Higher end Chinese controllers?

[komatias]

m_c,

If the road takes you anywhere near Bristol, come and have a look at the 980MDc on my machine to get a feel for it.

[Boyan Silyavski]

I perfectly understand what you are saying, after 2 weeks spent trying to figure things out and reading manuals. Its an absolute mess. I even have tried to make an Excel file so i could compare. They have absolutely no idea how to sell a product to an European or a Westerner in general.

You would not believe the insane conversations i had last 2 weeks with different Chinese companies.



What is your specific need that you find that you need the 218 versus 980 controller?

[m_c]

Komatias, I've not got any plans to be down that area, but if I do happen to be, I'll give you a shout.
.
Boyan, the GSK990 (their 980 now appears to be a bus link unit only) is just a pretty basic control panel, whereas their 218MC-H or V control panel comes with E-stop,FRO,SSO,Cycle Start/Stop knobs/buttons. The only option listed for the 990, is an additional panel, which is just a precut frame for adding your own controls.
The reason I'm looking at the Chinese controller option, is I want a ready made control panel, and don't want to be faffing around making one. If I wanted to do that, I've got a KFlop+Kanalog+KStep sat in a cupboard, or a pair of Mesa boards lying around that would work well for this machine, but both of those involve trying to mount a PC in the machine.

[Clive S]

but both of those involve trying to mount a PC in the machine.

I have just bought one of these:

http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=34#JNF9C-2600

with a SSD it will also run off 12V It is being mount on the control box door inside. Using a mesa 5i25/7i76 combo

[m_c]

I have just bought one of these:

http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=34#JNF9C-2600

with a SSD it will also run off 12V It is being mount on the control box door inside. Using a mesa 5i25/7i76 combo

I'm well aware of mini-ITX boards, but you still need to make a control panel.
Ideally I'd just like to modify/make a housing, wire the controller in, bolt it in place, configure it, and be good to go.
The big thing is cost/time.
A good metal industrial panel mount keyboard with track pad/ball is around £200, a suitable resistive touchscreen monitor is another £200, then you have the cost of separate switches, which will probably be at least £50 for good quality ones, and say another £50 for assorted wiring/connectors to connect that lot up. That's £500 before you even consider the controller or PC, which means you can quite easily spent £1000 on the hardware. Then you still need the time to design it all, build it, and wire it up.
Admittedly, that's buying stuff new, and building a good industrial quality controller, which is overkill for most hobby users, but when you need the machine to make money, you have to consider the whole picture.