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  1. #1
    Hi all!
    I finally jumped in and bought a 6040 CNC machine.. mostly for hobbiest use and to learn..


    However I'm now looking at what PC to pair it with.
    I'm not 100% sure on what software I'll be using yet but may perhaps use Mach3 as it seems to be the most popular..


    In regards to the PC, I'm thinking at this stage that I'll do a dual boot with XP 32bit for the CNC side.. and a fairly powerful windows 7 side.
    I'm currently thinking I want a motherboard with:
    i7 cpu.
    USB 3.0
    Parallel port
    Serial port
    Dual PS/2 ports.


    However upon searching, I'm wondering is there any trap I should look out for when searching for parallel ports? There's blue or pink varieties.. are they the same?
    I've read somewhere about some providing a lower voltage.. is there a way to confirm this beforehand or is it only PCI adapters that do this?

  2. #2
    Hi,

    You will be wasting your time with the Parallel port. It is much better to buy a good or medium ready working PC with USB mice & keyboards and use a motion controller. If you factor in that you can pick up a ready computer for around £100 and then another £130-200 for a very good motion controller you should be quids in.

    All too many people want to skimp and use the parallel port in a windows system (not used EMC since it was not compatible with my Asus mobo years ago). The end result is usually that they come here complaining of lost steps ugly noises, broken endmills. A motion controller is the way to go every time.

    Best regards

    George
    https://emvioeng.com
    Machine tools and 3D printing supplies. Expanding constantly.

  3. #3
    Agree 100% with George.!!

    But if you must go with PP then I wouldn't buy a newer PC because it's highly likely it will be 3.3V and the CPU with have energy saving features you can't turn off which is what causes lot of the problems people have with PP.
    You can buy Breakout boards that will buffer and boost signals to 5v but this is work around and not idle really.

    PP is dieing donkey and unless your just testing the waters with CNC then I wouldn't waste a penny buying with PP in mind. A Motion control card is the only way to go really if you intend keeping with CNC and the extra initial cost will pay back long term in hassle free cutting. Also because most Motion control cards sits between PC and CNC control side they can move with you from machine to machine without too much hassle.

  4. #4
    Hi, Thanks for the advice. Really appreciate it.
    A friend is giving me a Asus H61M-Pro which they're no longer using.
    specs: https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/H61MPRO/


    I've not bought anything else yet though so can always go the route of a cheaper older PC as you've said yes.


    Not 100% sure on power saving features on that motherboard.. but as it would be handy to have a higher spec machine too in the workspace (I was going to do a dual boot system with XP & windows 7) I wonder if it's worth trying it to see.. or would you say it's an absolute no-go even with a controller?
    Is there a way to test whether there will be problems with the board? DPC latency checker I've used before when testing for audio realtime performance. Is the problem related to latency?


    I was looking into controllers yes. From what I've read from people's experiences with my machine, is that as is, the electronics are horrible however with a rewire with some shielded cable, all is well. Coming from an electronics background myself, I'm not afraid of getting stuck in with that type of thing.. (rewiring, building better PSUs, replacing chips etc etc) however if it's the case that it's still not 100% reliable, then I guess a controller board is the way forward..


    I guess I'm a little confused on the way to procede..


    I guess my questions are:


    Shall I go ahead and try with the Asus board? ie. buy the case & cpu etc.
    Is it worth trying the system with the controller that comes with it and improving it.. or jumping to a USB (or ethernet perhaps?) controller straight away without the headache?






    PS. My intentions as far as CNC is concerned: At this moment in time, my main use for the machine will be to help me make prototypes of electronic gadgets I make. So my thinking is, initially I want to just use the machine to mark out the holes and then I'll drill by hand.. Then once I've learnt more, use it to drill the holes itself and cut the panels..then once I've got a good grasp, make PCBs too.
    However, I have a hell of a lot to learn about it all, so am wondering if it's worth just going with something basic first before upgrading/modding to my specific needs...

  5. #5
    The cheap chinese machine electronics are a lottery really. Some work fine some fry in days or weeks.??
    Common problems are cheap brittle wires cramped into too tight space and poor grounding. With a little re-wire these are sorted quick enough.
    elelcronics side ie: Drives PSU then like I say it's a lottery and if they die then just replace with newer decent gear.! . . simplizzz.

    The Type of connection and Pc spec however matters to how well the machine works. The PP is slow and unreliable. It does however easily keep up with these low spec machines. Still however I wouldn't use it if could afford the better option.
    I also wouldn't go with USB if taking the better route and would go with Ethernet for all the connection and stabilty options it gives.

    Now your Other problem which you may or may not be aware of is that Mach3 parallel port driver doesn't support 64bit OS so if your thinking of using it then you can't and you'll need XP or Win7 32bit. Both work fine.
    Mach3 the program will work fine with 64bit OS but the Parallel port driver doesn't. External motion control cards however like the ESS etc don't use this driver and have there own Plug-in to control the device and happily work with 64bit OS.

  6. #6
    Awesome thanks again for the advice. So ethernet is the way forward then. That's the way I'm leaning at the moment.
    Yes I still have my old XP 32bit disk somewhere which I was planning to use. Although I'm not going to use the parallel port now but I've also heard XP runs Mach 3 better..




    Delving a little deeper in controllers, I've come across planet-cnc. More specifically a couple of videos which seem to show off some great features regarding PCB milling which intend to do in the future. (lining up pcbs with a camera mount & mapping an uneven surface)


    Would that be a controller that you'd recommend? Or are there others that would be more suitable to what I need? I hadn't seen any videos of camera mounts on cnc machines before so wasn't aware that it could be a possibility. Looking now though I see it's also a feature you can have in Mach 3. Although I've not come across the mapping/warp feature...
    (they also seem to have a PCB only controller which I solder up myself which is tempting.. although I'm not sure if it's the latest version.. maybe it's a earlier one..)

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