Messages

371

General Mach Discussion / Re: Newbie question about push buttons

« on: January 02, 2016, 05:20:37 AM »

How do you intend to get the buttons wired back to be notice by mach3?

The c10 bob is a parallel port breakout board, so IO's are a bit limited to 5 input pins.  And one of them needs to be an e-stop really.

Your options are...
2nd breakout board
Custom 2nd breakout board ( most parallel port bobs I've been have pins 2-9 as outputs by default but these could be inputs if the bob was made in such a way)
Pokeys u57  set up as a keyboard emulator (don't think the Ethernet Pokeys works as a keyboard emulator given most keyboards are USB or ps2 connection).
Arduino Leonardo or micro setup as a keyboard emulator.
Modbus input board.

All options will require some form of script depending upon what you want the buttons to do.

I'd suggest searching and reading a few other posts on the forum about users wanting custom buttons.

I was trying to help someone with an arduino keyboard emulator before Christmas, but must admit because of some of the key numbers used by mach3 it was proving problematic for me.... But it wasn't really my project as I was just curious but did not actually need a load of buttons.

I would suggest by far the most simple method that is mach3 and mach4 compatible and gives you everything you could want is to buy a Shuttle Contour Pro and less than an hour after it arrives youll be up and running with more buttons than you can shake a stick at.

The other one similar but I've not had good success with is an Xbox controller...

Once you have a Shuttle Pro the rest of the options are not nessesary.

372

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Happy New Year

« on: January 01, 2016, 04:27:03 AM »

Happy new year Daz et al, hope you have a good one

373

General Mach Discussion / Re: More inputs and outputs needed in Mach3

« on: December 27, 2015, 07:14:39 AM »

Some businesses in Europe may shut down from last Friday 18 dec, up until 4th jan.

You can buy from other suppliers.

Think they are in Hungary, so patience is sometimes required, especially around this time as the mail service goes slow too.

374

General Mach Discussion / Re: More inputs and outputs needed in Mach3

« on: December 26, 2015, 04:54:32 AM »

Raychar

Other options could be arduino or Pokeys u57 as well as modbus.

You have two LPT ports which you can consider as your high speed IO's now consider to free us some space on the two LTP ports if you cannot remove some of the lower speed stuff to use arduino or Pokeys u57 as a keyboard emulator to use oemtriggers to do some of the more mundane stuff like coolant pumps, fans or whatever else you have that only requires 10hz.

This would be similar to modus and using brains.

Have you got a pinout list of your two LTP ports of what you are using each pin for?

Rob

375

General Mach Discussion / Re: More inputs and outputs needed in Mach3

« on: December 26, 2015, 03:03:18 AM »

UC400 ETH sounds interesting, there other boards seem well supported (although m3 only).  Can't see anything on their website.

376

General Mach Discussion / Re: More inputs and outputs needed in Mach3

« on: December 25, 2015, 06:08:37 PM »

CL-Labs CISMO
Website: http://www.cs-lab.eu/en/sklep-dzial-2,-,-CNC_Motion_control_systems_CSMIO_products_sets.html

3 x Offerings, really, in your case of I/O's you would be looking at the CSMIO/IP-S
If you scroll to the bottom of this page there is a comparison of all of the devices:
http://www.cs-lab.eu/en/produkt-2,2-CSMIOIPS___6_axis_Ethernet_Motion_Controller_STEPDIR_with_connectors.html

Costs, module options are here: http://www.cs-lab.eu/en/sklep-dzial-2,-,-CNC_Motion_control_systems_CSMIO_products_sets.html

Manual here: http://www.cs-lab.eu/en/upload/pdf/User_Manual_CSMIOIPS_EN_v2.1.pdf

personally I really like them, and nearly bought one, what slowed me down... cost... but then I did not account for my final break out board solution.

What I really like... ethernet (same as the ESS), and 24V input.... much less prone to noise and interference (especially when running a plasma).

I may still buy one depending upon M4 development of the ESS.  At the moment there seems little point to jump ship when a new M4 plugin is upcoming for the ESS.   Also suffering from "sunk cost effect" considering the ESS cost + bob costs.

