I’ve been reading through all the posts for the zenxy… i’m completely intrigued by it!
I did want to throw out a thought though… I know a lot of posts refer back to not being able to lift the ball , which makes everything need to be “continuous” no dotting of I’s etc. I would think that it would be possible to incorporate an electromagnet on the magnet head side and reverse polarity to essentially be able to levitate the ball, move it to a location, reverse the magnet polarity again and have it return down into the sand. I’d be willing to develop this portion once I get my zenxy built up and functioning.
anyone have any interest in this or is really unnecessary and a waste of time lol
I was thinking that if the steel ball was some type of permanent magnet etc that you would be able to then reverse it? I realize that just inversing the polarity would not be effective if the ball was just magnetic. Also raises the question though that the ball would just roll and “flip” orientation if it was a permanent magnet and you reversed polarity on coil.
Wondering if a better solution would be to treat the “lift” as a separate function where the mechanical z axis has the ability to change , either going to a fixed location to switch magnets , then go back to the spot it left the ball at to lift it, move it, then set it down and switch back to the magnet that attracts the ball and on continue on.
OR the opposite magnet is carried on the same structure that the attraction magnet is located on and is able to switch between magnets etc.
Even if you got the polarity reversed to push the ‘ball’ (it obviously would be more like a cylinder), it would fall off to the side immediately. You would have to either create a field that pushes the ball from all sides as well as from below or you would have to create a pulling force from above. It’s easier to live with the current restriction.
My sphere magnets will just spin in place when the lower magnet is flipped polarity. To lift the bearing you’d need something above the table, which would be really good for keeping crap off the glass so you can watch.
I thought about “lifting the pen” a few times. If you had a gantry above to attract it, then that would work. I don’t really want to mess with an electromagnet if I can help it though. I also thought about putting in some tool change commands, and have the user lift the ball up, the machine would move to a new start, and the user could plop it back down.
At any rate, probably just planning things out better, or retrotraversing the path would be easier, and better. At any rate, I’m not making the mona lisa here. Whatever it draws is going to get deleted in the next run, so I’m not terribly upset about a few imperfections.