Which CNC and motion control software and hardware do you use?


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    Default Which CNC and motion control software and hardware do you use?

    Hello everyone,

    I'm doing a market research about the CNC software industry right now and therefore, I would be interested in which software and hardware combination you use.

    It would also be great if you could elaborate why you choose that particular setup.

    Here are few additional questions from my side:
    1. Do you prefer Windows/PC based software, if so why?
    2. Do you customize the UI/panel for your setup?
    3. Do you use conversational dialogs, if so which dialogs do you use?
    4. Which additional feature would you like have in your current software?
    5. Would you be interested in controlling your machine from a tablet or smartphone?
    6. Would you buy a subscription-based software?
    7. Do you have machine setups that can't be easily configured with your current software (special machines, ...)?


    If you are a manufacturer and you don't want to comment publically in this thread, please shoot me a private message.

    Thank you for your answers in advance.

    --
    Alex

    Similar Threads:


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    Default Re: Which CNC and motion control software and hardware do you use?

    >> Do you prefer Windows/PC based software, if so why?

    Assuming your post here is about what most of us would call "Hobby Level" controls........

    I used to... Back when we had the reliable run with XP and Win7, but Win10 has forced an entire developer world to re-work much of their developments or crawl back into deeper and deeper closed source offerings to pay for the amount of work they have to do.

    Worse, Win10 has forced the little guy to continue to pay, pay and pay to keep in many cases, perfectly good working software, working just because Microsoft dictated the change especially regards Cad/Cam. That said, I still plot along just fine with XP and a well known Windows based controller, but surely the day will come and all that investment in what has worked and continues to work perfectly fine will be banished. I have explored and used LinuxCNC on two small machines and found it to be a perfectly fine development, but anyone who installs it does have to put in their share of legwork to really fine tune things. The small details like something as simple as I/O debounce settings had been non-existant visually by default... you literally had to jump thru hoops and hope like hell a kind person would spell it out for you in a forum somewhere.

    I for the most part run a Linux Laptop these days for Cad/Cam, but unfortunately, the Cad/Cam world regards Linux Cad/Cam is extremely limited, clumsy, and often painful in comparison to Windows anything.

    >> Do you customize the UI/panel for your setup?

    I used to think that all machines had to have a control panel with a zillion buttons, lights and blinky things on it, whether you ever used the function or not. I've long since realized that those who create really, really good GUI interfaces such that 90+% of function can be easily handled by simple key entry or touch screen events, well, for them, its just a waste of time to bother. Too, if software developers consider the user ergonomics of repeatable events like that of probing edges and such, they can certainly create environments where the entire event is a one or two click automated event rather than strings of MDI commands manually entered.

    There exists your gawd awful "traditional" controls, gawd awful looking hobby controls, and some actually very wonderful Windows control Gui's in the low budget markets if you look for them. The most basic of basic open source control market for grbl has some just plain awful gui front ends.... the only bright spot I found was in a front end called "Candle". Perfect ? No. Room for expansion and improvement ? Yes. Active developer ?.... crap.... No !

    >> Do you use conversational dialogs, if so which dialogs do you use?

    Seldom... only for the simplest of simple. Cad/Cam for me. Much of my work has been architectural engraving based... something no "conversational" tool is going to do.

    >> Which additional feature would you like have in your current software?

    Frankly, in my case, I rely on Flashcut. At this point, it has addressed practically anything and everything I would ever need for my personal machinery collection which includes Mill, Lathe, Plasma, Router and Engravers. I have retrofitted Flashcut to numerous machines both large and small over the years and have not really found anything it lacked as they were very active in constant feature development. If they only spent some time with a Linux version, I think that they would finally see why PathPilot has been such a hit.

    I do not get far from any of my machines when they are running, so even sending me a text when finished is meaningless for me.

    >> Would you be interested in controlling your machine from a tablet or smartphone?

    Not every machine by any means, but there are smaller applications where a tablet would be nice. Best I can tell, there are a few who have explored and conquered for themselves exactly this in the grbl world. Details for newbies attempting the same are in similar territory to an initial exploration of LinuxCNC as there will be plenty of legwork, lots to read and question, and lots of failed attempts along the way. Regards Arduino and motion control in General, you migt as well conclude that you DO need to understand programming and have coding skills because there is little in anything other available than communication with grbl, tiny g or one of the plethora of other extremely low budget motion hardware devices that have tumbled across Asian borders.