What put me off (at that time).... torch height control... they are basically running it using the Mach3 THC plugin and using their analog inputs ... what you have to do is get (or build) an isolated voltage divider circuit to read your torch voltage in simple terms.   I have designed my own THC, just need to get around to finishing it, and now understand a whole load more than I did when I was shopping around for an USBSS replacement.  THC with motion controllers can be problematic a) it's not implemented, b) its rudimentary, c) requires other hardware from the same manufacturer.

One of the concerns with THC and using the M3 plugin is the M3 loop speed.... on a fast plasma cut M3 will lag quite far behind in mm before responding.

Plus looks like they have issued their M4 plugin in line with the latest M4 update at this time (2803)

May not have implemented M10/M11 (yet either, but believe that it will be implemented in M4 plugin) older post here on it (but does not really apply to the original posters requirements from the above responses). http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,30020.0.html

377

General Mach Discussion / Re: More inputs and outputs needed in Mach3

« on: December 25, 2015, 05:41:52 PM »

I don't think USB is the root of the problem... really it depends upon many things and one of which being .... type of plasma cutter (or at least the type of plasma start) as well as the proximity of cabling to the HF stuff and grounding of the table etc etc.

I know what my issue was and it was basically grounding the USB connector on the ESS to my driver box. (nope I have nothing against USB), but I did want THC and the USBSS did not offer it and neither did it offer backlash compensation (which although I don't use it, I have a few mills and a lathe which I was hoping to use the same driver box with).

I have an older hypertherm, and at the time was not sure if I was going to go with a bigger Chinese HF start unit (since decided to stick with what I have and wait for a bigger hypertherm when one becomes available second hand. as they offer better start characteristics (blowback start) and longevity of consumables and spares will meet my needs for the future, plus there are other things link machine control interfaces and RS485 interface on some models etc etc.

I really wanted to stick with the USB SS at the time as I got it working, but was disappointed that the driver was not being updated in the short-term in line with the ESS.  I have since found out that they have many more ESS units than USBSS boards in circulation.... hence ESS is having its drivers updated first to M4, then USBSS to M4.... then porting ESS M3 to USB M3... and time / speed of updates was my personal issue.

All I was trying to do was go through the various boards with more than 3 LPT equivalent ports that I knew of which is what the original poster seemed to ask for a bit of elaboration on my first post... plus add some of the bits I' found on them.

PMDX http://www.pmdx.com/MotionControllers do some nice motion controllers, driver updates seem to be as required, finger on the button from those lads, and they are usb... but just not enough pins for the original poster.

378

General Mach Discussion / Re: More inputs and outputs needed in Mach3

« on: December 25, 2015, 04:30:55 AM »

Smooth Stepper:

website: http://www.warp9td.com/

Two variants, USB (USBSS / USS) or Ethernet (ESS)
Product Comparison here: http://www.warp9td.com/index.php/products/#details

Note the rest of this is biased as I am a user of the ESS and active on the forum.

In short, ESS = 3 x LPT ports, USB = 2 LPT ports + a differential port (which can also be used as inputs).
Both have an expansion port.... which has not really been developed publicly since they were both launched / sold, there is an aspiration to provide an SDK, but that is my opinion only.

There is a lot on information on the official website.  The PDF manuals are some years old, but still relevant, and
The ESS has a more developed driver for Mach3 than the USBSS.
The ESS has backlash compensation, THC and M10Px/M11Px support, the USB does not.

Because both are FPGA they are reliant upon the plugin to provide the functionality, and both have good potential for really good development, but the development cycle is unfortunately slow (updates of plugins tend to be on about a yearly (roughly) if you have a look at the plugin release dates on the website).

I bought a USBSS but did not use it for years (made the usual mistake of buying the moving bits before building the machine....), when I came to use it I struggled with the ground loop issue that the USBSS is known for, and at that time the website was not very informative, it has improved drastically over the last year, then I found out that Torch Height Control (THC) was not available via the plugin and backlash compensation and I re-evaluated.... Ethernet SS or something else... after much deliberation settled on the ESS because of the ethernet connectivity (better noise immunity, longer transmission distance), M4 plugin being developed (or at least an official statement to that effect at the time), CS-Labs CISMO came close.... but cost was higher (although it does not need a breakout board..... in hindsight I probably should have gone with that probably because of things like threading which I may want to add to my lathe later, and i've probably spent as much on breakout boards (but there are cheaper ways to provide easy to wire terminals via LPT BOB and DB25 <> IDE 26 ribbon cable that what I did).

