meaningf polarities)
[23:55:37] <Dogfishguzzler> I'm with ya
[23:56:14] <SWPadnos> ok, are you asking about how many electrical drive phases there are in a single electrical cycle, or how many coils the motor has?
[23:56:21] <SWPadnos> both of those are called phases
[23:56:25] <JymmmEMC> Dogfishguzzler:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepper_motor
[23:56:30] <Dogfishguzzler> I'm not talking about coils.
[23:56:50] <Dogfishguzzler> I've read that and countless others, thanks though Jymmm
[23:56:57] <SWPadnos> ok, so you're talking about driving the motor then?
[23:57:04] <Dogfishguzzler> Let me put it this way.
[23:58:24] <Dogfishguzzler> I ordered some nte-1857 IC's, I have some old floppy and printer motors I want to experiment with using EMC. The chips description says 'Stepper motor control for bipolar motors in the two phase mode'
[23:58:37] <Dogfishguzzler> What's 'the two phase' mode?
[23:59:21] <SWPadnos> good question
