10 Axis Gantry Style Demo with Rotary Indexer

The 10-axis demo provides a glimpse into the power of the linear shaft motor and the Commander series controller in providing a coordinated dance of speed and precision.

Precision, speed, simplicity of design, and space savings are all on display in this unique configuration. The use of a single servo drive and feedback device to control the two parallel Y axes, simplifies set up and reduces the need for another driver. Multiple forcers on the same shaft on the X axes provide flexibility of control with independent movements of multiple Z axis devices. The slim Z axis linear shaft motors offer smooth control and are optimized with the use of our unique counterbalance solution. The rotary index table is controlled via a micro direct drive motor with 2,592,000 million counts per revolution. All linear motors are using integrated analog Halls (sin/cos) for feedback, simplifying the assembly and eliminating an external linear scale and read head.

All of the servomotors above (11 in all) move gracefully under the direction of the Commander core motion controller – 3 in fact. Each Commander is assigned to 3 axes of motion under the assistance of the compact MP3 Copley driver and the Y axis under the assistance of a Copley micro drive – the Nano, providing the capabilities for linear and circular interpolation, coordination of various I/O points, and synchronization of all axes. The custom PCB layout created for this demo is just one example of the capabilities to provide a compact controller/drive solution to minimize real estate on the machine. . Speeds of 2 m/s and above are possible with acceleration rates of 3-5G’s or greater. Travel up to 2 – 3 meters with extremely smooth motion even at slow speeds below 1mm/sec.