Mach3 Screensets

[Davek0974]

Thanks,

tool-height setting during a tool change, which is a bit of a bugger..

THAT was the issue - was going to try that on the mill as it worked great on my mini-mill but that only had a UC100 controller on it. In the end i gave up and locked-out all the auto-set buttons on the screen-set for safety.

It seems my idea will be ok as having the M6 macro move the Z axis works fine so having it also move the knee should be ok too.

[Davek0974]

Thanks for that link, very interesting reading.

As it seems to do with auto tool length and as i am not using that, it also seems to back up my hopes that my new ideas will actually function well for me.

[Neale]

I'm not sure if it's to do with TLO directly, or some of the stuff that gets done at the same time. I don't use TLO as I have the usual ER20 collet on my spindle, so no repeatable tool settings. I have modified some of the tool height setting macros that are often mentioned to work with my setup and controller (so it uses the CSMIO M31-type probing, for example) and I have the usual tool height, initial tool height for multi-tool operations, and second-tool setting macros. These all work fine with the m6 macros now, including various combinations of G28 and manual jogging while tool-changing. Seems pretty solid once I upgraded to the older Mach3!

I'm also pretty confident that the probing and movement stuff works fine in X and Y as well, as I threw together some macros for X and Y probing while setting up the machine and they seemed OK. Not sure that I ever used them during an M6 sequence, though - that seems pretty unlikely. But at least they do work when needed, with the older Mach3 version.

Still tempted every time someone mentions UC300ETH, though - seems to do pretty well everything the CSMIO/IP-M does, and in a supported package. If you buy an expensive BOB to go with it, anyway...

[Davek0974]

Still tempted every time someone mentions UC300ETH, though - seems to do pretty well everything the CSMIO/IP-M does, and in a supported package. If you buy an expensive BOB to go with it, anyway...

That looks ok, I'm a bit confused about the LPT part - if its ethernet, how can it be LPT??
Anyways, the price difference will drop when you add in the cost of all the connectors/adaptors to get from the header sockets to real-world cable connectors etc. Still looks a good board though.

[Ger21]

UC300ETH + UB1 + UCCNC license = $380 US.

Closer feature wise to the IP-S than the IP-M.
And the macros always work.

That looks ok, I'm a bit confused about the LPT part - if its ethernet, how can it be LPT??

The LPT is just the way the pins are configured. They match a parallel port pinout, so that just about any breakout board will plug right into it.

[Neale]

if its ethernet, how can it be LPT??

It talks ethernet to the PC, but instead of direct outputs like the CSMIO range, it has a set of 5 "parallel port" style output connectors. In fact, they are standard PC board headers and each needs to be connected (simply) to a terminal strip (or cheap BOB as the connectors carry the same signals as a parallel port) to give access to the connections or (much better) to a custom BOB which provides opto-isolation plus the potential for 24V signalling. There is a fancy BOB specifically designed to go with it that provides opto-isolated access to all its IO ports. Not sure if it can also handle differential signalling for connection to stepper drivers. The combination isn't cheap - the BOB costs as much as the controller board, I think, but the combination plus UCCNC is competitive with the IP-M if you also add in Mach3.

(edit - Gerry was quicker off the mark! UB1 - that's the board I was thinking of)