Spocktavian / PocketNC_adapter

Adapter and MTConnect Agent Device File for PocketNC

PocketNC_adapter

An implementation of the PocketNC adapter.

Introduction

A python adapter "adapter.py" for PocketNC is shared which provides an interface for the PocketNC to become MTConnect compliant. The adapter allows the use of MTConnect agent to make the PocketNC MTconnect compliant. The steps to install and implement MTConnect agent can be found at https://github.com/mtconnect/cppagent. This adapter was developed and tested on a PocketNC v1.

Implementation

Download the files in the beaglebone black Debian OS of PocketNC. update the port information in the "adapter.py" to the port number available on your device.

PORT = 7878

Once the information in the "adapter.py" file is updated, this python script needs to be used as a service so that the adapter is active everytime the PocketNC is powered on. In order to enable this enter the following code in the beaglebone terminal:

sudo nano .\bashrc

In the .bashrc shell script, goto the end of the file and add the following line:

nohup python /home/pocketnc/adapter.py > /dev/null 2>&1 &

assuming that the location of the "adapter.py" file is "/home/pocketnc/adapter.py". Edit this line appropriately.

Next time when the PocketNC is restarted, the adapter will be running as a service behind the scenes.

For implementation of the MTConnect agent, the steps are clearly defined on the MTConnect agent github repository (https://github.com/mtconnect/cppagent). The "PocketNC.xml" can be used as device file for the MTConnect agent.

DataItems

Following Data Items have been included in the adapter:

1. Accumulated Time : Total Time
2. Accumulated Time : Auto Time
3. Accumulated Time : Cut Time
4. Absolute X position
5. Absolute Y position
6. Absolute Z position
7. Absolute A position
8. Absolute B position
9. Rotary Velocity
10. Emergency Stop
11. Execution State
12. Power State
13. Line
14. Program
15. Path Feed Override
16. Spindle Feed Override
17. Tool Number
18. Controller Mode

MTConnect

For more information on the MTConnect standard and the dataitems included within the standard please visit http://www.mtconnect.org/

PocketNC

The PocketNC is a desktop 5-axis CNC mill. This project is not affiliated with the PocketNC Company. Please visit http://www.pocketnc.com/