Do not worry, you are not late.....

I am still working on my design. I totally understand your 9600 baud problem. That is why I would like to incorporate usb into my design. It is infinitely faster than a normal serial connection. USB has been slow to in its implementation for industrial applications. I have been using an Analog Devices usb isolation ic in my design phase, but I may switch up to an Atmel uC because the open source community is more inclined to them. Microchip is still at the front of my design because they give out a light version of their IDE for free, but in linux, which I use, Atmel is much easier to work with.

My table is almost complete. I have the x axis, and most of the y axis done. I just have to mount the lead screws and the limit switches. I am going to use a modified computer switch mode power supply. I can use it to power my drive controller, and use the drive controller to turn on the power supply. All I have to add is an scr to turn the cutting head on and off. I have a dedicated computer with EMC 2.4 loaded, all ready to go, and I have been reading up on creating the drivers.

I would say the whole project is about 50% complete, since my last post. I would have liked to have been making chips by now, but I feel satisfied that I at least have some progress.


Thanks for showing interest..