Hi,
I'd recommend the MB2 motherboard
I disagree. The MB2 is a good board but the manufacturer has already made all the decisions about which pins are inputs or outputs
including whether they are line driver or single ended outputs.
On Page 4 of the manual is an overview.
12 Line driver Outputs
14 Sink/Single ended Outputs
12 NPN inputs.
1 PWM analogue output
All very well unless you what more inputs say.
The ESS has port 1 pins 2-9 as outputs always but ports 2 and 3 pins 2-9 can be block assigned as inputs or outputs.
Thus if you want the maximum number of inputs then:
port1 12 outputs
5 inputs
port2 4 outputs
13 inputs
port3 4 outputs
13 inputs
total 20 outputs
31 inputs
The C10 or the Homman Designs BoBs allow me the choice as to exactly the balance of inputs to outputs.
They are also plain TTL so are all capable of better than the 4MHz limit of the ESS. If I require
a linedriver for a given output I add it, if I require an optoisolated input or output I add it, if I want an analogue
PWM output I design and build my own filter, if I require a 24V interface I use a 2 cent transistor to do it.
In short any input or output requirement can be met by adding a little circuitry to a C10 or Homman designs BoB.
3 x C10's @ $23 each = $69
1 M02 =$150
The last time I looked Peter Homman's Bobs were up to $56 (also confusingly called the MB-02V6):
3 x MB-02V6 =$168
Thus the Homman designs BoBs are more expensive than the CNC Room MB02, however I choose to support Peter,
a longtime contributor to this forum and an Australian neighbor.
Mike:
ESS $180 + MB2 $150 = $330. Now the difference is within ~$100
That's still $100. My $100 is hard earned, I'm not averse to spending it if I see an advantage but refuse to part with it if I don't.
The cut down Hobby Hicon is not a good choice for me....my servo running at full speed at full resolution requires a step signal
of 468kHz, well within the ESS but impossible with the Hobby Hicon....the full Hicon however is a contender.
Using the Hiconn to do closed loop of a servo system allows for there to be a central controller instead of doing it in each servo drive. Again, this gives you more options.
If you are using an existing DC servo arrangement then the flexibility of the Hicon, with the extra required activations is indeed a very powerful unit.
Its rivals Gallil and they are more expensive again. You may have noted that all the servo manufactures close the loop within the drive and almost
all offer distributed motion control via Ethercat, Profibus or Canopen....and others. In short the CNC world is going, and has been for a decade or more,
to ever increasing intelligence in the servo drive. Closing the loop within the controller is becoming increasingly anachronistic.
You may recall OP is looking for a controller and servo/drives to repower an existing gas cutting table. THC, lathe threading, yada, yada is just so
much background noise to him. Given that he is looking at modern Ac servos and drives then he has no intention of spending big dollars and adding
a bunch of complication by closing the servo loop with a Hicon.
If you can come up with a combination that beats or even comes close to the budget I posted earlier I'm sure OP would be delighted to hear it.
and I did mention it before, my next choice of controller is the Pokeys 57CNC
I have not used one but look at them very favourably, the analogue input capability is a definite advance over the ESS, shame they are limited
to 125kHz.
Craig
Guest
Show Posts
