Homann Designs is pleased to announce that the SmoothStepper has now arrived in Australia.

http://homanndesigns.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=51

So, Jump the Queue.... :)

The SmoothStepper is a motion control device that connects to the USB port of a computer. It accepts commands from a software package such as Mach3, and produce very high quality pulse trains that drive step & direction motors.

At this time the only software package it works with is Mach3, but a Software Development Kit (SDK) is planned, which will allow you to control the SmoothStepper with your own software.

Features;

* USB Replacement for 2 parallel ports
* Integrated into Mach3 via plug-in
* No external power supply necessary
* Generates pulse rates to 4MHz
* Up to 34 I/O lines
* USB cable supplied


Note: Overseas orders are also welcome.

Cheers,

Peter.

Hi Peter,

out of curiosity, does smooth stepper make steppers run with comparable smoothness to that of a servo motor? How much advantage is there compared to a traditional set up with a parallel port and microstepping drives?

Cheers
Splint

Hi Splint,

The smoothness of the stepper motor is determined by 2 factors,
1. How fine the microsteps are and;
2. Smoothness of the step pluses being generated.

The SmoothStepper won't help with point 1, as this is determined by your stepper drive. Most stepper drives use 1/8 or 1/10 microsteps.

The SmoothStepper can help with point 2 though. THis is because it has the step pulse generator inside it, and can generate frequencies up to 4MHz. Although, you don't usually need to generate a step frequency this high, it is the resolution of the generated frequencies that it can produce.

Some of the parallel port generators can only generate steps at 45KHz or 100KHz, so the pulse stream won't be quite as smooth.


The main advantage of the SmoothStepper over a parallel port setup is that you don't need a computer with a parallel port (which are harder to come by now), just a USB port. Plus the additional smoothness I discussed above.

Cheers,

Peter.


Hi Peter,

out of curiosity, does smooth stepper make steppers run with comparable smoothness to that of a servo motor? How much advantage is there compared to a traditional set up with a parallel port and microstepping drives?

Cheers
Splint