Developing a Universal Numeric Control Based-on Linux Real-Time Software

Abstract

Currently, there is a strong interest in the process of technological upgrading of conventional machine tools to CNC machine tools, because of the advantages that this process offers. The process of conversion to computerized numerical controls involves a huge effort in conceptualizing and control of the key components of each machine tool, including the high cost of the hardware used. This paper presents the design of a software set-up wizard, to develop a Universal Numeric Control based-on Linux real-time, using universal numerical controllers in open source. The developed software allows the generation of numerical controls based on low-cost software for each machine tool converted, ensuring its universality. Describes the system architecture, the core and all associated tools. The selection of components, the G code preprocessor, different interpolation algorithms and various types of hardware options allow the user to build specific numerical controllers for each machine tool. We present two case studies. The first case concerns the generation of a numerical control for a conventional machine tool. The second case study concerns the development of a numerical control for a reconfigurable micro machine tool. Both cases showed the feasibility of using this numerical control generator based-on low cost software.