New Aussi CNC controller

[Jackback]

Has any one looked into the new Australian 3/4/and 5 Axis CNC controller Manufactured and sold by Hind Technologies here in Australia
they totally eliminate the PC and all the problems that go with it will run G Code from Fusion 360 and other top Cad/Cam programs
and realy well priced late $600's for 3 Axis to late $700's for 5 axis the unit is called a Masso HTG5AIS CNC controler
it has every poss input and out put you could ever want check it out let me know what you think I would like to use it to replace my non working
Low cost CNC controler (company has god bust) thanks

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[RCaffin]

Hum ... you wouldn't happen to have any commercial involvement with them by any chance?

I had a look at their Kickstarter page. They have a long list of the 'problems encountered when trying to use a PC as a controller'. At least half their claims were straight out false; the other half sounded like a politician making a bid for office. Not encouraging.

And their crowning achievement? Up to 100 kHz pulse rate. Which is pathetic compared to a modern external pulse engine, which usually gets close to or above 1 MHz.

I have a bridge for sale too.
Cheers
Roger

[InMesh]

Roger always on the ball ,I believe most people starting out building a cnc want the fun and challenge of building their own project from scratch even if it has pitfalls it has more rewards .What I have learned about electronics over the last two years has been mostly a joy some angst I just enjoy getting in there I see a point made here I also think it's a ways off yet .cheers John.

[Jackback]

Thanks RCaffin No I don't have any conection to them what so ever just looking for a replacement controler that just works ! with out all the problems you get using a PC
Any suggestions for a proven trouble free controller I can purchase with a good Pulse rate No one controller seems to stand out as in there is no big trend of people using
a particular controller that indicates a proven product. So bottom line Please tell me whats a great proven stepper controller that will controll large stepper moters
thatk you (love to know)

[RCaffin]

Hi InMesh

I use my CNC to make stuff for other hobbies, and sometimes sell duplicates to others. I am all for MYOG: it's great fun.

But what I dislike is when someone starts making false or unjustified claims for their commercial creation and against the commercial alternatives. That's where 'enthusiasm' gives way to 'fraud'. And the claims on the Kickstarter page for hardware and software problems for PC based controllers are just blatantly false. That is not good.

Cheers
Roger

[Jackback]

Thanks for the reply InMesh Im not just startting out I have had a small bridge port mill that I converted to CNC about 8 years ago using large steppers and a 4 axis Logitroll ( low cost cnc ) controler
Built and sold on the Gold Coast tried to attach photo) using Turbo Cad/Cam and Mach2 machining parts OK only problems some times losing steps or computer crash's
have not used my mechine for 2 years as controller stopped working.......... My hobby is Cad Drawing (now using Fusion 360) and then Machining the part.... not building the cnc machine
or playing with electronics and building my own controler I just want to gte back to Machining parts and so looking for a trouble free controller

[Jackback]

Thanks Roger for the reply.......

I agree with you totally So moving along......... I gess my thread should have been more about can any one recomend a proven cnc controller for large stepper motor's
to ready to go, out of the box, from a company with good back up and support so that I can get back into this hobby

thank you
Jackback

[RCaffin]

Hi Jackback

Well, there are quite a few PROVEN hobby CNC controllers already on the market. ALL use a PC as the host to do the overall control and path analysis - something they are very good at. ALL use an external pulse engine to do the real-time stuff, as a PC certainly does have limitations there. ALL have extensive customer bases. And ALL of them are much cheaper and arguably more powerful in the long run than the expensive propietary dinosaur controllers of yesterday - things like Fanuc etc. (Even though most big machine mfrs are still using the dinosaurs: but they have a backwards compatibility problem to deal with.)

Mach3 and Ethernet Smooth Stepper (ESS) - probably the leader in the market, but it does have some problems at the edges
LinuxCNC and 3rd party external engine - also big but may require more knowledge of programming
UCCNC and UC(engine) - not as widespread, but gets very good comments
Mach4 and ESS - the replacement for Mach3, although not yet complete at the edges
KFlop and associated parts - requires heavy C language capabilities
(Mach2 is seriously obsolete these days!)

I am quite sure others could add to this list, although the others will have smaller user bases. It would be fair to claim that ALL of these have extensive commercial users doing serious production work.

A problem is that code written for the range of proprietary controllers is usually not portable between brands or sometimes even models within a brand, while the 'hobbyist' stuff follows the NIST Standard and is generally portable. In fact, while most do use some variation on g-code, there are a few strange systems out there which follow quite different programming languages. They have their followers, often due to good proximity to the factory and support.

