Centroid Acorn CNC Controller

[Ger21]

I'm new to DIY CNC, and I'm curious to know what one would do with all those inputs and outputs on the UC300eth?

Whatever you want. Inputs can be used with sensors, switches, pushbuttons, signals from servo drives, encoders, probes, MPG's,....
Outputs can activate relays, contactors, solenoids, LED's, .....

You can create your own M-Codes in UCCNC, which are written in C#. It doesn't have ladder, but you can write what they call macroloops, which are macros that run continuously in the background.

If you need full Fanuc macro B, I think your only option is Mach4 Industrial. But you can do more basic parametric programming in UCCNC and most others.
I have no use for parametric programming, doing everything I need in CAM.


You're not going to get a $10,000 control for $300. No hobby controls are perfect. UCCNC is relatively new to the market, and I expect it will be maturing for a few years still. But for me, it's headed in the direction that works best for me.

[Bravin Neff]

Whatever you want. Inputs can be used with sensors, switches, pushbuttons, signals from servo drives, encoders, probes, MPG's,....
Outputs can activate relays, contactors, solenoids, LED's, .....

You can create your own M-Codes in UCCNC, which are written in C#. It doesn't have ladder, but you can write what they call macroloops, which are macros that run continuously in the background.

If you need full Fanuc macro B, I think your only option is Mach4 Industrial. But you can do more basic parametric programming in UCCNC and most others.
I have no use for parametric programming, doing everything I need in CAM.


You're not going to get a $10,000 control for $300. No hobby controls are perfect. UCCNC is relatively new to the market, and I expect it will be maturing for a few years still. But for me, it's headed in the direction that works best for me.

I could have swore I just read on the Centroid site that the CNC12 software with the acorn (and the higher DIY boards) have macro b. Their retrofit controls do. Funny you say you're not going to get a $10K control for $300. Today's $300 control easily outspec the way more expensive controls from the 90s, in most respects. I just read on the Centroid spec sheet that it does 2,000 block look ahead. In the late 1990s I used to work on Mori Seikis where a "data server with RISC processor" was a $10,000 *option* and that gave you... wait for it... 480 block look ahead! And we thought that was that cat's meow, LOL.

What's frustrating is seeing something like UCCNC - which I'm very attracted to - has all these features, clearly way ahead in many respects of what we had in the 1990s, yet it doesn't do cutter comp, which we had in the 80's'. I haven't paid attention to the DIY CNC world until fairly recently, but what I have been studying suggests it really took off with mach2/3 about 10-15 years ago. Its very impressive in many ways, but with these frequent and frustrating blind spots.

[Ger21]

99% of DIY CNC users don't use Cutter Comp, because they have their CAM software do it. That's why UCCNC didn't have it.
But, as I said, it's being developed, and should be available soon. (I've seen some screenshots of a comped toolpath).

I didn't say you can't have the features of a 25 year old control for $300, I meant a current $10K control.
Yes, hobby controls can do a great many things that high end commercial controls can do, for a fraction of the price.

As for the Lookagead. There's a lot more to it than just how many lines it looks ahead. Different controls have different methods to determine how they follow the commanded path, and how much they are allowed to deviate from the path. The trajectory planner can make or break a control.
If I had to guess, I would expect the Centroid planner to perhaps be a bit better than UCCNC's, because it's been around a LOT longer, and it's been known as a higher end control. But I also know that UCCNC's planner is much better than Mach3's.

[Bravin Neff]

99% of DIY CNC users don't use Cutter Comp, because they have their CAM software do it. That's why UCCNC didn't have it.

It makes sense. Its probably a function of how one uses a machine, what one cuts and one's expectation. If you run into material you haven't cut before, or a geometry that forces you into to a setup that isn't ideal, and the tool deflection creates an outcome out of tolerance, you can either lie about the cutter diameter in cam, re post and rerun it. Or make a quick radius comp and rerun just that section. I think the latter is baked into most machinist's habits. The former has become perfectly reasonable beccause cam has become nearly ubiquitous at all levels, even in the home.

As for the Lookagead. There's a lot more to it than just how many lines it looks ahead. Different controls have different methods to determine how they follow the commanded path, and how much they are allowed to deviate from the path. The trajectory planner can make or break a control. If I had to guess, I would expect the Centroid planner to perhaps be a bit better than UCCNC's, because it's been around a LOT longer, and it's been known as a higher end control. But I also know that UCCNC's planner is much better than Mach3's.

Interesting. I played around with both mach3 and UCCC, and I couldn't get along with mach3 at all. Not sure why, but UCCNC seemed way better thought out. I could make things happen immediately. Speaking of lookahead, for my day job I sell Okuma machines, and its amazing how they do it. The look ahead is infinite... the entire program is calculated. The other part is that the tolerance is adjustable, both by a dialog page or in the g code itself. Giving the cutter path more tolerance makes it more aggressive in corners and cycle times speed way up. Think roughing a mold, where 0.020" is left everywhere. There's no reason to hold tight tolerances, and time is money. Then for finishing passes you tighten up the tolerance and the acc and decs get less aggressive accordingly.

[Ger21]

On big, expensive machines, the controls are often tailored to the machine. Where a hobby control like UCCNC is a general purpose control, used by many different types of machines. So what you end up with is something that works well on most machines, but could always be a bit better. CNC Drive is planning on working on a new trajectory planner soon, with S Curve acceleration, which will be very nice for machines capable of high speeds.

My day job is running big Italian routers, in the cabinet industry. The controls on these machines are tailered to both the machine and application. So while I can easily cut cabinet parts at 1500ipm, any type of 3D work is a real struggle for the machine we have.

[m_c]

What exactly is macro B?
Just the ability to have variables, and do calculations within the code?
If it is, Dynomotion KMotionCNC can do it, as they include some examples

It's something I've never had any dealings with, as most stuff I do on the lathe I just write manually, and the mill gets done using CAM.

[Ger21]

Most controls can do some parametric g-code. But it appears that Macro B gives you access to just about every thing the control is doing, through variables.