recomended machine control board?

[Josh Leber]

Hi everyone. been a while since last post on an engraver I built.

I have a Thermwood C50 router I'm in the middle of retrofitting with a new control system. I already have a pc to run it and plan on using the original DC servos and drives (old but solid BALDOR gear) these drives did not resolve the encoder signals but left it to the controller to handle.

I need a control board that will handle an X with 2 motors, encoders and drives, a Y with 1 motor encoder and drive and 2 Zs (this machine has 2 spindles with independent vertical control. I'm sure there's some way to slave the 2 X drives together but still have 2 Zs. The controller needs to have encoder inputs and support analog output to the drives (not step and direction like stepper drives would use). I've looked at the camsoft stuff but cant find any pricing (need to call). I think I used camsoft on my engraver.

Planning on using Mach for the software as I am very familiar with it and like the way it works.

I need to pull this off on the cheap but want something that has a good rep.

What do you all think? (motion control board)

[Drassk]

CAMSoft is just their software on a Galil board. You can run the Galil boards with mach, though it's not ideal.

Dynomotion makes a really nice card/software combo.

[Josh Leber]

I was just checking out the galil stuff. A bit pricy but doable. Why do you say "not ideal"

also looking at Dynomotion now.

any others?

[Drassk]

The Mach plugin doesn't (and can't) really use the full feature set of the Galil boards, or the full speed.

Either way, the Dynomotion cards come with software and they're definitely fast enough at a much better price than the Galil cards. If I needed absolute top speed then I'd go with the Galil stuff, but I'd program my own software (and would have to)

[Josh Leber]

Wow, Dynomotion looks pretty good for a better price. Many using these? What do you think about the bundled software? better with Mach?

I believe the Kmotion supports the required analog output reqd by my drives but the newer less expensive Kflop does not?

[Drassk]

Originally Posted by Josh Leber Wow, Dynomotion looks pretty good for a better price. Many using these? What do you think about the bundled software? better with Mach? I believe the Kmotion supports the required analog output reqd by my drives but the newer less expensive Kflop does not?

That's what the KAnalog is for.

[Josh Leber]

Just ordered a KFLOP and KANALOG.

we'll see how well these are setup and supported.