MAXnet Manual - Pro-Dex, Oregon Micro Systems - #5

Text version of the page

MAX COMMAND REFERENCE MANUAL 1-1 1. INTRODUCTION An extensive command structure is built into the MAX family of intelligent motor controllers. The commands consist of two or three ASCII characters and may be in upper or lower case. Some of the commands expect a numerical operand to follow. These commands are identified with a “#” after the command. The operand must be terminated by a space, carriage return, or semi-colon to indicate the end of the operand list. No terminator is required on the other commands, but it is strongly recommended it be included to improve readability and to insure compatibility with future firmware releases. The operand must immediately follow the command with no space or separation character. The “#” indicates a signed integer input parameter or a signed fixed point number of the format “##.#” when user units are enabled. With user units enabled, distance, velocity, and acceleration parameters may be entered in units such as inches, revolutions, etc. Most commands are usable in both single-axis and multi-axis modes. Those that require a numeric parameter in single-axis mode require multiple numeric parameters of the same type in multi-axis modes. For example, the MR(Move Relative) command takes a distance as a numeric parameter and is formatted as “MR#;” in single-axis modes. Multi-axis modes have a parameter position for each axis and must be formatted as “MR#,#,#,#,#,#,#,#;” in an 8-axis system. (Note: Use of commas “,” between axes.) Any “#” parameter may be omitted for any axis which is not to be affected by the command and the command may be terminated prematurely with a semicolon. For example, to move only the Y and Z axes, enter the command as “MR,#,#;”. Some commands that are usable in both single-axis and multi-axis modes do not take a parameter in single-axis mode. These commands require numeric parameters in multi-axis modes, and the parameters indicate whether or not to take action for each axis. If a parameter exists for an axis, then the command affects that axis and if the parameter does not exist for that axis, then the command has no affect on that axis. For example, the single-axis format of IP (Interrupt when in position) is simply "IP" without any parameters of any kind. The multi-axis format of IP is "IPb,b,b,b,b,b,b,b,b;" for 8-axis systems where 'b' represents the parameter for the corresponding axis. Like other multi-axis commands, a 'b' parameter may be omitted if that axis is to remain unchanged and command may be prematurely terminated with a semicolon. Each 'b' position, if used, can be any numeric value. For example, to enable the Y and Z axes limit switches and leave the X and T axes unchanged, send the command "IP,1,100;". The 1 and 100 parameters could be any numeric value whatsoever, and the effect of the command would be the same. For example, the following commands are equivalent: "IP,1,1;" "IP,0,0;" "IP,50,99;" For other commands in multi-axis modes, the parameters may have different meanings. See command descriptions for details Multiple axes can be commanded to start motion simultaneously by entering the AA or AM command. These commands perform a context switch which allows entering motion commands in the format MRx#,y#,z#,t#,u#,v#,r#,s#;. Numbers are entered for each axis which is to be commanded to move. An axis may be skipped by entering a comma with no parameter. The command may be prematurely terminated with a “;” i.e. a move requiring only the X and Y axes would use the command MRx#,y#; followed by the GO command. Each axis programmed to move will start together upon executing the GO command. The MAX can be switched back to the single axis mode by entering the desired single axis command such as AX.