Breakout Board expandability...CNCdrive based control system

[iforeman]

Hi All

I will be using an Ethernet connected controller, (the UC300eth-5ltp*or the UC400eth*from CNC Drive http://www.shop.cncdrive.com/index.php?categoryID=114. Both have a large number of I/O (36/49 & 24/10 respectively) and using the UCCNC control software.
*
Initial setup would be for a gantry router configuration (2 motors slaved together on the Y axis), a spindle & vfd, a wireless MPG, Up to 8 Limit/home proximity sensors, E-Stop and an auto tool height setter.

Looking at the generally available breakout boards (€20 - €60 range), they have the following I/O
¥ 5 x inputs
¥ 4 x outputs
¥ 4 or 5 x stepper drive connections.
*
Both the UC300eth & UC400eth have a lot more I/O which will not be able to be used!

Now my questions

What are my options for making this configuration expandable beyond the initial I/O capability of the std parallel port breakout board?

Do I need to look at dual port products like the PMDX-126, the C62 - Dual Port Modular CNC Breakout Board & the C32 Dual Port Modular CNC Breakout Board?

Are the I/O used on the standard parallel port for stepper drive connections, (pins 1 through 12)http://www.cncroutersource.com/cnc-breakout-board.html able to be reused for another purpose?

Can I use two of the std parallel port breakout boards in my electronic configuration (assuming ping 1 through 12 can be repurposed)?

Thanks in advance for your advice.
Regards

[Ger21]

Copied from my CNC Zone reply.

A couple of C10 breakout boards give you a lot of flexibility, as the pins can be configured for both input and outputs.

Or, an M44 motherboard, which has a variety of accessory boards with different functionality.
Note that the M44 will soon be replaced by an M45 board, so I wouldn't buy one at this time.


There's also the 5441 board from Hungary:
https://www.cncpart.hu/uc300-5441

[Neale]

I suspect that you have not quite understood the way the set of 5 ports works on the UC300/400. You can plug a BOB into port 1, and that gives you access to the various I/O pins 1-25. You can plug a second BOB into port 2, and that gives you access to I/O pins 1-25 - but this time they are labelled Port 2/Pin 1, for example. Similarly, you can plug BOBs into ports 3-5 for additional I/O. Port 1/pin 1, Port 2 pin 1, Port 3/pin 1, etc, are all different connections and that is how you get access to the enormous number of I/O pins. You don't need to reuse the step/dir pins. I know that the UC300ETH manual is slightly ambiguous about the analogue port, but if you look at the UC300USB manual which has the same output port configuration, the description is better. It might be worth reading both manuals for descriptions of the digital I/O ports and pins as well but I haven't read those parts of the manuals myself. I'm sure that the ETH manual version will be corrected in a later version.

[Ger21]

If you run the UCCNC software in demo mode, and select the UC300ETH-5LPT, the diagnostics page shows you which pins can be used for inputs and outputs.

[Lee Roberts]

I suspect that you have not quite understood the way the set of 5 ports works on the UC300/400. You can plug a BOB into port 1, and that gives you access to the various I/O pins 1-25. You can plug a second BOB into port 2, and that gives you access to I/O pins 1-25 - but this time they are labelled Port 2/Pin 1, for example. Similarly, you can plug BOBs into ports 3-5 for additional I/O. Port 1/pin 1, Port 2 pin 1, Port 3/pin 1, etc, are all different connections and that is how you get access to the enormous number of I/O pins.

This was true for me Neale so thanks for making it clear.

[John S]

Like pulling bloody teeth isn't it ?

So where is the missing link that tells you what pins to connect what to because I'm sure it's not that simple that you can connect to whatever you want ?

[Neale]

I assume if you're using it with Mach3, you use the usual ports-and-pins mapping page. Don't know about UCCNC as I've never seen it. Guess that there's an equivalent set-up screen?

Trouble is, put all the detail in the manual and you confuse people. Don't put in every last detail and someone will bitch. Best bet is probably put in enough for someone intelligent and knowledgeable, and kick off with something like, "if you don't understand this, ask yourself if you should be doing it by yourself. Why not ask someone who does know what they're doing?" Actually, that's probably where this forum kicks in!

[Ger21]

It's not that complicated.
The software is free to try, download it and install it.

The choice of motherboard determines which pins can be used for inputs and outputs.

With the 5LPT motherboard from CNC Drive, ports 2 and 3 are the same pinouts as standard parallel ports. (1-9, 14, 16, 17 Outputs ----- 10-13, 15 Inputs)
Ports 1,4, and 5 use pins 2-9 as inputs. (1, 14, 16, 17 Outputs------2-13, 15 Inputs)

It's just like using a parallel port, except that you have 5 of them.

