Tube bending machine controlled by Arduino

system · February 27, 2012, 7:59pm

Sorry for my bad english and my basic questions about electronics and programing but I hope you will understand me.

I have hydraulic tube bending machine that I need to controlled with Arduino.
Parts that machine have to be controlled:
-two 110V AC hydraulic solenoid valvs for two hydraulic cylinders - I have documentation for solenoid valvs

one hydraulic cylinder for clamping/unclamping die
one hydraulic cylinder for rotating swing arm ( bending )

How much I search about Arduino what I need.
-Arduino uno
-Relay board for on/off hydraulic solenoid valvs
-encoder for reading angles ( what resolution I need ) to put under swing arm to read angles
-LCD display + keypad

First to make program how machine will work ( behavior ) - hydraulic cylinder clamp die on swing arm press bend die and rotat to given angle and afrter bending to given angle that hydraulic cylinder on swing arm unclamp and swing arm to return to 0° angle.
-machine can bend from 0-190°.
-swing arm is NOT moving fast

I want machine to work like this:

set bending angle on keypad
pres start button on keypad to start bending
bending to given angle swing arm to return to 0° angle.
Is this possible.

Is someone willing to help me step by step with connecting electronics and programing.
Is someone have solution how to controll this machine.

Pictures of machine and hydraulic solenoid valvs.

system · February 29, 2012, 6:29am

So no one can help me.

fanjanc_gmail.com · February 29, 2012, 10:38am

I will say this is completely possible.

My advice:

As for the encoders - the resolution depends on the accuracy you require from your bending machine. If the bends can be off by 1 Degree either way, then you get the appropriate encoder. If you need high accuracy, then obviously you need a fine resolution encoder.

In terms of bending, and I am sure you know this, when you bend, you need to bend past the angle of the required bend to allow for spring back. I would include a reference chart in the program so that when you enter the desired angle, the program looks up that angle and the overbend angle to allow for the bend spring back. I am not sure where you will get this reference chart, in addition I am sure the overbend percentage is different for each type of material.

I will also add, as I am sure this will have an affect, in the input side of the program, the wall thickness of the pipe. In other words, you insert your pipe, clamp, enter desired bend angle, enter material (unless you will ALWAYS only bend one type of material), enter wall thickness. Program then references those details against a reference table, then bends the pipe.

I will also use a TWO BUTTON clamp start to ensure all hands are clear of the machine before clamping. I might even include as an additional safety that the operator must push and keep pressing BOTH start buttons until the bend is complete - again to ensure all hands are clear of the machine.

As for details of equipment (which encoder etc), how does the bending machine bend the pipe's at the moment to the desired angle? Is it by eye? Are there reference markings on the machine? How does the area look where the pipe is being bend? In other words, what options is there to fit equipment to the bending machine? I recommend that you request a catalogue from a local industrial electronics supplier on rotary encoders - then see which encoder has the resolution you require (accuracy of bends) and where you will be able to fit the encoder - also how you will be able to interface with that encoder? If it uses CANBUS you might have to look at either including a CANBUS system, or maybe look at different types of encoders.

There is unfortunately a bit to much information needed at this point in order to move forward with the project - your scope of the project needs additional details.

Hope it helps.

wildbill · February 29, 2012, 11:43am

Interesting project, but given that you would like a partner to work on it, you should probably post in (or have this moved to) the gigs and collaborations forum. Also, where are you? Finding someone local would likely be quite an advantage.

system · February 29, 2012, 9:45pm

Inprogress: thank you for reply to my message.

As for the encoders - the resolution depends on the accuracy you require from your bending machine. If the bends can be off by 1 Degree either way, then you get the appropriate encoder. If you need high accuracy, then obviously you need a fine resolution encoder.

Accuracy of bend as better - depend on encoder we use, so what we find we will get
Can I use this encoder on picture. It is 5V 2500 TTL RS-422 .There is enough space to put encoder under swing arm

My machine can bend 0-190° angle and pipe diameter to 40mm ( 1,5’’ )
I not need machine to be high tech to do with pressing one button. - I need only to conntrol bending angle.

I would include a reference chart

I dont have reference chart for spring back but we can add additional spring back angle for different material, pipe diameter and thickness of the pipe - see picture - to enter on LCD display and enter only when I need to bend certain pipe material, pipe diameter and thickness - I need to test to see what spring back angle is.

I will also use a TWO BUTTON clamp start to ensure all hands are clear of the machine before clamping. I might even include as an additional safety that the operator must push and keep pressing BOTH start buttons until the bend is complete - again to ensure all hands are clear of the machine.

Feeding ( distance between bends ) and rotation pipe will be manually with carrige and lathe chuck to hold pipe see picture ( picture is not from my machine it is only example ). like on this videos Feeding and rotation pipe manually

What is next move.

kf2qd · February 29, 2012, 11:17pm

A 2500 line encoder is a lot of resolution for what you are doing. That is getting you somewhere in the range of dividing each degree in 7 or 8 parts. A lower resolution encoder 360 to 1000 counts would probably do the job. A lower resolution encoder might save you some money also. Make sure the encoder is 5VOLT. Look for an encoder that has 4 wires - +5, Com, A & B. You don't need a fancy encoder to do the job. Look for something like an Omron E6A2-CS3E with voltage output. 360 count would give you 1/2 degree, 500 count would give a few more.