    But, yes, SOME machines make sense to have a much smaller, compact GUI or front end for operations.

    >> Would you buy a subscription-based software?

    Control specifically ? YUCK. Cad/Cam wise... tried once... seems it always turns out that the program is not worth even one installation payment, then they go broke, or sell out, or collapse completely. Waste of money. Add to that, every "Free for Hobbyist", "rechargable", "free yearly registration" offer has always collapsed over the years as well. I don't need to name names... the old timers here know exactly what I am talking about. Mark my words, the day will come when those who put all their eggs in the Fusion360 basket will be asked to pay up or vacate, and it's hard to say what intellectual data will be lost in the meantime.

    I'm not sure why any business owner with a brain, who also has propriety design information would ever commit to trusting their developments with the continuously hacked "cloud".

    >> Do you have machine setups that can't be easily configured with your current software (special machines, ...)?

    Not really. But mine are quite traditional. Flashcut has swimmingly addressed them all.

    For educational purposes and perhaps small machine applications, I recently did stop to look into and create test environments for grbl, just to see what all the fuss was about. It is interesting, and part of interesting happens to be that is is essentially FREE and perfect for that small machine environment. Good Gui's in my opinion are still severely lacking, but the motion aspect is strikingly well accomplished... limited in many ways... but well accomplished.

    If there is one control that has caught my eye that I would love to play with yet, its EdingCNC. I believe they have a pretty smart looking Gui. Someday if I happen to have any spare $$ (which seems and endless battle with me), I would LOVE to try it and see what it is all about.

    Chris L


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    Default Re: Which CNC and motion control software and hardware do you use?

    I would dearly love for someone to come up with a nice GUI/HMI/interface for Galil Motion controllers, in conjunction with some kind of off the shelf PLC, apart from the only one choice out there.
    This would put professional style control in the hands of DIY.
    I agree that any HMI does not have to be some kind of video game look alike.
    Al.

    CNC, Mechatronics Integration and Custom Machine Design

    “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
    Albert E.


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    Default Re: Which CNC and motion control software and hardware do you use?

    Check out what these guys are doing at Madmodders!
    DDCSV1.1 4 Axis controller

    - - - Updated - - -

    Check out what these guys are doing at Madmodders!
    http://madmodder.net/index.php/topic,11598.0.html

    - - - Updated - - -

    Check out what these guys are doing at Madmodders!
    http://madmodder.net/index.php/topic,11598.0.html

    - - - Updated - - -

    Check out what these guys are doing at Madmodders!
    http://madmodder.net/index.php/topic,11598.0.html



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    Default Re: Which CNC and motion control software and hardware do you use?

    Quote Originally Posted by Al_The_Man View Post
    I would dearly love for someone to come up with a nice GUI/HMI/interface for Galil Motion controllers, in conjunction with some kind of off the shelf PLC, apart from the only one choice out there.
    This would put professional style control in the hands of DIY.
    I agree that any HMI does not have to be some kind of video game look alike.
    Al.

    Already done it Al I could make the screens all gray If you don't like the colors. And you don't need the PLC, the Galil is a PLC

    Jim Dawson
    Sandy, Oregon, USA


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    Default Re: Which CNC and motion control software and hardware do you use?

    We produce CNC controls and software.

    Controllers are 6 and 8 axes, open and closed loop, all have built-in PLC.
    The software can work under PC (Linux and Windows) and Raspberry-like single board computers (Odroid, Tinkerboard).
    UI can be customized. The software is free.
    There are lots of config dialogues in the software like THC setup, RTCP setup, tangential knife, Modbus, closed loop configs, macro wizard etc.
    Special features? Yes, for example, Shape Library, DXF import, Cutcharts.
    Special machine control? Yes, we do this as well.

    Which CNC and motion control software and hardware do you use?-15pc-et7r2c-wp2-7k-001-jpg Which CNC and motion control software and hardware do you use?-0pc-et6r1-001-jpgWhich CNC and motion control software and hardware do you use?-0pc-et10r2-001-jpg

    myCNC - advanced CNC control, software - Ethernet CNC control electronic kits with 15.6" touch screens.
    myCNC - advanced CNC control, software - ET6


    Just curious, why you do this research?



