CNCdrive UC300ETH Mach3 plugin is now available

[JAZZCNC]

Here's a preview of my upcoming UCCNC Screenset.
Similar to the Mach3 2010 Screenset, but more modern, and more features and user control.

Looking good Gerry now get into there ribs and tell them to give us 24V I/O and 24V powered and I'll be onboard.

[John S]

And multi line encoder threading. <g>

[Lee Roberts]

I thought 24v inputs was not about being "professional" but was about being far less susceptible to EM noise, thus yielding a more robust system?

They go hand in hand don't they?, if it's true a 24v based system is less susceptible to noise problems, then it's more professional to use 24v, no ?

It shouldn't be considered Professional level. It should be a standard for CNC.

I new that was coming, professional industrial grade cnc or professional hobby level cnc?

Yeah but to keep a perspective on things, what other areas of CNC are standardized?

Maybe they havn't had the feedback for those things yet, like i was trying to suggest before, who knows what is to come. Given their rep for support offered, i'm sure they are listening, we just need to let them know maybe?

Not sure i'm bothered about them wanting to sell BOB's, I'm sure there will be benefits to using physically separate units, the option of using your own and the features that you may get with one but dont get with another, for instance...

HANG ON A MO?

The IP-M come's with separate BOB's/cable's anyway so what's the biggy?



Sure the isolation, handy little relay and what ever else they bundle is all nicely tucked away in that pretty little grey box they call the IP-M, but you still have to access that lot with a bob/boc....

SO....WHAT'S YOUR BEEF FAM?....

with having separate units in a UCCNC based system?

They designed and built a prototype two years ago, but had to shelf it at the time, as they were too busy working on their software and their ethernet boards. Hopefully at some point they'll get back to it.

If enough people ask them for it, maybe they'll get to it quicker.

How coincidental, just last week I read through the thread where you asked them on the forum what the status of that unit was, i'm pretty sure they said they would get back to it eventually, or words to that effect...

Here's a preview of my upcoming UCCNC Screenset.

Oooo is that an exclusive lol, looking good so far

[JAZZCNC]

HANG ON A MO?

The IP-M come's with separate BOB's/cable's anyway so what's the biggy?

Sure the isolation, handy little relay and what ever else they bundle is all nicly tucked away in that pretty little grey box they call the IP-M,

The cables you mention are just terminal blocks to make connection easier and not like BOB at all.

Stabilty is all about Layers or more specificly removing layers. BOB's or to be more specific Cheap ones are just Weak Layer which cause trouble.

Don't understand why folks will buy Motion controller for the higher cleaner pulse rates then strangle them by connecting to Cheap BOB with Slow Optos etc.?

It's this and other electrical incompatabilty's that come into play which make multi mixed hardware systems less reliable than one that's been designed and tested to play nice together.

Unfortunatly often this Stabilty comes at premium cost and it really shouldn't because wouldn't cost them much more to add it.!!

[A_Camera]

Don't understand why folks will buy Motion controller for the higher cleaner pulse rates then strangle them by connecting to Cheap BOB with Slow Optos etc.?

Nobody prevents you from buying a super expensive BOB and use that if you want to and believe it can do better. The BOB I have can pulse fast enough. Besides, the problem is NOT the optos on the inputs but the optos in the stepper driver. If you have crappy driver you have problems, yes, but the pulsing from the motion controller or the cheap BOB is not the problem, the problem is your driver in that case.

Here is a video I just made. My CNC is using the cheap BOBs and the UCCNC with the UC300ETH in this one.



I have also made a similar test with Mach3 and I can't run Mach3 as fast as I can run UCCNC with otherwise everything being the same. Mach3 can't keep up with the acceleration/deceleration, and that's not the fault of the optos in the BOB but Mach3.

[John S]

HANG ON A MO?

The IP-M come's with separate BOB's/cable's anyway so what's the biggy?

Try Specsavers, they are connector boards, DB25 to screw terminals and at least they supply the bloody things and don't just do a half heated job of fitting IDE sockets and leaving you to it.

[A_Camera]

Try Specsavers, they are connector boards, DB25 to screw terminals and at least they supply the bloody things and don't just do a half heated job of fitting IDE sockets and leaving you to it.

...and at what price? Five times the price of UC300ETH with less inputs/outputs? Sure, it is in a fancy box equipped with opto coplers but hey, for that much money... :)

[John S]

...and at what price? Five times the price of UC300ETH with less inputs/outputs? Sure, it is in a fancy box equipped with opto coplers but hey, for that much money... :)

I think we are getting cross connected here. What I mean is why don't UC supply connectors ? Pokeys had exactly the same problem as they use IDE's and people were asking for cable kits and Pokeys asked why ?

Simple reason is anyone working in electronics has all these cables, they buy the ends in by the 100's and cable by the 50M reel but they don't understand that the end user has more chance of having a 100 spare M6 nuts and bolts that he does electronic parts.

End result is they put a cabling kit up and I think it costs 19 Euro, or thereabouts.
A piddling amount for the grief that users had to get it.

Don't get me wrong that I'm knocking the product because I'm not. I'm knocking the presentation knowing they could do so much better with hardly any more work.

At the moment the CNC controller world is wide open. We have many looking to upgrade from Mach3 which has been an awesome piece of software. If it wasn't for Art Fenarty on his own then 1,000's of users would not be into CNC at this point. The baton should have been passed to Mach 4 but Brian dropped it big time as evidenced by some of the long time users like Ger21 and Terry Parker switching camps to other controllers.

