bridgeport boss steppers and mach 3

[loose1]

Does anyone have a good stepping off point for the drive settings on stock steppers running mach3 on a BP boss 5?
Thanks Matt

[jthornton]

You might have better luck with a mack question over in their forum but I would never use a Windoz based controller for a CNC machine even if it was free... way too much going on inside of Windoz to have a reliable real time system.

Just my 2 cents.

John

[HawkJET]

Originally Posted by loose1 Does anyone have a good stepping off point for the drive settings on stock steppers running mach3 on a BP boss 5?t

Matt, what drivers are you using and what voltage?

I have a Boss 3 with stock steppers. I have Compumotor drivers and am running them at 6 amps.
Or is your question about speed and acceleration in Mach?

If so, I'm at 110 ipm and 4 in/sec/sec.

Originally Posted by jthornton I would never use a Windoz based controller for a CNC machine

This is a conclusion based PURELY on superstition. There are tens of thousands of machines doing this quite well (if not more). Yes, windose has its quirks, but many can be eliminated (as Art has with Mach 3) and the rest can be minimized. The result is that Mach 3 is a very nice CNC controller... correction... Mach 3 is an amazing CNC controller (especially when considering its bang for the buck)!

[jthornton]

Originally Posted by HawkJET This is a conclusion based PURELY on superstition. There are tens of thousands of machines doing this quite well (if not more). Yes, windose has its quirks, but many can be eliminated (as Art has with Mach 3) and the rest can be minimized. The result is that Mach 3 is a very nice CNC controller... correction... Mach 3 is an amazing CNC controller (especially when considering its bang for the buck)!

No, it is not based on superstition, I have tried Mack and found that it could not perform up to what I needed to run my plasma table. For me the best "bang for the buck" is free open source software that runs in a linux real time environment. Software that runs properly on mills, lathes, gantry machines, plasma cutters, hexapods... well anything with up to 9 coordinated joints of motion. And yes Art has done wonders porting it to windoz with some amazing tricks.

John

[HawkJET]

Originally Posted by jthornton it could not perform up to what I needed to run my plasma table.

This has absolutely NOTHING to do with the operating system and EVERYTHING to do with what the software was intended for.

Mach 3 and EMC2 are designed to accomplish two different objectives. They are fundamentally different at their very core. It is NOT due to the OS.

I have found numerous examples where EMC2 cannot fulfill my needs.

EMC2 is also an amazing program with great bang for the buck. I will probably use it at some point in the future. At present, it doesn't fulfill my needs and Mach 3 does. Neither program is a panacea and to automatically put down one or the other because of the OS is closed minded. Linux is not without its own issues either.

[loose1]

I'm running gecko's for drives. I got it running intell my pc that I just bought took a crap.
Matt