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    Default Re: Which CNC and motion control software and hardware do you use?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Dawson View Post
    Already done it Al I could make the screens all gray If you don't like the colors. And you don't need the PLC, the Galil is a PLC
    Traditionally they did not have a PLC like Acroloop did, running concurrently to the CNC, which if IIRC they had 4 running simultaneously, I know Galil have a separate PLC unit now.
    Strangely it appeared on the scene after I posted a criticism on their forum regarding the lack of .
    Al.

    CNC, Mechatronics Integration and Custom Machine Design

    “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
    Albert E.


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    Default Re: Which CNC and motion control software and hardware do you use?

    Quote Originally Posted by machinekoder View Post
    Hello everyone,


    I'm doing a market research about the CNC software industry right now and therefore, I would be interested in which software and hardware combination you use.


    It would also be great if you could elaborate why you choose that particular setup.
    I started out with Mach3 and found it to be lacking in being able to run industrial machines at maximum performance. This is in addition to being difficult to it run as full closed loop system. So I wrote my own CNC software, using Galil motion controllers to do the heavy lifting.


    Here are few additional questions from my side:
    1. Do you prefer Windows/PC based software, if so why?
    I would love to get away from Windows, especially after the release of Win10. But unfortunately the best development software and drivers run on the Windows .net platform. I was very sorry to see the old WinCE platform go away, I guess Microsoft decided there was no money in the industrial market and real time operating systems.


    2. Do you customize the UI/panel for your setup?
    Yes. It just depends on the machine type that the software is running.


    3. Do you use conversational dialogs, if so which dialogs do you use?
    No. I find them useless. It's too easy just to manually enter code, jog the machine using the keyboard or MPG, manually enter position data, or create a quick drawing right at the machine. In my case, I have AutoCAD, Fusion 360, CamBam, and MasterCam on the machine computer. And can actually work on a drawing while the machine is running a job with no loss in performance or any danger of the tool path getting lost.


    4. Which additional feature would you like have in your current software?
    Good question. Right now, none. But if the need arises the features will be added. I am thinking about adding optical CMM and 3D scanning capability.


    5. Would you be interested in controlling your machine from a tablet or smartphone?
    Not at all.


    6. Would you buy a subscription-based software?
    No.


    7. Do you have machine setups that can't be easily configured with your current software (special machines, ...)?
    No, my software will run any machine that can be operated with G code. And it can be easily programmed to operate any machine for any application that requires motion control.

    Jim Dawson
    Sandy, Oregon, USA


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    Default Re: Which CNC and motion control software and hardware do you use?

    Quote Originally Posted by machinekoder View Post
    Hello everyone,

    I'm doing a market research about the CNC software industry right now and therefore, I would be interested in which software and hardware combination you use.

    It would also be great if you could elaborate why you choose that particular setup.

    Here are few additional questions from my side:
    1. Do you prefer Windows/PC based software, if so why?
    2. Do you customize the UI/panel for your setup?
    3. Do you use conversational dialogs, if so which dialogs do you use?
    4. Which additional feature would you like have in your current software?
    5. Would you be interested in controlling your machine from a tablet or smartphone?
    6. Would you buy a subscription-based software?
    7. Do you have machine setups that can't be easily configured with your current software (special machines, ...)?


    If you are a manufacturer and you don't want to comment publically in this thread, please shoot me a private message.

    Thank you for your answers in advance.

    --
    Alex
    My setup on my RF45 clone Milling Machine is LinuxCNC with a Mesa Electronics 5i56 FPGA and 7i76 Daughter Card.

    Do you prefer Windows/PC based software, if so why?
    I use LinuxCNC, the reason is, Windows is crap and introduces way more overhead than a typical CNC setup needs.

    Do you customize the UI/panel for your setup?
    Yes

    Do you use conversational dialogs, if so which dialogs do you use?
    No

    Which additional feature would you like have in your current software?
    None required. LinuxCNC is a very well Designed system that has plenty of features. I suppose if I wanted to be greedy than having the ability to
    take an STL and auto CAM the design would be great, but I think that is only viable on 3D Printing machines


    Would you be interested in controlling your machine from a tablet or smartphone?
    No, I don't think it's a safe method of operation.

    Would you buy a subscription-based software?
    Not interested, I would rather buy it up front or Donate to a FOSS

    Do you have machine setups that can't be easily configured with your current software (special machines, ...)?
    No



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    Default Re: Which CNC and motion control software and hardware do you use?

