g-rex, what is the primary use?

[JerryFlyGuy]

Do we know realistically how far away we are from Mach 4 being ready for general user consumption? Is the G-Rex going to simplify things for those of us whom are electronics iliterate? I'm currently at a stage where I have to decide what route I'll take. I'm very interested in the G-Rex and its capabilities however if I have to waite a year to get it all up and running then.. its probably not for me. Also if it is more complicated to set up vs a Cambell board then.. I'll be worse off as a simple B/o board is about the limit of what I understand.. and some days I'm not sure I understand even this much!! Would the largest influence from the G-Rex come from running servo's [ vs steppers]?

JerryFlyGuy

[ger21]

I'd guess 3 to 6 months. Since you can attach a lot more things to it, I wouldn't say it's simpler. It's very similar to a breakout board, if a breakout board had 3x the capacity.

From what I've heard, it will run steppers a bit faster, because the pulses are much smoother. The benefit with servos is you can use high res encoders and not be limited by the pulse rate. For a lot of people, the biggest benefit will be all the additional inputs and outputs.

[mikie]

Excellent news guys,

I am looking at Machine 2 and the timing is about right. 6 months
I have just purchased 3 servo motors and if the G-100 can drive servos? I believe this is the way forward.

Does anyone know if the Mach2-3 licence is also good for Mach4. I would assume that there has to be a Lic limitation for when second hand G-Rex boards are available in several years.

/Mikie

[ger21]

The G100 just outputs step and direction. You still need servo or stepper drives. And I'm pretty sure Mach4 is a free upgrade from Mach2 or 3. There will probably be an additional charge for the firmware that runs the G100, but I think complete ready to run G100's for Mach4 use will be sold, from either Art or Newfangledsolutions.com

[ger21]

Just read a note from Art on the Yahoo group. Mach4 will be a free upgrade during beta testing, or the same price as Mach3. Although possibly subject to change, when fully released, it'll be a $50 upgrade. For those not upgrading it will probably be in the $225-$250 range. plus the hardware of course.

[DSL PWR]

Will ther be a THC option on the G-rex? Or are we limited to the soupy board?

[ger21]

Originally Posted by DSL PWR Will ther be a THC option on the G-rex? Or are we limited to the soupy board?

The G-rex only does inputs and outputs, so I think you'd still need specific hardware for it.

[veteq]

Hello people,

Is there somebody that knows a bit on how to setup a g-rex, i tried to read the manual but its to complicated for me.

so, from pc to g-rex with ethernet
then the g-rex simply multiplies the pulse rate a lot
is setting up the g-rex done by a pc program ????????

is there somebody that cann explain a bit about the theory off setting up the g-rex ( in simplified words, for the people that don`t have englisch for first lanquage ).

looking forward to a nice thread about setting the thing up

keep up the good works,

Roy

[sendkeys]

goto http://www.machsupport.com/videos.htm check out the video.

Grex is only gives you a fast outrate. so you have to program by hand or use mach4 when it is out.

[ynneb]

See here for details
http://machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=208