Bridgeport Retrofit motion control?

[drumsticksplinter]

Hi guy's,

I've been on this project for a while now and its getting to the point where I'm sick of it sitting in the corner gathering dust, when I could be making loads of swarf with it and possibly earning a few quid at the same time.

I bought a Bridgeport MDI series 1 about 2 years ago, the iron was really good and apart from a dodgy servo, mechanically and electrically it was great, bargain price too! I bought with the intention of retrofitting to modern controls so I'd end up with a machine I could easily fire up and either run a quick conversational type program or load a complex cam outputted G code file. Since then I've had a few hurdles to overcome, but I've ended up with a machine that has CNC Drive Dugong type servo drives, original DC servomotors with new encoders and a custom built power supply. I've tested all of this up with a cheapo parallel port breakout board and mach3 just to try out the movements. All servo's tuned and working great individually, however, run a bit of a simple circle program and there is some weird stuff going on... It seems that when say the x axis is doing a movement then another axis starts to move, all axis pause momentarily then the desired movement is carried out. To watch it cutting fresh air, its hardly noticeable, but if i were to try and cut some material then I'd end up with a lot of problems. Also, I've tried out the MPG function (if you can call it that) in mach3 and its less than useless, I really wouldn't trust it to work with in a production environment.

So, my dilemma is this: do I opt for something like an ethernet smooth stepper and put up with mach3 until mach4 is properly developed and all features available? Or do I go with something like an Eding cnc package? I've heard good things about Eding, but the boards that I consider affordable don't offer as many inputs and outputs as I'd like. Mach3 is a pile of crap, I know this because I use it every day on my plasma cutter. I've just about got used to its "moments", but wouldn't build a machine on this platform, especially based around the parallel port!

I've spent probably 6 months debating which system to go for, Ideally I don't want to spend too much over £200, but I'd also like to have a machine I can use without thinking about it for another 6 months!

Any words of wisdom?

[Clive S]

Mach3 is a pile of crap, I know this because I use it every day on my plasma cutter.

I don't think it's quite fair to blame Mach3 especially when using a plasma and a PP. But have you seen this http://www.pmdx.com/PMDX-410 you could also try Linuxcnc with a mesa card. ..Clive

[drumsticksplinter]

I don't think it's quite fair to blame Mach3 especially when using a plasma and a PP.

Yes a little unfair, I was having a rant. I have tried mach3 a few times on different machines and have just fallen out of love for it, I'm looking for something a bit better. Don't get me wrong, I've made thousands of parts with mach and thats really brilliant, but I think I want something a bit more bullet proof for my mill.

have you seen this http://www.pmdx.com/PMDX-410

I have seen the pmdx mach4 stuff, but I'm not sure if I've got enough confidence in mach4 yet, I need someone to convince me that its ready and stable enough. Obviously, its on on the hobby version release of the software, I'm hoping to use my mill in a small scale commercial environment where down time would be costly.

you could also try Linuxcnc with a mesa card

I do really like the idea of the linux route, the mesa cards are also really cheap for what you get :) Each time I convince myself to go for Linux I get put off by fact that I might have to spend ages messing around getting the thing up and running... I've messed with computers quite a bit and am confident I could get a system up and running, but how much learning have I got to do to get to that stage?

Hmm decisions decisions......

[Jonathan]

I do really like the idea of the linux route, the mesa cards are also really cheap for what you get :) [...] I've messed with computers quite a bit and am confident I could get a system up and running, but how much learning have I got to do to get to that stage?

Then go for it, you'll be fine.

[komatias]

The question to ask is if you would like to have CAM capability on the same PC running your motion control. If so then stick with Mach3 and a motion controller. Mach3 becomes a joy to use when you are confident that you machine is not losing steps and communication.

This is mine before I had converted the quill too:

[JAZZCNC]

If Mach is not working for you then it's not Mach's fault because it's Proven by 10,000's of users rangeing from plotters to very large powerful mills and lathes that it work perfectly well when correctly setup and left unattended for hours on end..!! . . . . Like Hoods Spidery beast.