motion controller helps shape the future of surfing

Baldor's Mint language is providing the real-time motion control for a machine that lets surfboard builders automate the production of complex profiles, and allows expert surfers to innovate custom shapes more accurately and rapidly than using conventional hand crafting. Refined over several years by the Australian company CET Surf, the machine concept has just started to be exported globally, to the USA and Europe.

At the heart of the system is a dedicated 3D computer-aided design tool for surf and sail boards called Deadly Accurate Template Designer, or DAT. CET Surf's machine takes a DAT file, and transforms the shape information into motion control commands. These movement commands are used to machine a surfboard blank by controlling its vertical, horizontal and rotational movement as it travels past a rotary linishing head.

The CAD-to-motion control interface is handled by Baldor's plug-in PCIbus card, NextMove PCI, with its onboard Mint motion language. Machine throughput is critical, and the developer of DAT and the CAD-to-motion interface - British software engineer Dr Ian Pearce - selected NextMove because of the flexibility of the relative move commands that Mint offered, and for the language's developer workbench support.

Among the facilities offered by the engineering environment was open access to key hardware resources. This was used to exploit the card's dual-port RAM buffer to the full - creating a custom PC-to-motion data passing scheme that greatly speeds the transfer of large arrays of shape information.

Using this technique, even the most complex surfboard profiles can be fabricated in around 40 minutes - with minimal need for the post-machine hand-finishing that other conventional production techniques such as milling can necessitate. The CAD to CAM software process is much faster than the sanding tool used by the machine to shape the high-density foam board blanks, giving CET Surf an easy upgrade path for manufacturers seeking volume production - and a faster cutting head is one aspect of the company's current development projects.

The comprehensive hardware complement of the motion controller was a second reason for NextMove's selection, as it provided a single-board solution to the real-time control needs - three axes of closed loop motor control plus I/O - together with the flexibility for system expansion. At the time the original machine concept was being designed - which dates back to the mid 1990s - the CET Surf team were primarily targeting an answer to their own board building needs, and merely didn't want to exclude further development. NextMove's ability to be populated with up to 12 axes of motor control, plus onboard I/O and networking, providing the flexibility the developers sought.

But, now that the CADCAM machine concept has been extensively proven on local production (the company operates two machines and leases time to a number of leading board designers), and the company is building machines for export, this flexibility is actively being used. The first major system expansion for the team is the addition a fourth axis to support concave cuts.

Machines are built at CET Surf's factory in Dee Why, Sydney, Australia. Baldor provides a complete motion control package for every machine built, including the NextMove motion controller card, three FlexDrive single-axis drives and BSM brushless AC servo motors, plus a 15H inverter drive to power the linishing head. The motion control system is provided in the form of a ready-assembled electronic and electrical sub-system by one of Baldor's systems integrators, JH Tester & Co, to simplify machine building.

"The Mint language simplified the design of the original shaping concept, and is now providing an easy means of expanding the machine's functionality", says John Gillis, Managing Director of CET Surf. "Baldor provides a complete package for the motion control system, efficient service and the ability to supply spares worldwide, is another important factor turning this project into an international product."