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General Mach Discussion / General Q's about Mach3 and AD sureservo drives and smooth stepper
« on: May 04, 2008, 11:56:33 PM »
Hello All.
I have been lurking for quite some time. Have combed the forums as well as many other sites that offer information to the use of Mach3 and automation direct sure servo's. I have used the sure servo product in the past for different applications and have found the product solid and consistent, and they have good support.
I intend to build a home brew CNC router first for toying with, second for generating extra income, and third just to do it. It will be like any other CNC router with 3 axes. My main goal above the obvious, is high speed. I saw several videos of machines with "smooth stepper" boards and they are very fast. Faster than those of other driver boards, from what I can tell. I intend to have rapids in the neighborhood of 2000-3000 ipm. I want to make this machine as close to a professional CNC router as possible, in terms of speed. I realize the cutting speeds are related to many components, especially the router spindle motor, and the material/cutting load. I plan on designing a rotary 8 pos tool changer carosel, and using an additional AD sureservo axis and utilizing the onboard internal 8 position indexer. I will need a some form of breakout board to allow for more inputs and outputs than the parallel port can provide. I intend on using a PLC if necessary to handle any logic that may be needed. I also believe there is a speed limitation of the parallel port also. I have experience using the MODBUS protocol with sureservo drives, and I see Mach 3 can also communicate using MODBUS. Can you guys here that have actually put the wheels in motion help a semi-newbie out?
What interface between Mach3 and the sureservo drives would best fit my needs? (smooth stepper? is it available to the public, as of this message?)
What communication protocols are reccommended?
These are videos of machines I have planned on modeling, in regards to speed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaG3pd8xuWw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG8zG7HGClA&feature=related
As a side note, I have a good bit of experience with professional level CNC routers such as Biesse, Komo, Weeke. I know how a big boy works, I just want to make a hobby machine function similarily in regards to speed and tool changing capabilities.
Thanks in advance to any one that can help out with info.
Thanks,
Jeremy
I have been lurking for quite some time. Have combed the forums as well as many other sites that offer information to the use of Mach3 and automation direct sure servo's. I have used the sure servo product in the past for different applications and have found the product solid and consistent, and they have good support.
I intend to build a home brew CNC router first for toying with, second for generating extra income, and third just to do it. It will be like any other CNC router with 3 axes. My main goal above the obvious, is high speed. I saw several videos of machines with "smooth stepper" boards and they are very fast. Faster than those of other driver boards, from what I can tell. I intend to have rapids in the neighborhood of 2000-3000 ipm. I want to make this machine as close to a professional CNC router as possible, in terms of speed. I realize the cutting speeds are related to many components, especially the router spindle motor, and the material/cutting load. I plan on designing a rotary 8 pos tool changer carosel, and using an additional AD sureservo axis and utilizing the onboard internal 8 position indexer. I will need a some form of breakout board to allow for more inputs and outputs than the parallel port can provide. I intend on using a PLC if necessary to handle any logic that may be needed. I also believe there is a speed limitation of the parallel port also. I have experience using the MODBUS protocol with sureservo drives, and I see Mach 3 can also communicate using MODBUS. Can you guys here that have actually put the wheels in motion help a semi-newbie out?
What interface between Mach3 and the sureservo drives would best fit my needs? (smooth stepper? is it available to the public, as of this message?)
What communication protocols are reccommended?
These are videos of machines I have planned on modeling, in regards to speed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaG3pd8xuWw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG8zG7HGClA&feature=related
As a side note, I have a good bit of experience with professional level CNC routers such as Biesse, Komo, Weeke. I know how a big boy works, I just want to make a hobby machine function similarily in regards to speed and tool changing capabilities.
Thanks in advance to any one that can help out with info.
Thanks,
Jeremy