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Pico Motherboard a Good Option??
« on: August 11, 2009, 11:41:14 AM »
I am setting up a 2 Axis Gantry & was wondering if a Pico Motherboard with 8GB flash disk is a good way to go. I will ONLY install XP Home & Mach3 on the computer, nothing else. I realize I will need Smoothstepper. I noticed Hood wrote about the Pico MB last year & liked it then, what about now? Our gantry is very simple with 1 "Y" axis stepper & 2 "X" axis motors slaved. I am in Florida without air conditioning so the temperature can go up to 100 Deg F in the machine cabinet.

8GB Flash Disk @ http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=SF8GB5Y41&src=FR&pid=61f314d6796ff23a7fde340f3d24a5d66ec42b1ade63783ccc585e22ba5d406d

Offline Hood

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Re: Pico Motherboard a Good Option??
« Reply #1 on: August 11, 2009, 01:44:08 PM »
I still think the pico is great, I use it on the lathe and have one in the Beaver mill (if I ever get time to finish it).
 I use normal type Laptop  SATA HDD so cant say anything about the performance with a flash disk.

Hood
Re: Pico Motherboard a Good Option??
« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2009, 09:54:37 PM »
Hood:
I have read about noise (drivers etc) causing problems with SS USB cables. I am looking into an AMOS 3000 & was wondering where it is safe to mount the SS?
Amos 3000@ http://www.wdlsystems.com/modperl/view_services.cgi?r=detail&prod_num=1EAMOS3&aisle_id=1230

I am planning on using a 6" USB cable from the PC to the SS. I was wondering if it should be mounted in the present cabinet (will it be too noisy) or mount it on a separate monitor cabinet I am installing on top of the cabinet shown at the link below. We don't have a monitor on our system now so we are making one that can accommodate a monitor & the AMOS easily.

Here are a few pics of our present system I am updating
http://picasaweb.google.com/Share.Pic.53/VextaDrivesMotors?authkey=Gv1sRgCJTBqseVwrnhpAE#

Offline Hood

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Re: Pico Motherboard a Good Option??
« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2009, 06:36:27 AM »
Afraid I am probably the worst to ask advice on noise problems as I have never had any issues on any machines whether PP or SS. I have the SS on a coilwinder I made and the drives, transformer, capacitors, BOB and SS are all tightly packed together and no issues. My lathe has all the electrics and electronics in the same cabinet and the Beaver has all the electronicl equipment in the same cabinet as the computer and SS.
 I pay particular attention to the 5v wiring and always use shielded cables and where poissible I use 24v for such things as limits and other I/O, although the Coil winder only uses 5v on the I/O.

Below is a pic of the coil winder and the blue bit houses the drives.supply etc.
Also a pic of the Beavers two cabinets and finally the lathes cabinet.

Hood

Offline Jeff_Birt

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Re: Pico Motherboard a Good Option??
« Reply #4 on: August 13, 2009, 08:07:28 AM »
If you have a noisy systems you will have problems no matter what (SS or not). Things like spindle motors, pump motors, etc all generate lots of noise. I have found a good line filter:http://soigeneris.com/cncparts2.aspx , mounted in the mains feed as close to the source of the noise is the best way to get the noise out. Also, properly routing your cables, keeping the noisy lines away from low signal sensor lines will help a bunch too.
Happy machining , Jeff Birt
 
Re: Pico Motherboard a Good Option??
« Reply #5 on: September 02, 2009, 02:55:01 PM »
Hood:
Since you have a pico with a SS do you use backlash comp?

Steve
Re: Pico Motherboard a Good Option??
« Reply #6 on: September 02, 2009, 03:15:37 PM »
Hood:
Since you have a pico with a SS do you use backlash comp?

Steve

SS does not currently do backlash compensation.

Regards,
Ray L.
Regards,
Ray L.

Offline Hood

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Re: Pico Motherboard a Good Option??
« Reply #7 on: September 02, 2009, 03:25:44 PM »
Hood:
Since you have a pico with a SS do you use backlash comp?

Steve

As Ray has said its not available with the SS yet, was talking to Greg earlier and he had been up all night working on it and thinks he is getting close :)
I dont have much backlash in the lathe anyway, under 0.005mm. The Bridgeport has a bit but I have never used comp even when using the PP.

Hood
Re: Pico Motherboard a Good Option??
« Reply #8 on: September 04, 2009, 11:13:19 AM »
I had monstrous problems running my controller PC with a USB stick left in the slot, it banged and crashed and both the drives jammed solid. It's fine until it moves, after that it throws a huge tantrum. no idea why, it's intermittent so maybe the computer is polling the USB stick periodically as a priority and ruining the pulse train. Just a guess.