3-axis Motor Control

[dylan94]

Hello, I am completely new to LabVIEW except for some experience with NXG. 

I need to control a Thorlabs KDC101 controller to operate with this motor:

https://www.thorlabs.com/thorproduct.cfm?partnumber=KMTS25E/M

I am trying to use the ActiveX software through LabVIEW to do the following main operations:

• Select the axis of interest (In this case the motor stage must move in XYZ)
• Control the step size of movements and feedback the position value
• Move to a specified distance (ideally by using a joystick of some kind) at a specified velocity

I have worked through the example provided in https://www.thorlabs.com/images/TabImages/GuideToLabVIEWandAPT.pdf which provides a sort of structure to begin with. 

The code so far looks something like the attached image.

I have also attached the sort of front panel which is desired.

Any help on how to get started with this would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks

[JelmerD]

Hey Dylan,

Good to see that you have made a start already, using that handy guide provided by Thorlabs.

As you are new to LabVIEW and taking on this project I would highly advise you to familiarize yourself with some of the common design patterns in LabVIEW. Design patterns are proven architectures for your code that help you build robust, maintainable, and scalable code. All professional LabVIEW programmers will use design patterns.

Once you have chosen your design pattern you can start looking at how to implement the specific functionality you are looking for in your application. My personal recommendation is to use a event based state machine or queued message handler.

Hope that helps you get started!

Best,

Jelmer