Isel 4433 - Can I use Mach3 with it?

[john swift]

looking at this mornings search history I can't find the popup advert I looked at
I must of miss typed the smooth stepper must of been £155 exc vat

John

[loudew]

Okay. The only reason why I am buying this is because its relatively cheap and so I am trying to keep cost down. Thanks for the suggestion, but are there any other cheaper alternatives that won't really sacrifice on accuracy or anything? I am pretty sure the spindle speed is independent of the board as it has a speed control setting on it. I am not all that knowledgeable when it comes to CNCs so this is merely an assumption. Could I just use a BoB instead of buying some sort of ESS?
Thank you for all this help (I'd be hopeless with out it!)
L

[john swift]

yes thats why I said in post 7
"a generic breakout board connected to an old PC's parallel printer port will be cheaper"

an old 32 bit windows 7 PC* with a parallel printer port will work

the smooth stepper emulates 3 printer ports and can be added later once you have the cnc machine working
(* mach3 only works with a parallel printerport when using a 32bit OS)

laptops can be a problem , built in power saving features clash with mach3's low level control of the printer port
some laptops don't have a proper parallel printer port
they have a USB to parallel printer port converter that only works with printers !

John

[loudew]

Sorry John, I misread that! So this wouldn't harm accuracy?
Thanks,
L

[Doddy]

loudew: A BoB might introduce a degree of uncertainty (what I mean is that it's dependent on the performance of the host PC, rather than offloading the motion control onto the controller), BUT... you've got a journey to travel to understand how the build-up the machine. If cost is an issue then a £5-£10 BoB can introduce a degree of predictable control provided that you have a desktop with a parallel port and typically XP o/s. The worst case is that you're out the £5/£10, but other cases are that when you later decide whether to introduce a motion controller then you might well re-use the BoB (e.g. the UCxxx motion controllers).

I would say, though, is cost is sensitive then hold off buying anything until you take possession of the machine and a screwdriver.

[loudew]

Okay. I think my budget for this solution is around £40. I don't have a spare winXP machine, I have a spare win10 machine but it doesn't have a parallel port either. If only there was a cheaper ESS! Thank you both for the help
L

EDIT:
What do you think about this? Firstly, is it the correct thing? Will it work?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CNC-3-Axi....c100005.m1851

EDIT 2:
or this?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-Axis-50...75.c100623.m-1


EDIT 3:
Or this?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MACH3-4Ax....c100005.m1851

[Doddy]

There are several threads of USB vs Ethernet motion controllers - it would be worth researching these. I've never used a USB controller (though the seller of the Starmill that I picked up did). I've the ethernet version of the first link (a NVEM controller), which is okay, works, but nothing special.

Ignoring the prejudice against the USB motion controllers (and many people do use them) then they could be an affordable alternative to the parallel BoB.

Regarding your budget - remember, the BoB or motion controller is only a small part of the overall solution. You might find that you need to buy stepper drivers as well - at a cost of £20 upwards each. This, and the underlying PSU will help to define the performance that you can expect from the machine - you need to go into this with eyes wide-open on the likely costs.