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Author Topic: Using two uc100, with mach3. gecko540 and mach3 interfaceboard.  (Read 5331 times)

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Re: Using two uc100, with mach3. gecko540 and mach3 interfaceboard.
« Reply #10 on: March 05, 2018, 05:03:47 AM »
Hi,
THC is time critical and it is handled in the controller rather than Mach but I think you'll find the UC400ETH does it well.

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'
Re: Using two uc100, with mach3. gecko540 and mach3 interfaceboard.
« Reply #11 on: March 05, 2018, 05:09:05 AM »
THC is not only time critical, but that whole control is handled directly by the motion controller because Mach and Windows is not realtime and THC control has to work instant.
The UC400ETH implements THC control and ethernet is much better than USB for electrically noisy applications like plasma control, because ethernet is isolated while USB is ground referenced.
So, using a UC400ETH is a good solution.
Re: Using two uc100, with mach3. gecko540 and mach3 interfaceboard.
« Reply #12 on: March 05, 2018, 05:14:01 AM »
Hi Dubble,
I know that you have recently released Mach4 plugins for the UC100 but I believe also the UC300 and UC400.
Does the Mach4 plugin provide THC support?

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'
Re: Using two uc100, with mach3. gecko540 and mach3 interfaceboard.
« Reply #14 on: March 05, 2018, 04:00:31 PM »
Hi Dude1,
have you seen the price on that sucker! Last quote I had from MS in Austrailia $16,000US without licences,
thats just the tools!

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'

Offline dude1

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Re: Using two uc100, with mach3. gecko540 and mach3 interfaceboard.
« Reply #15 on: March 05, 2018, 04:19:01 PM »
I know 

Offline Filou

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Re: Using two uc100, with mach3. gecko540 and mach3 interfaceboard.
« Reply #16 on: April 03, 2018, 12:10:44 PM »
Can anyone contradict me please ?

I do not see how Mach 3 would be able to "talk" to more than two ports "at the time". Therefore, the nice UC300-5LPT appears useful for a User who has in mind to use, say a mill that needs two ports worth or In/Out and a lathe with another set of two ports. But how about using a third port ?

If I'm mistaken, please correct me, I'd be more than happy to be able to use more than two ports "at the time".

PS: the "at the time" quote is the necessary care needed when we are talking about systems which are not meant to operate in real time.

Offline ger21

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Re: Using two uc100, with mach3. gecko540 and mach3 interfaceboard.
« Reply #17 on: April 03, 2018, 01:38:32 PM »
When using a motion controller, Mach3 can access as many ports and pins as the controller has available.
Only parallel ports are limited to two at a time.
So you can indeed access all 5 "ports" worth of I/O pins on a UC300 from Mach3.

Be aware that with a UC300, not all of the ports are the same. Two are mapped as "Standard" parallel ports, while the other three use pins 2-9 as inputs only.
Gerry

2010 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html

JointCAM Dovetail and Box Joint software
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html

Offline Filou

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Re: Using two uc100, with mach3. gecko540 and mach3 interfaceboard.
« Reply #18 on: April 03, 2018, 03:49:36 PM »
Gerry, thank you for contradicting me.

What I miss, is the pathway to tell Mach 3 to use the resources provided by the three additional ports not offered in the main config menu.

It is clear that two LPT like ports can be directly configured, less so (for me) for any other one.

Is it sufficient to define a sole port number that differs from the two used in the main config menu ? This is not obvious from the documentation that is available to me.

If for example I assign ports 1 and 2 in the main config, I could be using implicitly ports 3, 4 and 5 (in the pins menu) to get access to all the other resources ?

cheers, Philippe

Offline ger21

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Re: Using two uc100, with mach3. gecko540 and mach3 interfaceboard.
« Reply #19 on: April 03, 2018, 03:53:52 PM »
The LPT port addresses are not used at all with a motion controller.
On the ports and pins pages, you just enter the port number defined by the manufacturer of the motion controller. In the case of the UC300, they would be ports 1 through 5.
Gerry

2010 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html

JointCAM Dovetail and Box Joint software
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html