SS has a lot of potential, but is reliant upon the developer (as most motion controllers are especially if you want more than one LPT port equivalent)  ..... Pokeys has some good potential but it may not have enough IOs for your too.

Third choice came the PureLogic PLCM-E3 but it was about the time that Russia annexed Crimea, and there were some restrictions starting from the EU, their products seem to have since disappeared from ebay and one of their suppliers in the UK so I suspect that their products are being restricted by the current political climate.... but still a good product but only Mach3 support (at present) and it requires their own addon module for torch height control (extra cost from them).   Comments on the forum of their products has been good and any issues identified have been sorted very quickly (which has not been the case with some motion controller developers).


You asked two questions on the ESS:
>>SSE -how many I/Os totally it has?
Answered above.... 3 x LPT equivalent ports, with ports 2 and 3 configurable as all inputs or standard LPT type I/O arrangement.  (forget about the "expansion port" as its not available unless you set about to programme the FPGA from scratch).

>>Is the version for bi-polar stepper motor of it available in market?
Not sure if I am understanding this question... the ESS provides step and direction signals to 6 axis (+ spindle) stepper motor divers and the stepper motor drivers must control the stepper motors (serial or parallel wiring configured).

The ESS seems to be by far the fastest motion controller on the market as to how fast it can driver stepper motors.... although I'm not aware of anyone actually being able to use it that fast...(up to 4mHz!)... I'd be surprised if you were stepping a stepper drive over 100kHz (maybe servo drives.... never used them).


If you are interested in the SS, have a look at the website, and register and log on to the forum to check out the issues, as some elements (threading) have been an issue for some users for years, and also the common user issues are discussed (ground loops, look ahead, axis step rate / frequency, and velocity update frequency).  Would hate for you to become someone waiting for something to be developed or sorted out that you did not know about up front. 

If you have a basic milling machine or lathe or plasma or laser the ESS will more than likely meet your needs driving up to 6 stepper motors, on a windows PC with Mach3.   Potential for Mach4 is there with the initial driver release, and another one due soon (been imminent for a while now) ... but then there may be a timeout as they want to develop the USBSS plugin for M4, and then maybe other bits before catching up with ESS development on M4.

379

General Mach Discussion / Re: More inputs and outputs needed in Mach3

« on: December 24, 2015, 04:11:33 PM »

I will do them one at a time for you over the next day or so (Christmas... other chores....)

UC300:
Manual here: http://cncdrive.com/MC/UC300%20datasheet/UC300%20users%20guide.pdf
Has the equivalent of 5 LPT ports (two are I/O Standard, 3 are Input only), also has 2 Analog Input and 2 Analog Output 16 bit.
- Controls upto 6-axis simultaneously.
- Works with Mach3 software via plugin.
- Upto 100kHz operation.
- 49 digital inputs and 36 digital outputs.
- 2 analog inputs and 2 analog outputs.
- USB connection to the control PC.
- LPT port compatible.
- Fast communication with data buffer for robust and stable operation.
Mach3 plugin only (no support (yet!) for Mach4), maybe in the future.

Personal comments: I would have bought one... but I had a USB Smooth Stepper already.... and I ended up with the dreaded earth loops issue ... and USB on a plasma cutter is not good for noise immunity.  Other than that it looks like a nice bit of kit.   I know someone with a UC100 who is very happy with it (but it is only one LPT port.... and you need more), and he uses it with a plasma cutter and has no issues.

Rob

380

General Mach Discussion / Re: More inputs and outputs needed in Mach3

« on: December 24, 2015, 03:11:18 AM »

UC300
Smooth stepper (Ethernet)
Cismo
Purelogic plcm-e3
Modbus (depends how fast you need the IO's read)