Servo and steppers on the same machine?

[HereinCS]

I'm planning to use servos on my x-y-z axis. However, the b/c drive from doughty has steppers in them. Can I use steppers and servos together on the same machine?

[GaryCorlew]

Sure can, That is how I did my lathe

[HereinCS]

Did you have one break out board for the servo and one for the stepper - each on a parallel port?

I don't have access to 2 parallel ports, so I'm thinking of using a smooth stepper on the servo break out board. Will that work?

[stevespo]

You shouldn't need two parallel ports, unless you need more inputs/outputs than a single can support. The servo drives take a step/direction signal, just like the steppers. The servo drive is a typically closed loop without feedback going back to the software controller.

One reason to consider a smooth stepper would be if you can't get an adequate pulse rate from Mach, due to a very high encoder count on the servo. Otherwise, there's no problem running steppers and servos from a single parallel port, single BOB, etc.

I've done this with no problems.

Steve

[ger21]

You can't use both the parallel port and the SmoothStepper. One or the other.

[HereinCS]

I'm sorry for these really basic questions. Are you saying that a BOB is not specific to servo or steppers? I'll need 6 axis control and I'm not sure how to set it up. The dmm-tech package has 4 motors and a bob that controls those 4 motors. Say I get the doughty drive, which has stepper motors built in, which board do I use and how do I make it so that I won't need a second parallel port?

[HereinCS]

This is the only bob that has 6 axis control that I know of, will it work with the dmmtech system?

[jsheerin]

C1 looks like it has 12 outputs. I'm sure others are similar.

The dmmtech link you provide has a breakout board it appears, so if you're looking to add another 2 axes of control for the steppers, I'd add another LPT port to you computer, get a C1 to connect to it along with the drives for the steppers and call it a day.