Machsupport Forum

Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: black33guy on March 19, 2014, 12:31:03 PM

Title: Driver Advice
Post by: black33guy on March 19, 2014, 12:31:03 PM

First of all, I have to say this is the most useful board I've ever participated in.  Thanks to those of you who helped me accelerate my Mach 3 bring-up.
I am now going to begin programming the parallel port, but first I'd like to get some advice on drivers.

I inherited this home brew CNC mill from a relative.  He used it, but somewhere along the line disposed of the computer that drove it.  I'm starting from more or less zero, but now have the computer/mach 3 working.
The controller box has Rutex driver boards.  I've found out that they are no longer supported due to flakiness of the vendor.
In your opinion, should I abandon these boards in favor of Gecko or something more supportable, or should I invest the time seeing if these Rutex boards are going to be OK and just use them if so.

If I move to a different driver board, what's the fav out there and why?  I know that the system is PWM.

I'm using an older Campbell Designs breakout board.

This is all new to me, but I'm learning, thanks to your help.

rex

Title: Re: Driver Advice
Post by: Hood on March 19, 2014, 03:52:18 PM

I think I would just try out the Rutex and see how they go, they worked fine for the most part if I recall.
Hood

Title: Re: Driver Advice
Post by: Fastest1 on March 19, 2014, 04:00:05 PM

   I say use what you have til you know better. Plenty of opinions on drives and their performance. Of course what you read on the net is generally people frustrated and dont know how to operate or configure their machines or hardware.

   Campbell makes good stuff. I have read of others using Rutex drives. PWM is 1 way to control a spindle. That all being said I have no reason to be suspect of the equipment you have.

   Go ahead and configure Mach to operate what you have and see if you can bring it to life. If you can and it works, you save money and time. If not, well no real loss. Plus learning the nuances of Mach 3 is a must. Not that hard just a little intimidating at first.

   Another site that has lots of valuable information and great members is CncZone. More of the electrical mechanical aspect there.