Smooth Steppers are finally available in UK !

[ckas]

Hi there,
just stumbled upon this thread and thought maybe I could share some typical thoughts...

I own a gecko 540 driven cnc Taig with a trunnion table, and one of these handy Shuttle Pro wheels.
A while ago I also tried out LinuxCNC (which is still installed parallel) but I got first stuck with installing this Shuttle Pro and secondly if you want to run a trunnion table you need to code some kinematic stuff, which both would be quite a problem. So I ended up using Mach3 again.

But if anybody could point me a link to a working trunnion table kinematic file, I really would appreciate it.
....and I think this is pretty typical...used to windows for so many years, you mostly just have to install some drivers, and its done.

just my thoughts

[m_c]

When has Mach ever been marketed?

In the time I've been looking at CNC, I can not remember any marketing for it. All I remember is it being recommended by lots of people, and it being the accepted standard, as until fairly recently, nothing else came close in terms of flexibility/ease of use/price.
You've got to remember that until a few years ago, linux itself needed a fair bit of knowlodge to get a somewhat easy to use setup.

[JAZZCNC]

Anyway with the mention of Russia and to get slightly back on track with the OP's thread.!
I've been intouch with Alexey of Purelogic in Russia about trying there Ethernet controller and also there drives and I'm going to be having some sent shortly.

So when I have them and given it a good thrashing I'll post my findings and based on my 3+yrs of actually using the USB SS I'll give a honest report of how it compares for the few hundred thousand Mach users that are still left or interested.??

[John S]

So the trip over to Russia to sort out support with the Russian guys was a figment of my imagination ?

[Mad Professor]

I have tried to keep out of this for as long as possible, But I feel I must say something.

I am all for heated debates, but this is a public forum, and I must say that this topic does not look good for the forum/site, and in fact if this was my forum I would be dam right ashamed of topics like this.

If heated debates are going to get like this more and more, maybe it might be an idea for a "Heated Debate Section" within the forums.

But while on the subject of Mach3 / LinuxCNC (EMC), I can only say I have had nothing but problems with both OS while trying to run via printer port, I know lots of pepole have no problem, but I have tried 4x motherboards with onboard printer port, 1x motherboard without printerport (pci card), and a laptop with printer port, and all of them I get missed sets.

Due to all the problems I have had it was a case of buy an Ethernet SmoothStepper or just give up with my cnc.

In the end I have brought the Ethernet SmoothStepper from Warp9TD for a grand total of £150.22 plus what ever import fees I get hit with.
I also brought my own copy of Mach3 costing £111.78

I have said my bit.

Best Regards.

[blackburn mark]

I have tried to keep out of this for as long as possible.

Me to... the tone of this thread has decended into the bizarre??

watching you "old boys" resort to childish slander to slate someone for being childish is trippy as fook !

i cant help feeling that some think that being young makes you fair game for a good slating ?

using slander is for the lack of something more interesting or intelegent to say and smacks of mindless one upmanship
poor show :(

[Jonathan]

I have grown tired of having to quote posts which pretend I've said something completely different to what I have actually written, hence from now on they will be simply ignored (believe me, I tried). Pull your head out of the sand, and read what I've written, instead of what you WANT me to have written.

For all those folks to whom support is a big barrier, I found this last night:

LinuxCNC IRC Chatroom

Just click connect (there is a security warning for me, it should be safe to ignore it) and it puts you in a decently populated IRC chatroom with people who are working with linuxCNC. This support is instant, voices your question to at least 10 people who have had experience with the program and means you should get answers quickly. I don't see how support can get any better than this.

I can only say I have had nothing but problems with both OS

At least you tried both, the vast majority of Mach/SS customers don't. Either program can be a bit picky about what works better and what works worse, because a high performance computer isn't necessarily a low latency parallel port computer. I personally would have tried making an optimised computer from the list, but I recognise not all people can/want do that, especially after having had an abnormal amount of trouble with the parallel port. I hope with time you upgrade to a machine that can fully utilise the performance overhead that the smoothstepper offers.

i cant help feeling that some think that being young makes you fair game for a good slating ?

The thing is, I've been accused of discouraging people from joining the DIY CNC community, but how is anyone who isn't over the age of 20 going to feel when reading this thread? Name calling is minor.

Sent from my iPram with my HTC Pacifier X.

[JAZZCNC]

Me to... the tone of this thread has descended into the bizarre??

watching you "old boys" resort to childish slander to slate someone for being childish is trippy as fook !

