Recommendations on BEST Breakout Board by General Mach3 Users !

[GEMCNC]

Dear General ArtSoft Mach3 Forum !

We have restarted our investigation into using the Mach3 software to run an old Gerber 48 Routing System using DC Stepper Motors !

There seems to be a great deal of breakout boards being sold out in the general cnc market place by a number of suppliers !

Our question is a very simple one, what is the "BEST BREAKOUT BOARD" recommended by most of the ARTSoft Mach3 Forum, that is going to allow us to initially run the above 3 Axes Stepper based Routing System, but will also allow us to easily expand, and perform the following progressive steps as required !

Our overall intentions is to be able to perform the following from the one Breakout Board :

(a) Drive all three motor types : Steppers, DC Servo, and AC Servo configurations.
(b) Have the facilities to drive independently a total of either 3, 4, 5, or 6 Axes.
(c) Have direct control over a 0-24,000rpm Automatic Tool Changing Spindle with dedicated Frequency Inverter.
(d) Perform Automatic Tool Changing of up to 12 Tools.
(e) Automatic Tool Height Sensor.
(f) Be able to turn on Spray Mist, Z-Axis brake relay, Alarm lamp relay- Red/Green Lamps, Lube relay, Coolant relay, External cycle buttons Start/Stop, External feed-rate switch, External spindle speed switch, etc.
(g) MPG Pendants and External User Control Panel.
(h) Touch Probe for standard centre and edge detection, but also for reverse on screen digitizing of components to be engineered.
(i) Allow expansion of Inputs and Outputs etc.

Thank you !

With kindest regards.

Joe c/o GEM CNC Systems.

[Tweakie.CNC]

Everyone will probably have a different opinion based on their experience, likes and dislikes but my money would be on the CNC4PC type C11 board. http://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/product_info.php?products_id=161

Tweakie.

[ger21]

Check out the PMDX-126, but I'm not sure you can do all you want from a single board.

You might want to look at the Centipede board. http://www.ksilabs.com/

[Hood]

PMDX for me, have never heard of a bad one which is more than can be said for other makes. That may not be important to most but for me it is, especially when it can take 2 weeks and incurr  customs charges for replacements to be sent.

Hood

[GEMCNC]

Thank you !

Has anyone got any feedback or had any dealing with the Digital CNC Control Kits supplied by "MachMotion" such as the following : http://machmotion.com/cnc-products/cnc-controls-1/cnc-control.html as they seem to have done all the hard work for you !

Any comments would be greatly appreciated !

[poppabear]

One of the best combos I have seen/used is the Smooth Stepper hooked to the C32 board from CNC4PC (you can also use the PP feature on the C32 if your not running a SS). Cost is good here, quality is good, customer support is great.

Another option like Hood said is Steve Stallings stuff, His stuff is built to be MORE robust, you pay a little more, but he builds rock solid industrial level stuff!
He has several integrated solutions.

MM, I can't speak to their products I don't use them.

DSPMC, I don't use them. [edited by me].

At the "Money" level, for an industrial machine your making cash with on a daily basis, I would go with a Galil Motion board/plugin. The Galil IS a true Industrial CNC motion control board, you WILL pay for that fact, but........  you do get what you pay for, and if UPTIME is the main factor, go that way.

I am playing with the "Centipede" Motion control board, which so far appears well built, and alot of cool features, PLUS they have OPEN sourced their code, so you can modify it to what you need if you have to.  The down side here is it is limited to XP machines..........  Since Mach revision 4 is on the horizon and all of that will be moved to modern compilers and OS's......  I think that will limit the "life time" and access to replacement systems, in the future........  even now it is getting difficult to find XP OS's and machines......

Technics products/boards, I have never used so dont know.

Industrial Controls:  This is the "Industrial Mach" version, the MCP-1 and Scorpion boards have good reviews.

"Wolfman" of CNC Strasbourg Germany, has licensed the SS tech from Greg, and he makes an Ethernet (YEA!!!!) driven SS motion control board, that is industrial built. I have not personally used his stuff, but he is a known name for knowledgeable work, and good solutions.

Scott

[Tweakie.CNC]

It would be really nice if we could find someone to try this board.




http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-axis-CNC-USB-Card-Mach3-200KHz-windows2000-xp-vista-/260759887366?pt=UK_BOI_Industrial_Automation_Control_ET&hash=item3cb6801e06#ht_8263wt_1139



Tweakie.