Hi!
 I have one question. Is this works whit stepper motors? Because in manuals " http://www.vitalsystem.com/web/motion/dspmc.pdf " on page 11 it is written that pins on J3 are for stepper motors outputs.

 Thanks!

sorry for the late reply.  somehow I missed that message in my mail box.

we have 6 stepper outputs on the dspmc board.  The software allows upto 5Khz of step pulse train.  so if your motor is 200 pulse / rev, you can get max speed of 1500 rpm.  when placing the order, pls specify stepper option.  this option is not available in standard dspmc boards.

thank you

Rufi
www.vitalsystem.com/dspmc

Homing to the index will allow two important things for me:

I'm going to have stations set up on my table.  A rotary table mounted horizontally, a self centering chuck mounted face up, and a vice.  With the acuracy of homing to the index I can put stock into any of those stations and run the program to machine the piece without going through edge finding or anything to get my start point.  It eliminates set up time for me making it reasonable to do much smaller batches (with the price of materials these days that is of huge importance to me).

The second thing homing to index will allow (assuming homing to only the index without a home switch is also enabled) is I can home the rotary table to a great degree of acuracy without using any home switch at all. 

I know lots of people don't even have indexes but it's a huge benefit to me.  I'm seriously only waiting for that feature to be added to go ahead with my purchase.

so far, the existing customers have not flaged that as an issue, so thats why we have not added index pulse homing. If a customer asks for it, we will add this feature asap, otherwise it is sitting in the things to do list backlog. not sure when its turn will come.

for probing, pls email me directly some info about its operation and requirements so we can start work on it. I have to learn myself on how the probing works.

thank you
Rufi
www.vitalsystem.com/dspmc

I will be purchasing the dspmc/ip board this week. The reasons are as follows.

1. Great response to my emails.
2. Online documentation is very strong.
3. Of course the ability to use Mach3.
4. All of the I/O to work with my 24 position ATC.
5. 6 axis of control. I will be using 4 right off the bat.
6. It will run the analogue controls that came with my mill.
7. Optocoupled when you buy the breakout boards

A couple of minor things come to mind that I was less than thrilled with.
1. It needs 5 breakout boards to access all of the connections=more $  also = more protection.
2. Stepper option is not standard= more$  Would make the use of a 4th axis easier.



If any one has an opinion either way let me know.
After looking at all the options this seems to be the best way to go because of price, features and support.

Mike.

I was told if I ordered one he'd get right on setting up a choice of homing routines for each axis so that we can choose to home to only the home switch, home to the home switch then to the index, or home to the index only.  That's how galil does it.  As it turns out I'll be using the home to the home switch then the index on all my axes so that's the one I'm concerned about and since it is promised right away with my order......

I ordered the DSPMC/IP, three 7711 break out boards, and a 7535 digital IO board today.

My machine is top of the line comercial quality and sitting ready to go except for the control so I'll be able to give good feedback on the control soon.

It sounds like he's also willing to jump into getting probing going with the dspmc/ip and Art's probe.  ( http://www.cadcamcadcam.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=14 )  Assuming it performs and I hope and these features are added in I think this control will stand out as the obvious choice for servo systems and mach.  I'll provide them with some video of my machine they can use to help prove themselves in the  market place.

I too have just ordered the DSPMC/IP controller and all of the breakout boards to access all of the capabilites of this board.

I figured If I purchased all of the connections now I wouldnt have to pay for shipping later when I need the extra capabilities later.

Other than  don't care for Google checkout, the purchase went smoothly.

 My stuff should arrive on tuesday and I will begin installing it. I am using this to control my BTC-1 with the 24 position tool holder.

I will keep on updating here as work progresses. The Btc-1 ran the day before I picked it up so I shouldn't have to worry about the rest of the electronics.

Michael

Just started wondering...
MACH sends only trajectory data to dsp/MC/IP right?

Now if used with Mach, does it mean that I can use S-curve motion control, or it will strictly use trapezoidal only?

I ask it because I want to take advantage on some jerk control...

In detail, when I think about trapezoidal speed profiles, then the controller has to know which axis accelerates at which rate, and it has to synchronize these to each other in order to get an accurate toolpath.
Now with S-curve profiling these synchronizing calculations would be even more complex on the curves, no? So are these performed somewhere, in the controller? If not then it should mean that only trapezoidal velocity profiles are available during multiaxis commands. With or without mach...

Maybe a small explanation on "how it works" would be handful. Earlier I asked about some block scheme, or whatever, just to make tech. things clear.
Sorry for being so nosy

hunserv,

the dspmc follows the command positions generated by mach at a rate of 1000 per sec.  and these are generated using a trapezoidal profile. the dspMC board cannot change the profile as it has to follow the points as it is.  however the Jog profile is generated by the dspMC.  there we can use S-Curve profile. 

thank you
Rufi

So then you say No-way S velocity profile unless Artsoft gives a boost to Quantum?
Do these command "positions" mean that only straight moves are done with the dspMC/IP ? Or there are circular commands as well and perhaps other features?

Thanks!

hi hunserv

all gcode moves are generated by mach and it is upto them whatever profile they select.  only when you do cont. jog and homing, the profile is generated by the dspmc board, which is currently also trapezoidal.

thanks
Rufi

My dspmc/ip and breakout boards have arrived.  I'm sidelining the install until i have the new ac installed in the shop in 3-5 days.  It's at the top of the list after that.