1200mmX900mmX170mm 4axis cnc

[Nickhofen]

Came from work today and a box was waiting for me,motors are here!


AM882 are one their way home and I have to decide about the breakout board, any suggestions?

[Desertboy]

Came from work today and a box was waiting for me,motors are here!


AM882 are one their way home and I have to decide about the breakout board, any suggestions?

Nice, 3nm?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-axis-CN...4AAOSw4DJaZvGY

These are compatible with Mach 3 and Linuxcnc but if you want to use Mach 3 it has restrictions no later than Windows 7 and 32bit only. Step generation is done by the processor on the PC performance can be very acceptable and it's a very cheap place to start it also has proven reliability people have run setup's like this for over a decade now with no issues. You will need an old pc pentium 4's work well and have parallel ports built in generally.

Other options normally are step generators and cost a lot more but performance will be better, one to watch is boards are generally Mach 3 or Linuxcnc not both. Mach has a lot of USB controllers which work via plugins linuxcnc has no usb options at all! USB is crap TBH and should be avoided. Not sure what other options for Mach 3, Linuxcnc everyone gets a Mesa card be it PCI or Ethernet.

You could also buy a ddscv see Boran's excellent thread, for the price not a bad choice at all and I was tempted.

If you want dual homing on the Y axis (so it squares the gantry automatically) mach 3 or linuxcnc is your choice can be accomplished with a cheap breakout board. In the end this is what swumg it for me to stick with linuxcnc rather than get the standalone controller.

[cropwell]

If you are spending all that much on the motors and drivers, then I would go for a proper motion controller not a Parallel port BOB.

[Desertboy]

If you are spending all that much on the motors and drivers, then I would go for a proper motion controller not a Parallel port BOB.

For me I wanted to try both mach 3 and linuxcnc first before I locked myself into a vendor with an expensive controller purchase. I had a feeling you'd have to be a sadist to setup linuxcnc and I was right lol but I'm happy with linuxcnc (Never tried Mach in the end) so I've invested in a decent pci controller/step generator. I couldn't find a controller that was compatible with both Mach and Linuxcnc other than the PP BOB's.

These seems popular for Mach
https://www.ebay.com/p/Ethernet-Smoo...d=122092303470

[Nickhofen]

Thanks both of you guys for taking the time to reply.
I have a pc with parallel port and Mach3 that I used to use with my previous CNC, so ni money to spent there for now.
Desertboy,I will find the Boran's thread and read it ,thanks for the input.
Cropwell ,I thought that parallel pots was superior that USB! Am I wrong?I am asking to learn,the only experience I have is with parallel ports.

[cropwell]

Cropwell ,I thought that parallel pots was superior that USB! Am I wrong?I am asking to learn,the only experience I have is with parallel ports.

Actually, I have only experience of PP BOBs.


I bought this beast because it was cheap and I intended to use it for my current machine and/or the next build, but various bits of my life got in the way, so it sits in a cupboard, next to the Super-PID speed controller for my router. One day, Maybe !!!

I just think that Printer Ports are soon to be history, like floppy disks and you would be better served by looking forward rather than staying stuck in the past.

[Desertboy]

http://www.mycncuk.com/threads/10187...ion-controller

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-500KH...0AAOSwH-daPdYA

[JAZZCNC]

I thought that parallel pots was superior that USB! Am I wrong?I am asking to learn,the only experience I have is with parallel ports.

Can't really look at it in better or worse terms because the main reason for USB connection is to allow use of external motion controller which have much higher spec than parallel port. So it's not really fair to compare to PP.
The parallel port is limited to 25Khz for stable operation, if you have really good PC setup then possibly can reach 45Khz maximum.
Also the quality of pulse generation on external motion controller is often much higher quality which allows much faster and Smoother operation. Hence why often get called "Smooth Stepper" after the Original Mach3 based USB motion controller made by Warp9 in US.
The other main difference is the number of I/O it allows. The PP is much more limited.

So if you don't require high feed rates with high Micro stepping rates and can live with 5 inputs and 2 Outputs then PP will work fine.

USB will allow motion controller with more I/O and Speed and connection via laptop etc but does have some issues with reliabilty regards dropping connections and inteference from outside sources. It's also funerable to reliabilty with Windows getting in the way so needs careful setup of PC to stop interuptions while using machine.

If you want better solution then go with Ethernet based controller like Cslabs or UC300eth.

[Clive S]

If you want better solution then go with Ethernet based controller like Cslabs or UC300eth.

Or Linuxcnc

[JAZZCNC]

Or Linuxcnc

Or if you have lots of spare hair go with Linuxcnc.