Depending on the code you use to read the encoder you will probably get at least 2 counts for every line, which increases you resolution.

Using an interrupt you would feed A to an interrupr pin configured for CHANGE and it would interrupt on both sides of the lines

retrolefty · March 1, 2012, 5:22am

As you only need to track 190 degrees, you might consider using an industrial quality pot and just measure the analog voltage for your feedback position. One disadvantage of using a simple quadrature encoder is a lack of a start-up reference position and you will require some other additional sensor to supply that needed information. A pot position is in contrast an absolute position indicator.

Lefty

fanjanc_gmail.com · March 1, 2012, 1:34pm

retrolefty:
As you only need to track 190 degrees, you might consider using an industrial quality pot and just measure the analog voltage for your feedback position. One disadvantage of using a simple quadrature encoder is a lack of a start-up reference position and you will require some other additional sensor to supply that needed information. A pot position is in contrast an absolute position indicator.

Lefty

What if the bending arm cycles a full forward and backward motion every-time the machine is started (if using a pot), almost like the analogue needles on motorcycle speedo's do...although that I only think is there to look cool....which is does.

kf2qd · March 1, 2012, 3:42pm

Because thw bend arm has to retract each time before you make a bend the zero reference is no problem. Part of the cycle would be to bump the retract solenoid before starting the bend cycle so you would have a zero ref each time you make a bend.

Chagrin · March 1, 2012, 4:46pm

Really it might be easier using a manually-rotated limit switch on the bottom of the swing arm to set the angle instead of a button/LCD interface.

Can you provide a picture of the underside of that swing arm? If there's a shaft protruding from it we'd need to know the diameter of it so an encoder could be matched to it.

system · March 1, 2012, 6:17pm

Chagrin:
Can you provide a picture of the underside of that swing arm? If there's a shaft protruding from it we'd need to know the diameter of it so an encoder could be matched to it.

There is enough space to put encoder under swing arm.

system · March 22, 2012, 5:38pm

Under encoder cover I find connection data pin/signal/colour for wires.

Chagrin · March 23, 2012, 6:14am

Kontakt 1 to 4 would be the connections for a typical quadrature encoder; +5V, GND, A, and B. See Arduino Playground - HomePage for a description of how this works.

It's not at all clear what 5 to 8 would be used for, but I don't think you'll need to worry about those.

system · March 25, 2012, 5:07pm

I was thinking to use Arduino Mega2560 Rev3 because I will need more I/O more then Uno have.

On solenoid valv on picture there is 3 wire ( green wire ). 2 wire left ( blue ) and right ( pink ) and one from both side goes on terminal block number 2 and exit 3 ( green wire ) and question is how to connect 3 wires on relay board NO - NC - C.

Qsilverrdc · March 26, 2012, 4:50pm

metalac:
I was thinking to use Arduino Mega2560 Rev3 because I will need more I/O more then Uno have.

On solenoid valv on picture there is 3 wire ( green wire ). 2 wire left ( blue ) and right ( pink ) and one from both side goes on terminal block number 2 and exit 3 ( green wire ) and question is how to connect 3 wires on relay board NO - NC - C.

This is a dual coil hydraulic valve. You need to use 2 relays to activate these coils. You also should install arc suppressors. I can’t say for certain but the coils are most likely AC at 115 or 230 volts. You use the common on the coils. Where the 2 are together, back to ground. Supply your source voltage to the common of your NC/NO relay. Hook your N/O output to the hydraulic valve coil. If you want to guard against accidently turning both coils on at the same time, feed coil B’s common from coil A’s NC contact.
Coil a will always have priority. Did I mention that need to install arc suppressors?

Good luck…

metalac · June 18, 2017, 4:54pm

I'm back on this project

Instead using LCD display I plan to use 7 segment display - bigger numbers, easy to see

to buy now

Adafruit 0.56" 4-Digit 7-Segment Display w/I2C Backpack

4x4 keypad

Arduino uno - for learning and testing components

I need recommendation for:

bigger arduino model - more I/O, faster, memory.....then UNO
relay board to 110VAC 10A
power supply for uno or other model, what voltage and current I need
something else I need but I forget

wildbill · June 18, 2017, 5:25pm

A Mega will give you more I/O and memory than an Uno, but if you really need more speed as well, consider the Due. Just be aware it's 3.3V.

Search for relay board on Amazon - you'll find plenty of cheap examples that can do 10A at 110V

Power the arduino with a usb cable to a phone charger

metalac · August 10, 2017, 4:54pm

Finally package arrive

Arduino Uno
Adafruit 0.56" 4-Digit 7-Segment Display w/I2C Backpack - green - blue - red
1,5m cable

what I order
4 x 4 Matrix Keyboard
MB-102 830 breadboards
dupont wire
2 way relay board - for testing

sancelot · September 5, 2019, 7:29am

Hi,
Have you succeed ?
Regards,
Steph

system · May 5, 2021, 4:38pm