Gecko G540 or?

[JAZZCNC]

If you got the time i would appreciate the "CNC Electronics for dummies "version of it all. I got the driver and motor part thats no problem.

Ok Well there's No such thing as Dummies around here just the Un-enlighted.!!. . . So lets start turning on the lights.!!

It all starts at the PC.? We need some way to communicate with the electrical components that make up the machine ie: Drives. The Machine Control software ie: Mach3, linux CnC etc all do the same thing in they convert G-code files into electrical output pulse signals. They also monitor incoming signals for things like Limit switches, E-stop etc. They also control External devices like Vacuum, coolant etc using general Outputs.

Now how these signals are produced and recieved can be done in a few ways. Most common is the Parallel port because it's free and part of most PC's.
Because the Drives are controlled with electrical pulses the quality and frequency of these pulses plays an important role in how the machine performs. If the pulse signals generated are poor quality then the drives don't ilke this and because the drives control the motors this passes down the line so poor performance.

Equaly the frequency of the signal plays a important role in the performance. The Frequency or number of pulses over certain time period dictates the overall speed that can be gained from the drives/motors for a certain amount of micro stepping set in the drives.
This all gets deep quickly so Without getting too deep now this all means that what ever produces the physical pulses has a big affect on the machine.
The parallel port is free but limited in both the quality and how many/fast the pulses can be produced over a certain time period or frequency. It's also limited in how many channels(axis) of signals it can output and recieve but will get to this later.

So the next step up is to use an external Motion control card that does the same Job but much better with dedicated circuitry to give much much higher frequencys and higher quality pulses. Often they also give more Channels of outputs and inputs known as I/O.

Now we need some easy way to connect or access these outputs and input signals and this is where the Breakout board comes into the eqation.
Most motion control cards only provide access to it's signals with a connection or multiple connections similair to the parallel port pins and this makes life very hard for connecting wires etc.
So here's where the BOB comes into play and makes wiring easy. They are essentially just distribution or I/O connection devices with some of the better ones providing features like protection for the PC with optoisolated connections and Charge pump in case PC connection is lost so it Stops any signals and the machine. They also provide other features like Spindle control and on-board relays to turn on/off external devices thru outputs.

Now while BOB's appear simple devices they are also very very important and THE largest source of trouble on any machine. Because they are an intermediate for all the signals then if the BOB is of poor quality it doesn't matter how clean or fast the signals recieved they will get distroted or lost before they reach the intended device so not something to skimp on which often happens.

Some motion control cards Like the PLCM-E4 (not the Plcm-e3 which is just a motion control card and needs a BOB) and the much much better CSlabs devices come with inbuilt BOB's. This takes one aspect or area for trouble out of the equation. Also to be considered is the Voltage that I/O can handle.? Better boards will let you use 24V logic which is much better for electrical noise immunity which doea plague some machines with cheaper BOB's which only allow 5v.

Now regards I/O then Motion control cards offer many more Inputs and outputs compared to the Parallel port. With the PP you only have so many inputs and outputs and by the time you have used up those needed for motors etc you'll be left with 5 inputs and 2 outputs.
This for some machines can be limiting and restrictive and if you need more then another parallel port and BOB are required.
Compared to Motion control cards that will offer 16 or 32 inputs along with 10-12 general outputs and 3-4 Analog input/outputs for controlling speed of external devices like VFD's or pumps etc.

So as you can see the concept is easy enough to grasp you have signals along with inputs and outputs which flow like below.

MOTOR OUTPUTS (MOVEMENT): = = CONTROL SOFTWARE - - MOTION CONTROL DEVICE- - DISTRIBUTION DEVICE - - DRIVES - - MOTORS

INPUT SIGNALS = = EXTERNAL SIGNAL(ie:E-STOP) - -DISTRIBUTION DEVICE(motion control)- - CONTROL SOFTWARE

GENERAL OUTPUTS= = CONTROL SOFTWARE (M) COMMAND- - DISTRIBUTION DEVICE(motion control)- - EXTERNAL SOURCE(ie: Vacuum)

That's about all there is too it.!! The tricky part is buying the kit which plays nice together and gives good performance. Unfortunatly the ones which play best often cost more. . .Lol