Help me get my CNC conversion running again.

[MAG45]

I have a ShopMaster ElDorado converted to CNC several years ago running on LinuxCNC, or EMC at the time. A friend put most of it together and Im kind of lost as to what is involved. The BOB i believe has failed, I think he built it himself from a kit, but I would like to get a better more reliable setup going. I have Gecko drivers, running 3 steppers driving the (unfortunately) acme screws. (will be trying to find ballscrew conversion info later) From the PC it is running to the cnc control box from a RS232 cable. I guess what I need is info on the parts I need to connect from the PC to the Geckos, a better BOB? is there a different way? suggestions? Also ideas for limit switches, the microswitches I was using seem to throw false Estops at the worst points of a program.

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[MAG45]

I contacted Mesa.net, when they finally got back to me they recommended the 5I25/7I76 combination. Anybody have experience with these ?

[Toinvd]

You can go many ways to do this.
Most probably your current setup is using the parrallel port. The BOB is to connect the PC to the stepper drivers, the end stops and possible to Estop, spindle start/stop and spindle RPM.
Have a look at USB boards like smooth stepper, USB-CNC and CNC-USB, or even a CNC controller working over ethernet.
USB is more sensitive to disturbance than Ethernet. But most USB solutions are cheaper. I use the USB CNC MK2 from Planet Planet CNC and so far it works nice. I have a mill with aditional a rotary table which I connect to the 4th axis. So far I don''t use the other 5 axis, but perhaps in future.
I connected the stepper drivers directly to this board, and also the endstops can be connected directly.
My advise, have a look at the different systems before you do a quick buy.
Rgd, Toin.

[MAG45]

Thanks, I emailed this guy and he said it doesnt work with LinuxCNC, is this even possible ? Upgraded 5 Axis CNC Breakout Board for Stepper Motor Driver Mach3 USB Cable | eBay

[PCW_MESA]

Thanks, I emailed this guy and he said it doesnt work with LinuxCNC, is this even possible ? Upgraded 5 Axis CNC Breakout Board for Stepper Motor Driver Mach3 USB Cable | eBay

That breakout will work with Linuxcnc (its just a parallel breakout board with a USB cable supplying 5V power)

[MAG45]

Oh, okay, I have a 5v feed already in my control box and no extra USB ports, guess ill look for a different one.

[MAG45]

How about this, any good ? CNC 6 Axis DB25 Breakout Board Interface Adapter Mach3 KCAM4 EMC2 DB25 Cable | eBay

And what is the "optical coupler?"

[samco]

The mesa 7i76 is the breakout board.. I use mesa hardware and highly highly recommend them. They are inexpensive industrial grade interfaces. The 5i25 by itself is in effect 2 printer ports on steroids. ( you could use it with 3rd party bobs but the 7i76 gives you a lot more.). 48 I/0, 5axis step/dir, analog spinde control and expandable
7I76E STEP/IO Step & dir plus I/O daughtercard

[MAG45]

The mesa 7i76 is the breakout board.. I use mesa hardware and highly highly recommend them. They are inexpensive industrial grade interfaces. The 5i25 by itself is in effect 2 printer ports on steroids. ( you could use it with 3rd party bobs but the 7i76 gives you a lot more.). 48 I/0, 5axis step/dir, analog spinde control and expandable
7I76E STEP/IO Step & dir plus I/O daughtercard

Mesa seems unwilling to give me any advice or info, I had to dig up the price on their terribad website myself since it was apparently too difficult to tell me in the Email they finally sent me which didnt answer any questions just said "we usually recommend 7i76/5i25 combo" If they cant tell me why they recommend it or why its any better then the BOB i asked about previously I cant justify giving them $170 more then the others cost. I have heard they sell a great product, but if Im going to pay that much I would like to know what im paying for. Also I would think they could at least have a useable website that wasnt designed in 1995.........sorry for the rant, but I am very disappointed with their lack of customer care.

At least you gave me a link with a price and info, i never found that on their site. I found a picture and name on one page, then had to search a price list on another page, then had to try and find the manual to get an idea of what it was. Really turned me off.

[MAG45]

Any other suggestions ?