Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / C10 bob and a chinese spindle.

« on: January 24, 2016, 07:26:28 AM »

I have spent the last two hours looking for someone with what must be a pretty common scenario.....

I have a C10 break out board and am trying to wire up my Chinese ebay 2.2kw spindle and controller.

In the default manual control via the spindle controller key pad, everything works.

My problem seems to be around the wiring/mach 3 config.

Let me start with one simple question to validate/invalidate my basic premise:   Is it valid to wire and configure an output pin (14 in my case) direct to the VI pin on the speed controller and expect it to control the spindle speed?  Lets assume I have the PIDs all set right....for now.

Thanks in advance.

2

General Mach Discussion / Smooth Stepper and your favorite breakout board...your opinions please.

« on: January 03, 2015, 10:00:54 AM »

So in my last thread I asked about opinions on 64bit or not to 64bit.

Baring any further insight from that thread, < http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,28751.0.html > I come to my next question for the group.

For those that are using SS or a similar motion controller, what break out board (BOB) do you like and why?

My research seems to lead me to the C10 or similar.

The goal for my machine is to run both a spindle and a plasma cutter (No not at the same time silly...but that would be interesting).  I am planning a 3 axis machine with 4 motors (2 on the 'Y').
For community support I plan to use Mach3 as the software control.

Thanks for taking the time to give your input.  I'm tired of doing things in a vacuum so your experience is invaluable.

P.

3

General Mach Discussion / The 64bit decision...I'd like to hear your opinion

« on: January 01, 2015, 11:35:24 AM »

So I am starting on my way to building a CNC and as usual am learning my fire.
My goal is a 3 axis spindle machine that I can change the head on and run plasma.  I would like to use Mach due to the large community and knowledge base.

So here is screw up number 2 on my part.  I aquired a 64bit Windows 7 pro, completely missing the "Mach3 doesn't work with 32bit Parallel ports".

The question now is what to do.

It would seem the cheapest answer is to buy a 32 bit machine for <$100us and find something to do with the other machine I bought for this purpose.  All the documentation is out there and it is a well traveled path to success.
~or~
Buy a motion controller.  This is a very gray area for me.  All the advertising is that motion controllers run faster and smoother.  Price goes up for sure.

Given that I am just getting started with this and it is not currently an income stream for me, I'd like some opinions on how best to proceed.  I don't mind spending the money if the performance will be worth it in the end.

Thanks in advance.

P.