We are now split between Bert Eddings, Planet CNC, UCCNC and the stand alone Chinese controllers that are showing up.

Thee is not much to choose between the fisrt three although Bert and Planet do have lathe threading up to a point.
However all of them lack this last works out the box scenerio that will put them in front.

Once one of these three does that they will be the new mach3 as controller of choice as regards easy setting up foe beginners and semi- skilled.

Forget the software and electronic guys, they can get anything working if you throw enough time at it.

Your market is the same market that flooded to Art's door.

[A_Camera]

I think we are getting cross connected here. What I mean is why don't UC supply connectors ? Pokeys had exactly the same problem as they use IDE's and people were asking for cable kits and Pokeys asked why ?

CNC Drive provides one connector, it is a cable with IDC26 on one end and DB25 on the other. Additional cables are sold for €3.50 each. They don't sell any screw terminal blocks like these:

Attachment 19599

...but is that really an issue? I mean, eBay is full of those. CNC Drive don't have any BOBs which they have received some criticism for, but again, eBay is full of them, you can buy any cheap or expensive one or use the one you already have if it is an upgrade from a parallel port driven to USB or Ethernet. So, at least for me, it doesn't really matter that the motion controller is not boxed in a fancy box and that CNC Drive does not have any BOBs or connection kits for sale or included in the product. In fact, I think that it is better NOT to include such trivialities because it gives the user the flexibility others don't provide. I don't want to pay for things I don't need and I think flexible solutions it is a good idea. Never the less, yes, they should have BOB's and connection kits as option, I have no problems with that.

Simple reason is anyone working in electronics has all these cables, they buy the ends in by the 100's and cable by the 50M reel but they don't understand that the end user has more chance of having a 100 spare M6 nuts and bolts that he does electronic parts.

End result is they put a cabling kit up and I think it costs 19 Euro, or thereabouts.
A piddling amount for the grief that users had to get it.

Like I said, I agree that they should have a connection kit in the shop but without losing the possibility and the flexibility of only buying the motion controller without the kit. I would not welcome to be forced to buy that kit, even if it would only cost €19.

Don't get me wrong that I'm knocking the product because I'm not. I'm knocking the presentation knowing they could do so much better with hardly any more work.

It's a company making machines in the weight magnitude of tonnes. The hobby market is fairly new to them, they are making their way up and have very good products. The only reason I bought the UC300ETH is the experience I have with their UC300USB, and the many positive feedbacks I read about their products, the most sold is the UC100, which is very well received and have good reputation. It is a simple and easy plug-and-play product, which the UC300 or the UC400 is not, these are not even boxed, so I guess they assumed that people who buy these products know why and what to do with it. The experience I have with the UC300USB, which I have used for over a year, is very positive, and I believe the UC300ETH experience will be even better. But... it is a new product as far as the Ethernet interface is concerned.

What is definitely better than other companies I have heard about, is their communication and the support they provide. Send a mail and you receive answers worth reading. They listen (maybe some times too much) to their customers and provide help. If someone finds a bug it gets fixed pretty fast, if someone has some special issue they help solving it. That in my opinion is worth more than a well written manual, because regardless how well a manual is written there will always be people who need help. Never the less, there is room for improvements, and hopefully the next product will be even better.

At the moment the CNC controller world is wide open. We have many looking to upgrade from Mach3 which has been an awesome piece of software. If it wasn't for Art Fenarty on his own then 1,000's of users would not be into CNC at this point. The baton should have been passed to Mach 4 but Brian dropped it big time as evidenced by some of the long time users like Ger21 and Terry Parker switching camps to other controllers.

We are now split between Bert Eddings, Planet CNC, UCCNC and the stand alone Chinese controllers that are showing up.

Thee is not much to choose between the fisrt three although Bert and Planet do have lathe threading up to a point.
However all of them lack this last works out the box scenerio that will put them in front.

Once one of these three does that they will be the new mach3 as controller of choice as regards easy setting up foe beginners and semi- skilled.

Forget the software and electronic guys, they can get anything working if you throw enough time at it.

Your market is the same market that flooded to Art's door.

Maybe you are right, I don't know. It is though true that people like me, one of "the software and electronic guys" can make anything working, so yes, a kit and instructions how to connect their product would boost their sales but to be honest, boosting sales is not always a goal, some times "just enough" is better because when you boost too much you may not have time and energy to continue providing the good valuable support to so many. Keeping sales at lower level can actually also mean higher income per invested $$$, as well as higher "reputation value", easier support and better/more functional company organisation. Also, maybe their target group is more like the "software and electronic guys" and the machinists with interests in those areas than the traditional machinists who often start threads with sentences like "Help - I am a total idiot in terms electronics and cabling, currently building a CNC from scratch and nothing works." People like those often build a very nice machine in terms of mechanical design, but can't handle the simplest connections, never mind more complex electrical problems. It's a risky business to try help those people if you run a business and I don't think support can ever be enough for those. So I don't think boosting sales to high volumes is always a good idea. Some times you better let a customer group go somewhere else.

[Ger21]

And multi line encoder threading. <g>

Looking in the manual, it does appear that they support multiline encoder threading.


Encoder PPR: This is a numeric value and defines the pulse per revolution of the incremental
encoder which is used to feedback the spindle position in synchronous thread cutting applications.

They just don't have a lathe screenset yet.