biketrialsdave
21-01-2017, 01:18 PM
Hi all,
After getting frustrated with cheap BOBs, I decided to design my own (EE by profession - maybe I shouldn't mention that :playful:) and I am currently a good way into the design. A couple of people have expressed an interest in buying one if I were to make a couple of boards. I am just gauging interest here as it will affect a few of the design decisions I'm making. As anyone who has done small scale production like this before, it's not cheap. To make it financially viable and worth the hassle I would have to be looking at a sale price of ~£140. I appreciate this is a lot of money so it might not appeal to many. Either way, the boards will be made as I need one for myself so no loss!
Rough feature spec below:
Housed in a plastic DIN rail mount enclosure
Designed for easy connection to Smoothstepper but will also work with parallel ports with IDC-> DB25 cable
15-75Vdc Input Voltage Range. (Actually its 95Vdc or 65Vac Max - theres an internal rectifier. However this would be an unofficial maximum as I want this to fall outside LVD)
Isolated, regulated 5Vdc output (to power Smoothstepper etc.)
Non-isolated, regulated 12Vdc output for sensors etc.
Non-isolated, regulated 5Vdc output for touch probes etc.
Port 1 & Port 2 support.
All inputs support Volt free contacts (switches etc.) as well as open collector/drain sensors (NPN etc.). No external pull-ups required.
PNP sensors are supported so long as they are 24V
All inputs have LED indication when active
Port 1:
10x Inputs
4x Step/Dir Outputs
1x Spindle Speed Controller Output (Fixed 10V output - internal ref) with calibration POT
2x 230Vac/10A Relay Outputs (with LED indicators)
Charge pump feature allows Mach3 charge pump signal to be input to the BOB. Loss of this signal disables all outputs on the BOB (also turns on a fault LED). This feature can be disabled via a DIP switch.
If using the dedicated E-STOP input, this can also disable all outputs on the BOB. Again, this function can be disabled via a DIP switch.
All outputs are buffered
Port 2:
4x Buffered Outputs (On an IDC header, unlike terminal blocks used for other I/O)
5x Inputs
2 of the inputs have a "merge" capability which is useful for Probes etc. This allows a normally closed and normally open contact to be merged together to drive a single input. This can be disabled via a DIP switch.
Pins #2-9 brought out to IDC header. These are protected but have no buffering.
Cheers,
Dave
After getting frustrated with cheap BOBs, I decided to design my own (EE by profession - maybe I shouldn't mention that :playful:) and I am currently a good way into the design. A couple of people have expressed an interest in buying one if I were to make a couple of boards. I am just gauging interest here as it will affect a few of the design decisions I'm making. As anyone who has done small scale production like this before, it's not cheap. To make it financially viable and worth the hassle I would have to be looking at a sale price of ~£140. I appreciate this is a lot of money so it might not appeal to many. Either way, the boards will be made as I need one for myself so no loss!
Rough feature spec below:
Housed in a plastic DIN rail mount enclosure
Designed for easy connection to Smoothstepper but will also work with parallel ports with IDC-> DB25 cable
15-75Vdc Input Voltage Range. (Actually its 95Vdc or 65Vac Max - theres an internal rectifier. However this would be an unofficial maximum as I want this to fall outside LVD)
Isolated, regulated 5Vdc output (to power Smoothstepper etc.)
Non-isolated, regulated 12Vdc output for sensors etc.
Non-isolated, regulated 5Vdc output for touch probes etc.
Port 1 & Port 2 support.
All inputs support Volt free contacts (switches etc.) as well as open collector/drain sensors (NPN etc.). No external pull-ups required.
PNP sensors are supported so long as they are 24V
All inputs have LED indication when active
Port 1:
10x Inputs
4x Step/Dir Outputs
1x Spindle Speed Controller Output (Fixed 10V output - internal ref) with calibration POT
2x 230Vac/10A Relay Outputs (with LED indicators)
Charge pump feature allows Mach3 charge pump signal to be input to the BOB. Loss of this signal disables all outputs on the BOB (also turns on a fault LED). This feature can be disabled via a DIP switch.
If using the dedicated E-STOP input, this can also disable all outputs on the BOB. Again, this function can be disabled via a DIP switch.
All outputs are buffered
Port 2:
4x Buffered Outputs (On an IDC header, unlike terminal blocks used for other I/O)
5x Inputs
2 of the inputs have a "merge" capability which is useful for Probes etc. This allows a normally closed and normally open contact to be merged together to drive a single input. This can be disabled via a DIP switch.
Pins #2-9 brought out to IDC header. These are protected but have no buffering.
Cheers,
Dave