Yes not our greatest achievements must admit and not proud..

i cant help feeling that some think that being young makes you fair game for a good slating ?

Not true and if it had been John S or your self or anyone who I believed where being disrespectful to a great guy and product then I'd have done the same.
(I would have also taken the piss has it's my nature. . . good or bad thats me tuff shit.!!)

Now I'm sure I'll get the brunt of the blame here again because I shot my mouth first as usual.!!

But I'm sorry I won't stand by and see anyone, Young or Old, get away with what I believe to be Disrespect towards a guy who's done more for the DIY CNC than anyone person without standing up and telling them so.
Unfortunately has usual it's coming from the youth who seem to have no respect.!! Even more Unfortunate is that has usual it's the one who sits high up on his horse and condescends down to the lowly plebs how it should be done and what to buy or not to buy other wise where all stupid spindrifts with too much bloody money.!

It also annoys me when people slate a product without any experience other than what they read and again I'd jump on anyone young or old if I thought they where steering people away from a product that I had over 3yrs personal experience.
This becomes even more annoying when I see it from someone who has quite a large amount of credibility and can sway or steer peoples decisions.

The reason I get this so pissed off is not just because it annoys me!! But I see and deal with absolutely loads of folks who get ripped off or miss informed then waste money buying wrong stuff they don't need.

Jonathan has a position on this forum that influences vulnerable new starters decisions who often have a "stiffy"for CNC and money burning hole in the pocket.
These new starters don't always speak up they sit back read a few threads then dive straight in head first.!!

Know I did try to point this out to Jonathan in this thread and have done on other occasions but this is the reply and view he seems to have.!!

And nothing of value was lost. I would much prefer quality over quantity in the community. If they choose to give up without even asking a question or two on the forums, then I'm not lowering my standards to their level just so they grace the community with their presence.

Not really the done thing in my view and even more importantly not the view a Moderator should have.!!

On a personal note and in no way saying this am I trying to justify my childish name calling.!!
Jonathan himself was also a large cause of the continuing bickering by being unnecessarily argumentative and basically accusing both me and John S of being liars in this thread. This is also not the first time he's done this to me and even had to send a copy of Paypal invoice on one occasion to prove I'm no liar.
Now I don't know if he does this to provoke or just that he has the people skills of a Nat and can never be wrong.? It does seem to me that if not his belief or conforms to his opinion then where all liars and idiots until proven innocent.?? . . . . . Before I let it slip by . . . this time it got my heckles up.!

To the OP and anyone offended (Other than Jonathan) then I apologise for the childish behaviour.! (Also promise to have less )

This will be the last I post here.!!
If anyones interested I will have the Russion Ethernet controller soon and will post a thread with my findings compared to SS, please feel free to come and take the piss without fear of the dummy going out the pram. .

[Jonathan]

accusing both me and John S of being liars in this thread

You must have accused me of that about 5 times now. If person A is misinformed and says something that's not 100% accurate, and person B disagrees and corrects them, that IS NOT to say that person B is calling person A a liar. That is a misleading oversimplification.

I'm only typing this reply because for the first time in this thread I'm slightly offended about the context in which you mentioned PayPal. I asked for clarification and you sent an invoice ONLY because I wanted some precise figures to try to work out linearmotionbearing2008's pricing scheme. NOT because I didn't trust you. That invoice allowed me to confirm that his pricing varied from customer to customer which was confusing me to start with. There is a big difference between curiosity and mistrust.

I think my stance on not dumbing down DIY CNC to attract users is reasonable. A good community offers support, to people who ask. If they don't even ask that's their problem. I think people should think for themselves instead of just relying on being spoonfed.

Time and time again you seem to mention experience. So what, because I've never owned a mini and never owned a ferrari, I'm not allowed to say the ferrari is faster?

If your stance is that you're not allowed to predict how well somethign will work before you've owned it, then there's no point designing things before you make them. You also seem to be literally the only person on the forum who's in denial about the laws of physics. Funnily enough, they seem to work for everybody else.

You can reason about which designs are better and which designs are worse, because they all obey these laws. I might not have owned a smoothstepper but I know enough about it to support all the claims I've made.

[John S]

If anyones interested I will have the Russion Ethernet controller soon and will post a thread with my findings compared to SS, please feel free to come and take the piss without fear of the dummy going out the pram. .

It'll be crap.................