The UC300 is another motion controller board that has a plugin written for Mach3 and connects via USB. The manufacturer says that the board itself has no protection on the outputs (optical isolation) and so a breakout board should be added into the mix. So then you have a breakout board for the motion controller board.

The rabbit hole gets deeper.

Keith.

I have, and dont use anymore, a USB SS (noise, drivers, bugs ), and a Centipede (no mach4 support), and a PP.

I have, use, and recommend a Pokeys+CNCAddon, and a CSMIO-IPS or CSMIO-anything.

Cheap - very good:
Pokeys+CNC is very good, great drivers/plugins, cheap, 125 kHz, lots of IO.
The best:
CSMIO is 100+ IO (needed for industrial stuff, 4 Mhz, differential, real threading, step/dir spindles, servos well supoprted).
+ Support threading and SERVO SPINDLES !
-Drawback. A full lathe system is 1500€+.
Otoh .. So is anything else as this level.
500+ bootlace ferrules, wiring, din rails, 2 x DC24V PSU, connectors, wires, 100 hours to connect everything.

All motion-control boards do stuff differently.

Most plugins dont work well, and wont support some stuff.
Most USB stuff works so-so, with all sorts of drawbacks and or problems.

Ethernet is a better connection medium (ethernet is galvanically isolated by default)
Ethernet has much less latency, and much less issues

Typical problems:

Noise
Speed (500 kHz is what you really, really want, or more)
How many axes are supported
How does slaving work. Racking ? Is slaving reliable *always* ?
Homing
Probing
Threading *properly*
CSS on lathe
Multiple spindle support, C-axis support (lathe), swapaxis() support
Rear toolpost on lathe

To hell with the longs motor bob. I replaced and upgraded it with pmdx's 126 bob. I want to thank everyone that posted to this topic which helped me find pmdx. I have the manual printed out already, I just ordered the board and can't wait for it to arrive. Any tips or pointers, possibly wiring diagrams from successful setups? Thanks again everyone.

Just thought Id drop in and say I got my pmdx board yesterday got it in and got the x and a axis working right off the bat. Im really liking this board so far. It has a lot of additional features that the other boards do not have. Ill probably be adding the pwm spindle board. I think their model is the pmdx 107 as well as a smooth stepper board. The documentation is well written and thorough as well.

For one and a half years I worked with home-made milling machines with 4 servomotor drive.
it is controlled by USB MotionCard AKZ250
I attach Move block diagram
For me it works very well without mistakes
Of course all connections are shielded me.
Indulis

PMDX makes some wonderfully robust boards.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi Tweaking.  I will send you the sml file tonight. If my computer was hit by lightning could it have fried something in the bob? If so could I get you to suggest a good bob for a 4 axis machine with ss. Hopefully I can get the file to you early enough so you can look 5it thanks again Kevin

I can easily recommend boards made by cnc4youstore.com (english) Otherwise cncmania.co.kr

I have an older version CMC101 breakoutboard, with built in PWM signal to control speed of Spindle, relays, and a bunch of I/O's.

Their bigger boards have from 4-6 axis control, and a bunch of I/O's, all have spindle speed controller built into the boards. And they run on 24VDC rather than 5VDC which is sensitive to EM noise.

The boards them selves are not that expensive, The CM106 board which is a 6 axis breakout board is not a bad choice for multi axis controls.

I have added a few links for the boards they deliver.

http://www.cnc4youstore.com/cnc-mach3-board-7-relay-cm-126.html
http://www.cnc4youstore.com/cnc-mach3-multifunctional-breakout-board-cm-106.html

This one is the closest I can come to the model I have.
http://www.cnc4youstore.com/new-cnc-breakout-board-mach3-cm-201-parallel-connection-interface-board..html

And I gotta tell you, running LPT still gives great results.

The MB2 breakout board from CNCRoom is a good alternative also.

http://www.cncroom.com/break-out-board/smooth-stepper
 
MachBob2 (MB2) is designed for industrial application and specifically to work with the Ethernet
Smooth Stepper (ESS) which is an excellent motion control board designed to be used with Mach3
and Mach4

Here are some of the good features.
 - New! Utilizes all three ports from the ESS.
 - New! Accept frequency up to 4 MHz.
 - New! Differential line driver for motion signals enables longer wiring with more resistance to
   interference when compared to TTL open end.
 - New! A single 24Vdc Power Supply is needed. There is a 5Vdc isolated and non‐isolated dc2dc
   converter on board, thus saving installation space and wiring.
 - New! OSSD (Output Signal Switching Device) outputs and safety circuit are implemented when a
   peripheral device such as a servo motor drive or a spindle VFD trigger an alarm condition, which
   causes the Safety Circuit to disengage the OSSD output. This method is used in large CNC machines
   to cut power from the drives.
 - New! LED status for all inputs and outputs including motion control signals. This makes it much
   easier to diagnose and trouble shoot.
 - New! Polarity and over voltage protection (in conjunction with a fuse) for the 24Vdc power supply.
 - An “AnaSpeed” circuit has been implemented. This circuit is totally isolated from the MB2 and forms
   a part of the VFD inverter, acting as a digital VR. High voltage noise from the inverter
   cannot cause interfere through this connection.
 - A Charge‐Pump signal is provided. This helps the user to form a safety interlock condition among
   controller and devices.
 - 22 isolated input terminals, consisting of 17 terminals of NPN and 5 terminals of PNP type.
 - 14 NPN isolated output terminals capable of sinking current up to 100mA for each channel and up to
   500mA per group.
 - New! MB2v1.5, 2 onboard relays with both NO / NC contacts and “Off Delay Time”, which can be
   used for “Z Drop Protection” application. (MB2v1.3 does not have this feature)

Quote from: Tweakie.CNC on April 21, 2011, 08:29:26 AM

It would be really nice if we could find someone to try this board.




http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-axis-CNC-USB-Card-Mach3-200KHz-windows2000-xp-vista-/260759887366?pt=UK_BOI_Industrial_Automation_Control_ET&hash=item3cb6801e06#ht_8263wt_1139



Tweakie.

I own and use this card on my Seig X3 mill. If you have any questions about it, ask and I'll do my best to answer in detail.

This is an old thread, but have to comment on this board.  I use 3 of them, one on a Taig mill and two more on two different laser systems.  Been using them for about 2-3 years.  These are super easy to set up, just copy a plugin, BUT and a big BUT, there are two glitches with all three and it involves the Shift Key.  It seems the Shift Key doesn't disengage sometimes, causing the board to act as if the Shift Key was still pressed.  So, if you do a full speed jog with the Shift and Arrow key.  Let go, then press the arrow key to slowly jog (say jog set at 10%) then sometimes it will jog again at full speed and CRASH.  Or if you jog with the Shift and Arrow key, then let go.  Then start the spindle with F5, the relay will chatter, causing the spindle (or Laser) to chudder or flash.  You then have to tap the shift key a couple times and the spindle or laser will operate fine.  I have ruined several parts because of this glitch, and am looking for a replacement board, but am afraid of some other damn glitch.  Same thing, different flavor.  I like the USB, no messing around with a parallel (dinosaur) port.  No issues with noise, just the "Shift Key."