Quote Originally Posted by m_c View Post
Newkye do appear to be the cheapest, but what concerns me is the lack of information. Even the product listings on their website/aliexpress are pretty much all identical, with little information as to what the differences actually are.
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Take for example on Aliexpress they have two 4-axis milling 1000 series controllers with Panel C (the panel I'd like), but one is a "best price NEW1000MDb" and the other a "Modbus type NEW1000MDc" with a $110 premium.
Is the difference between them simply one has Modbus, and what are they actually referring to as Modbus? GSK have controllers (983 series IIRC) that will only work with their own bus link servo drives, so are they referring to a drive control Modbus, or do they simply mean conventional Modbus for communicating with a PC. If so, does that mean the cheaper one doesn't have the ability to be drip fed from a PC?
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The other thing I have noticed, is some controller manuals don't mention anything about being able to run of a USB stick. They have instructions for copying files from USB, but nothing about running from USB.
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Having spent a good bit time looking through and comparing the GSK manuals last night, other than certain models having specific features, I suspect the difference between a lot of the models is simply different hardware, but still with the same key features.
The 988 series are the top of the range controllers, capable of 6 axis with 3 spindles.
1000/990 other than being physically different, I can't find anything majorly different in the specs.
983/980 (bus version) are for bus controlled servo drives.
218 seems to be a newer version of the 990, or a lower spec version of the 988.
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Certainly for what I'm looking for, the GSK 218MC-H seems like the best fit. However the standard control panel doesn't include a MPG, but a remote MPG may be a better option.
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I'm not going to make any decisions until I've heard back from the other suppliers, to see what they suggest, and what their prices are.
At $2216 for the gsk218mc-H compared with $1460 (both plus postage), apart from a few switches what extra benefits are worth 50% extra cost.