Can TouchDRO adapter be used for two machines

C

Cloggy

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HI, I am from Leicestershire in the UK and am new to the forum.

I have a Touchdro V2 adapter which is the type with a pre assembled board and a DIY enclosure. I have it set up on my mini mill with 3 ToAuto glass scales.
I also have a Myford ML7 lathe and my idea was to see how the Mill DRO worked and then get another adapter for the lathe.
However, I am now thinking that, if the pinouts on the scales I use for the lathe are the same as the scales I used for the Mill could I use the one TouchDRO adapter I have and utilize three 2in : 1out DB9 switch boxes (about £10 each on Ebay) which would allow me to switch between the lathe and the mill with two configurations on the TouchDRo app. Any thoughts?
Cheers
Alan

Db9 switch.jpg
 
My quick answer is no.
Having said that, there are a couple ways of doing it.
The easiest one would be to use a USB (or whatever connector you have) splitter. Or maybe three of them depending on how you set things up.
I don't think that the system had 3 inputs which is what you'd need for a pair of XYZ scales.

Someone, please correct me, if I'm wrong.
 
Inferno said:
My quick answer is no.
Having said that, there are a couple ways of doing it.
The easiest one would be to use a USB (or whatever connector you have) splitter. Or maybe three of them depending on how you set things up.
I don't think that the system had 3 inputs which is what you'd need for a pair of XYZ scales.

Someone, please correct me, if I'm wrong.
Click to expand...
The switch box I am thinking of using is a switch, you can select either of the two inputs (A or B) with a button on the front and output that to the TouchDro adapter. I would use three of these switch boxes, one for each axis.
 
Don't see why it wouldn't work, cheap enough to take a punt and find out or amazon that's easy to return. Asume you could use a vga cable between the splitter and board?
 
It should work, it's essentially no different from unplugging a set of scales and plugging a different set back in. I do have a couple of question/concerns though:
  • Cable length. I'm not sure if there's a limit to the length of the cables between the scales and the adapter, and what happens when you start to approach that limit. Since these will be 2 different machines presumably some distance between them, you're probably going to need to have some length in the scale cables. If you minimize the distance between the switch box and the adapter with the shortest patch cables you can make/find, that should hopefully prevent any issues.
  • Switching conductors. Some switches do not switch all the conductors and leave some things like a common ground or power connected all the time. I have no idea if this would present any problems, but I'd probably try and find one that switches everything just to avoid it.
  • I'm not sure how TouchDRO would handle the change over if it was powered on. I've certainly replugged scales in mine under power, but not regularly, and since it's the same scale, it's not like anything is changing. Would probably be safest to power down when switching, but Yuri might be able to shed some light on the best practice here.
  • Incidentally, I have seen single switches that can switch multiple DB9 connectors with one controller. That would certainly simplify usage, but I'm guessing they're more expensive than 3 single channel switches, and seem harder to find. Another route you could go is getting a DB25 switch box and rewiring the scales into a single DB25 connection for each machine and either a breakout cable, or wiring a DB25 into the adapter. But that's obviously getting more complex and depending on the scales, you might have to share at least a shield connection, which goes back to the previous comment.
That all being said. You might want to look at the math of it. Between the switches and cables, how close are you to the cost of an additional TouchDRO adapter? With the switching scales approach, I don't think you'll be able to reliably switch between machines in the app and expect the position to be maintained. Like if the mill table moves while you're working on the lathe, there's no way for the adapter to catch that. Though honestly, I'm not sure what happens in that case if you have 2 adapters. Sure, the adapter can see it, but does that get reported to the app when it switches back over? Of course, if you're not switching around in the middle of project, that doesn't really matter to you.

I'm curious how this works out, good luck with it and let us know what you find!
 
Gents
Thanks for the responses.
My mill and lathe are right next to each other. I was thinking of shortening the scale cables anyway so I could solder a female DB9 socket to replace the male and that would then be compatible with the male input DB9 on the switch boxs (or leave the cables as is and use a female to female DB9 adapter)

I can use a male to male DB9 cable between each switch box and adapter, they can be obtained in 0.5m lengths with straight through pin to pin cables.

Good point about which contacts the boxes switch...will have to get one and check that out

I have not come across a multi switch box that would take 3 pairs of inputs to 3 outputs (X,Y,Z)

I won't be live switching between machines so would power down the adapter before switching.

Total cost £65 inc P&P so a bit of a saving over the new DIY TouchDRO adapter when postage and customs from the US to UK is taken into account. Also I don't fancy having to solder the components onto the adapter board.

I'll wait a few days incase Yuri or anyone else gets chance to comment before ordering the bits
Cheers
Alan
 
I just realized a possible hiccup.
Scale calibration.
If you're using identical scales, this might not be a problem but if the scales are not perfectly similar then you'd have to recalibrate each time you switched. It's not hard to set the calibration once you know the numbers so you could just have them written down if this became an issue.
 
Inferno said:
I just realized a possible hiccup.
Scale calibration.
If you're using identical scales, this might not be a problem but if the scales are not perfectly similar then you'd have to recalibrate each time you switched. It's not hard to set the calibration once you know the numbers so you could just have them written down if this became an issue.
Click to expand...
The multiple configuration feature in that link I posted should manage this. You'll get a whole different set of configuration parameters for each configuration and TouchDRO will swap between them when you change the configuration.
 
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