Now, can you get something which will work right out of the box? Yes, if you buy the complete CNC system. No, if you want to add your own motors, rails, leadscrews, switches etc. If you want to do the latter, you will have to learn a fair bit about how CNC systems work. A LOT of people hopefully import a bare-bones from China and then discover how little they know. Well, tough. But then, some argue that the learning process and the MYOG is the real fun.

Cheers
Roger

[dharmic]

Regardless of the hairs going up on the back of my neck reading their advertising, here's something else to consider.

A PC based system used widely by lots of users running different machines, that has a long history of good performance and gets regular updates
vs
A proprietary black box which claims to support such and such a program and probably does most of the time until that program changes.

I'd really have to trust the vendor of a black box control system to choose it over a PC. Because upgrades become difficult, there's a lack of background chat on best use and support and , if it really can't handle what I throw at it, I can't just throw a different control program on there - it's time for the bin. And a PC based solution.

[ger21]

it has every poss input and out put you could ever want check it out let me know what you think I would like to use it to replace my non working
Low cost CNC controler (company has god bust) thanks

You do realize that the Masso will not drive your stepper motors. The masso sends step/dir signals to stepper drives. You still need a stepper drive for each motor.

[Torchhead]

The problem sir is your geographic location. The Land of Oz makes it really difficult to bring in controllers from outside the country. Anything over 1000 Aus dollars is taxed. Couple that with volatile exchange rates the really high shipping rates and you get economic disincentives to not spend a lot of time marketing into your fine country. The problem gets compounded on larger systems because the only reasonable shipping option (USPS Express Mail) has a size and weight limit (but only to Australia (??). The other carriers are like buying it a seat on a plane!

We used to sell a lot of controllers into Australia (mostly larger servo types for some reason) but that was before the size restrictions suddenly popped up and the exchange rate was much better. There are pros and cons to everything but you can get a new mini fanless quad core PC with 4 GB ram for about 200 bucks and with an SSD and Ethernet , load it with LINUXCNC and drop in an Ethernet pulse card and hide it in an enclosure and bingo you have a self contained box with lots of options and capabilities.

TOMcaudle
www.CandCNC.com
Home of new CommandCNC(tm) for LINUX

[RCaffin]

Hi Tom

Sigh. You are not telling me anything I don't already know - in fine detail.

Combine what you have said with the complete destruction of any significant Australian manufacturing base, and we have problems. The pollies almost encouraged us to ship all manufacturing off to China, so multinationals could simply mine coal and iron ore here and ship it over there. Australia made almost nothing out of that brief mining boom. Now the mining boom has effectively ended, and we have nothing.

And no, I haven't even got started!

Cheers
Roger

[dharmic]

Now the mining boom has effectively ended, and we have nothing.

Come over to the west coast (I'm assuming you're over east for some reason), then talk about the end of the mining boom.

There are a lot of McMansions, boats, big flash 4WDs, motorbikes and jetskis going cheap over here at the moment as guys are getting kicked off closing sites and getting a reality check on how much a mechanic gets paid in the real world when there's 500 other mechanics with identical quals and experience looking for a job.

Sadly, none of these jerks bought themselves a Haas VMC for the garage when the money was flooding in.

[RCaffin]

Sadly, none of these jerks bought themselves a Haas VMC for the garage when the money was flooding in.

Could be a few really cheap & nasty (and possibly incomplete) Chinese routers floating around though?
What you would want to do with them ... is another matter.

Cheers
Roger

[dharmic]

Yeah, one of them is floating around my place

So more a case of "what you'd want to do with a 2nd one..."

[InMesh]

That is a song I have heard a lot they had access to high wages and bought crap basically well it's over now I guess ,by the time they find work they will have sold off all the goodies .

[dharmic]

If only it was goodies, not just crap. :-/

[Jackback]

Hi Roger

Thanks for the suggestionsI will check out each of those and see what suits me best Prob Mach3 and ESS or Mach 4 and ESS
but will also look at UCCNC to see if it might suit as well I have no Linux exp at all

Cheers
Jackback

[dharmic]

UCCNC will only work with their own breakout units. That said, their breakout units are pretty good and are generally compatible with Mach3 so you get a choice of your software.

[Jackback]

Hi Gerry

No I did not know that well if I had to add 3 stepper drives and break out board etc might as well stick with Mach3 or 4 and a PC
thank for pointing that out to me

Cheers
Jackback