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AMC-AASD15A and 150mm stroke actuator
After a few months of developing and beta testing the AMC-AASD15A servo controller is now the most safe and comprehensive motion controller for servomotors using direct Step/DIR control method. At this point it not only support the AASD-15A (and AASD-20A) servo drives, but also Syntron HS servo drives and Dorna M1 Servo drives with custom wiring for 44pin cables.
It features great safety features like, automatic home calibration on power up or hot-plug data cable connection, or Platform Check to constantly check the state of each actuator for failures from over-current or over-torque and if any of the actuators fail and gets disabled, will safely park the rest active actuators to home position to prevent motion with less actuators until the issue is resolved. Additionally there are inputs to hook up emergency stop switch, manual park/standby button and force offline switch to pause the motion without interrupting the simulation game.
While the AMC-AASD15A is plug and play regarding the wiring, you may need to adjust a few parameters in the LCD user menu regarding the actuator model. The control panel has a few controls to allow navigation of the user menu, as well to manually test the motion of the actuators without motion software connection:
The latest firmware v2.07 allows use of actuators of any stroke length, and calculates and sets the model of the servo internally using a few simple parameters by the user that can be set differently for each actuator if needed:
*Leadscrew size (4mm/rev, 5mm/rev, 10mm/rev and 25mm/rev supported)
*Belt Ratio (1:1, 1:1.5 , 1:2 ratios suported)
*Inline or Foldback motor actuator mount methods
*Actuator Stroke
The max actuator stroke calculation depends on the Leadscrew size used and the belt ratio (if belt is used, usually only on Foldback type actuators). See a chart of the possible combinations and their effect on the max available stroke length that the AMC-AASD15A controller can handle.
| Leadscrew | Ratio | Max Stroke |
|---|---|---|
| 4mm/rev | 1:1 | 580mm |
| 4mm/rev | 1:1.5 | 390mm |
| 4mm/rev | 1:2 | 290mm |
| 5mm/rev | 1:1 | 640mm |
| 5mm/rev | 1:1.5 | 430mm |
| 5mm/rev | 1:2 | 320mm |
| 10mm/rev | 1:1 | 1290mm |
| 10mm/rev | 1:1.5 | 860mm |
| 10mm/rev | 1:2 | 640mm |
| 25mm/rev | 1:1 | 2500mm |
| 25mm/rev | 1:1.5 | 1660mm |
| 25mm/rev | 1:2 | 1250mm |
AMC-AASD15A menu walkthrough - Firmware 2.06
All the recent firmware update history as well additional information can be seen here:
https://github.com/tronicgr/AMC-AASD15A-Firmware
Apart from that, the AMC-AASD15A servo controller now supports 7 servos by adding an extra DB25 connector on the side. Easy to replicate PCB was created and available to order from OSHPark. You can now order that allows easy attachment of the BD25 connector without wiring, just a 2.54mm header (male and female): https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/pSGlJpx4
The 3D printed enclosure was updated to accommodate for this extra servo port as well.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3648091
3D printed enclosure with Servo7-aux DB25
Regarding the motion software support, Simtools 2.4 release has now included a "AMC" interface plugin that includes the AMC-AASD15A in the supported devices allowing to use 7 axis. Also there is available a AMC config tool to access and modify the parameters in the AMC-AASD15A that you can download here:
https://github.com/tronicgr/AMC-AASD15A-Firmware/tree/master/Simtools_interface_plugin
There is an expensive playlist on YouTube with all videos regarding the AMC-AASD15A, that includes tutorials and many demonstrations on actual motion platforms:
Thanks
Thanos
San Diego, California
USA, 2019
