As long as I have ID in the Ports & Pins a switch as +/- /Home I understand that Mach3 will know the switch is a Home switch when homing and then it’s considered a limit switch.

Therefore is there any reason why not to use one cable along with only one Pin for all Limits/Home in my 4 motors cnc (Y,A,X,Z)?

This will save wiring, time and possible mistakes of assigning the right cable to the appropriate pin.

Thanks

Hi,
yes you can do that....buy why then did you buy an ESS? The ESS has 51 IOs, so you can and by my reckoning should, have one input per switch, and separate
Home and Limit switches, nine switches for a three axis machine.

Now Mach is never confused as to what is a Limit or a Home and Mach can determine which axis faulted, all of which is impossible if you combine them all into one
long string of switches.

Craig

I remember in an earlier post you had mentioned to get the C10 BOB (I think it was that) which will give me extra inputs but unless I get another BOB I don’t see on my ESS where are the 51 IOs. Perhaps my ESS has these extra inputs but I’m not aware.

In any case I see your point and I will not use “one long string of switches”

Many thanks

Hi,
the ESS has three 'parallel equivalent ports', they are the three 26pin IDC headers. IDC headers have a different numbering scheme compared to a DB 25,
but if you look on the ESS website you see the pin numbering is identical to a parallel port. With and IDC-to-DB25 adaptor cable (Warp9 sell them) then you have
three ports with 17 IOs in each, ie 51 IOs in  total.

That is the single most important feature of the ESS is that it has all this extra IO compared to a single parallel port. Take advantage of it.

Craig

Thanks Craig for the help, now I understand but perhaps kind of late for me. In the attached picture you can see the layout of my control panel and perhaps there no space for an extra BOB however I will check the size of the C10 and if I can fit it I will give it a try.

If not I will do this inputs wiring:
PIN 10: E-Stop
PIN 11: Y+ and Y Home
PIN 12: A+ and A Home
PIN 13: X+, X-, X Home, Y-, Z+, Z- and Z Home
PIN 15: Probe

Nicolas

Hi,
this is my breakout board, my own design. Note the ESS is upside down but plugs directly into IDC sockets of the board below, no ribbon cables required.
All three ports are developed.

Current assignments:
Outputs:
X,Y,Z.A,B,C Step/Dir  = 12 outputs
Servo Enable= 1 output (doubles as brake signal for Z axis)
Servo Reset =1 output  (commoned to all servos)
Spindle ON/OFF= 1 output (commoned to all servos)
Spindle PWM =1 output
Coolant Pump= 1 output
TOTAL OUTPUTS=17

Inputs:
Servo alarms =6 inputs
X++, X--, XHome=3 inputs
Y++, Y--, YHOme=3 inputs
Z++,Z--,ZHome=3 inputs
Probe=1 input
Feedhold/EStop= 1 input
Wired Pendant=5 inputs
TOTAL INPUTS=22
IO USED=39(out of 51)

Craig

Very nice BOB Craig and it’s your own design? Heck you are making me jealous, lol

You have tons on inputs/outputs and I can realize the beauty of ESS but for my needs it would have been an overkill.

I see that you also have a spindle ON/OFF and PWM. In about 2 weeks I will be ready to wire my C11G BOB for my spindle which is a Taig R16 with a Sherline 90VDC KIBC VS controller and I will ask for help. I think I should be able to do it but if I stumble, I will shout!

Cheers

Hi,

I see that you also have a spindle ON/OFF and PWM.

Yes, most of my machining requires a free running spindle, and for that Spindle ON/OFF and Spindle PWM is perfectly fine.
On the few occasions where I require an indexing or coordinated spindle (rigid tapping) I use the C axis. Best of both worlds.

Craig