CNC: Lining up the ducks. Asking software questions...

Guys,

Can these things be driven from a USB line instead of parallel port? I don't think any of my computers have parallel ports except for my original 8088 IBM clone from the early 80's... (Yes, I kept it for the memories).


Ray
 
Mach 3 can! Not sure about LinuxCNC.

There are quite a few external motion controllers that work with Mach.

I personally use an Ethernet Smooth Stepper(available in USB version as well) from warp9td.com on my mill/lathe, and my 3d printer uses a Centipede board from ksilabs.com.

Both work well. The Smoothstepper cost about $180 in the Ethernet version.
 
Thanks... I'll check into the Ethernet version. I do a fair amount of USB programming and as far as I'm concerned USB stands for "Universally screwed-up Bus".

Ray



awander said:
Mach 3 can! Not sure about LinuxCNC.

There are quite a few external motion controllers that work with Mach.

I personally use an Ethernet Smooth Stepper(available in USB version as well) from warp9td.com on my mill/lathe, and my 3d printer uses a Centipede board from ksilabs.com.

Both work well. The Smoothstepper cost about $180 in the Ethernet version.
Click to expand...
 
Hi ray:

The USB version works well for many people. I had continuous noise problems with mine. There was a ground-loop fix that solved a lot of teh problems, but moving to the Ethernet version cleared up the prolems once and for all.
 
The USB based boards only work with Mach (though check the boards, I recall one of the users on this board that purchased a USB based board expecting it to work with Mach, and being rudely surprised when it didn't). There are a couple ethernet based boards, and I think there is one from Mesa that will work with LinuxCNC, but it's kind of a "project" to get it running.

If you go with LinuxCNC, I highly recommend the Mesa boards. I have the 6i25 board, and a 7i76 breakout board. The 6i25 is a PCI express card, and it connects to the 7i76 through a 25 pin cable. The 6i25 can have up to 2 daughter boards, but with just 1 7i76, you get a spindle encoder interface, analog spindle output, 5 step/direction interfaces, 32 digital inputs, and 16 digital outputs. That's a lot of flexibility. I started with simple parallel port breakout cards, but these are a much better way to go.
 
I "can and do" thread with mach3 on my lathe as long as I keep the threading under about 2 inches, any longer and there is a real chance of loosing sync.
I use a uc100 on my mills as a usb controller for mach3. ( available at cnc4pc.com ) It converts standard parallel port breakout boards to usb but it will not work for threading on the lathe at this time. (about $145 including shipping and easy to install software)
the uc100 runs at 100khz and will run my zx45 mill at 200ipm set at 1000 pulses per revolution micro-step.
steve
 
DMS said:
The USB based boards only work with Mach (though check the boards, I recall one of the users on this board that purchased a USB based board expecting it to work with Mach, and being rudely surprised when it didn't). There are a couple ethernet based boards, and I think there is one from Mesa that will work with LinuxCNC, but it's kind of a "project" to get it running. If you go with LinuxCNC, I highly recommend the Mesa boards. I have the 6i25 board, and a 7i76 breakout board. The 6i25 is a PCI express card, and it connects to the 7i76 through a 25 pin cable. The 6i25 can have up to 2 daughter boards, but with just 1 7i76, you get a spindle encoder interface, analog spindle output, 5 step/direction interfaces, 32 digital inputs, and 16 digital outputs. That's a lot of flexibility. I started with simple parallel port breakout cards, but these are a much better way to go.
Click to expand...
I agree! I am using a 6i25 connected to a G540 and I couldn't be happier. Leave the ethernet for networking!
 
One advantage of the ethernet based motion controls that drove me to using the Ethernet Smoothsteppers over USB, was the length of the connection between the machine and the PC. For USB that limit is 3 meters. For ethernet its around 100 meters. I did not want to locate my PC right next to the router.

My PC is a 3.2GHz Intel i5 with 16GB, its way over kill as a Mach3 machine. Since I also do electronics in my shop, I spec'd it as a work station to handle data collection and storage for my digital oscilloscope and other equipment. I also wanted to be able to run Bobcad right at the router to make spot changes.

Using ethernet allow me quite a bit of flexibility in where I placed my PC, which is still within practical reach of the router, but allows me to route the cable around the shop without having to cross the floor or have the PC mounted on the router table.

There is also the known problem with the USB Smoothsteppers and noise. Ethernet version does not have this problem.

I use the PMDX-126 break out board and the ESS in my router controller. I also have the PMDX-107 spindle controller. This was such a great combo that I decided to replace the controller that came with my Sieg X3 with this setup. The original controller lacks additional IO ports that I need. The PMDX and ESS gives twice the IO and there is a still a third parallel port on the ESS I haven't used.

For the price I would highly recommend these boards.



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Analias said:
One advantage of the ethernet based motion controls that drove me to using the Ethernet Smoothsteppers over USB, was the length of the connection between the machine and the PC. For USB that limit is 3 meters. For ethernet its around 100 meters. I did not want to locate my PC right next to the router.

My PC is a 3.2GHz Intel i5 with 16GB RAM, its way over kill as a Mach3 machine. Since I also do electronics in my shop, I spec'd it as a work station to handle data collection and storage for my digital oscilloscope and other equipment. I also wanted to be able to run Bobcad right at the router to make spot changes.

Using ethernet allow me quite a bit of flexibility in where I placed my PC, which is still within practical reach of the router, but allows me to route the cable around the shop without having to cross the floor or have the PC mounted on the router table.

There is also the known problem with the USB Smoothsteppers and noise. Ethernet version does not have this problem.

I use the PMDX-126 break out board and the ESS in my router controller. I also have the PMDX-107 spindle controller. This was such a great combo that I decided to replace the controller that came with my Sieg X3 with this setup. The original controller lacks additional IO ports that I need. The PMDX and ESS gives twice the IO and there is a still a third parallel port on the ESS I haven't used.

For the price I would highly recommend these boards.



Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...



Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 4 Beta
 
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