[Lee Roberts]

actually, that's probably where this forum kicks in!

[emoji51] I love you !


It's just like using a parallel port, except that you have 5 of them.

Cheers Gerry we would be lost without you...off to read your PM now !

[Ger21]

Here's the diagnostic page showing the pinout, and some setup pages.

19610

19611

19612

[John S]

I think after Christmas, too much to do before, I'll have to get one and have a play as regards getting lathe running.

There are very few, in fact no cheap alternatives for lathe.
The £400 Chinese lathe controller works and works well but it's mainly suited to production runs where you know the code and trust the controller.

My customers would just love a Mach3 lathe program that worked for worked read threading but it's not going to happen.
It would be nice if this UCCNC plug in worked but I think it's more the fault of how Mach works than anything else but Gerry has shown that you can make UCCNC look like Mach so it could well be the next best thing.

When we did the first Sieg X3 milling machine kits the box of tricks came with a story book that basically said bolt this to that etc, etc and when It came to the electronics it has very clear colour pictures of where each wire went, what colour and why.

We even had guys as old as 84 build these and it's this that is missing from a lot of the conversions nowadays.

I think I need to talk to these people after Christmas.

[Ger21]

Someone on the UCCNC forum directed me to a nice looking breakout board from Thailand, and I ended up ordering it to use with my UC300ETH.

It's designed to work with a Smoothstepper, and uses 3 ports.

There are not a lot of options in 24V breakout boards, and this looked like the best of the ones that I've seen, and also was the least expensive.

http://www.cncroom.com/break-out-board/smooth-stepper?zenid=v2h98pbl2tk4sg1gjepeu9ugh3

It shipped about 10 days ago. Hopefully I'll get it this week. I think it's out in the ocean somewhere right now.

[Boyan Silyavski]

At the end a 24VDc board with differential signals, servo enable and Spindle speed control that will not be affected by the VFD. If we are to believe all will work 100%. This board is clearly made to work with servo drives. Thanks for the link

[JAZZCNC]

Someone on the UCCNC forum directed me to a nice looking breakout board from Thailand, and I ended up ordering it to use with my UC300ETH.

Excellent those are the features BOB should have.:yahoo:

Now Gerry get UCCNC people to do bit of reverse engineering like chinese do, so basicly copy it like for like. Then Stick the UC300ETH on top and they will Massive Winner.

[Ger21]

Actually, I asked the guy in Thailand about making a version for the UC300ETH.
He said it's unlikely, because they made a Pokeys breakout board and he's not selling any.
I think it's partly because:
1) Nobody has heard of CNC Room.
2) There aren't that many Pokeys users.

I think CNC Drive, like CNC Room, are afraid of spending all the time developing a quality board, and finding out that they don't sell any.
But if you build a quality product, and let people know about it, you'll sell a lot of them.

There is a minor issue with using the MB2 with the UC300ETH.
The MB2 is designed to power the Smoothstepper through pin 26 of the ports.
But the UC300 also supplies 5V power through pin 26.
I see two option.
1) Disable the 5V power supply on the MB2 by removing the solder bridge.
2) Use 25 pin cables.

I plan on doing both. I'll make an interface board to mount the UC300 to the MB2, and make some custom ribbon cables.
It won't be quite as clean as the ESS, though, because the UC300 ports are different.
Instead of plugging in ports 1,2, and 3, they need to go 2,3, and 1, so the cable will need to be longer,m and cross over themselves a bit. I'll know a bit more when I get it.
But it looks like a really nice board, with all the features I was looking for.

[Boyan Silyavski]

Actually, I asked the guy in Thailand about making a version for the UC300ETH.
He said it's unlikely, because they made a Pokeys breakout board and he's not selling any.
I think it's partly because:
1) Nobody has heard of CNC Room.
2) There aren't that many Pokeys users.



Making such boards without consulting and involving the original manufacturer will always lead to no sales. They made it for the previous version and then Pokeys released the CNC version, of course they will not sale. Apart from that if the manufacturer wants to sink them he can always release a new firmware with some different functions of pins. And thats it.

[JAZZCNC]

I think CNC Drive, like CNC Room, are afraid of spending all the time developing a quality board, and finding out that they don't sell any.
But if you build a quality product, and let people know about it, you'll sell a lot of them.

Quality product that works and well supported will always sell them selfs. If they provided board with the No Frill features this one does and at sensible price then I can't see how they won't sell and cause lot of other manufactures lots to think about.
IMO between there software and Hardware Combo they could wipe out few manufactures like Warp9 and seriously give Artsoft problems, if not wipe them out in the Hobby department. (Which lets face it Brian is doing Job of Himself.!!)