    @datac: Thank you very much for your valuable feedback. Yes, "Hobby Level CNC" is what I'm looking at.

    @AI: Thanks, I'll check out the Galil Motion controllers. The pricing seems to be more in the high-end range.

    @my-cnc: Very interesting hard and software. I do this research because want to understand the market and if there is interest in a new software-focused product.

    @Jim Dawson: Thank you for your feedback. Regarding Microsoft: Microsoft is one of the biggest players in cloud computing these days (Azure). Industrial Software is and probably was never their cash cow, they have pretty good reasons to stop WinCE. I personally don't think .NET is any kind superior to for example C++/Qt for embedded and desktop software or Angular/React for web frontends. .NET is just a lot more popular since most people use Windows and it's probably the best choice for developing Windows-only software.

    @draconzy: Thank you for your feedback.

    I have an additional question here at this point:
    From what I have heard so far, most of you use the PC connected to the CNC machine also to edit GCode and also do some basic CAD design. Let's you would be looking for a CNC motion controller in the performance range of Mach3/4 and LinuxCNC (I know, LinuxCNC has a far better trajectory planner and features, but you need to do all the legwork), so not for a high-end PLC like the Galil stuff. Would you prefer:

    a) A low-priced controller (<150$) that runs the motion control software, but no or just basic GUI, with the option to attach a normal Windows/Linux/Mac PC or Android tablet.
    b) A medium-priced controller (150-350$) that runs the motion control software, the GUI and basic CAD standalone.
    c) A higher-priced controller (350 - 1000$) that runs the motion control software, the GUI, basic CAD and high-end 3D modeling software.

    Thanks in advance,
    Alex



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    Default Re: Which CNC and motion control software and hardware do you use?

    Moreover, would you prefer a transparent software pricing, meaning the software price is not included in the hardware/electronics costs or software price separate from the electronics?

    From a vendors perspective, I would prefer the software pricing to be separate from the control electronics. Why? Because it allows future software upgrades and continuous improvement of the software. There is no such thing as gratis software and my opinion there is enough bad one-shot CNC software out there because the vendors see it as a second-class product. Why should you write good software if you make all your money from selling electronics (or your machine/mechanics)? On the other hand, I'm a big supporter of open source software, so I would combine this with an open source business model. The latest release is closed source and older releases are open source or just the UI is closed source. Anyway - I'm derailing here.



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    Default Re: Which CNC and motion control software and hardware do you use?

    Since the software and hardware works together, upgrading software often requires firmware upgrades for the hardware. How do you keep these two separate, and still have them work together with no issues?

    Gerry

    UCCNC 2017 Screenset
    [URL]http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2017.html[/URL]

    Mach3 2010 Screenset
    [URL]http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html[/URL]

    JointCAM - CNC Dovetails & Box Joints
    [URL]http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html[/URL]

    (Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)


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    Default Re: Which CNC and motion control software and hardware do you use?

    Quote Originally Posted by ger21 View Post
    Since the software and hardware works together, upgrading software often requires firmware upgrades for the hardware. How do you keep these two separate, and still have them work together with no issues?
    Let me explain what the soft in software means. Soft means, in comparison to hard or firm, that this part of the product can (and should) change. Or in other words, that it is relatively inexpensive to change this part of a system after a product launch.

    Traditionally, embedded software companies thought of their software systems as static part of the product. In fact, software was only a small factor in the success of the of final product compared to electronics in mechanics.

    However, if you take a look at how the industry evolves, you will quickly see that software is already the most important part of many products in different industries. Let's take a look at the automotive industry for example. 20 to 30 years ago the main technological difference between different car models was mechanics. Approximately 20 years ago, electronics (ECUs) came into play an replaced many previously mechanical parts of the vehicle, both to make it less expensive to product and also to add new features. What is the latest trend in the automotive industry? Adding new features to the car just by a software upgrade. Install a software upgrade - unlock sports mode. Or even more advanced: Tesla already ships their new cars with hardware capable of level 4 autonomous driving (or at least they claim that), it's just a matter of upgrading the software to unlock it.

    This same pattern can be seen in other industries as well. Think of smart vs non-smart phone for example. You add new functionality to the device just installing new apps.

    So to summarize the answer to your question: Yes, the firmware is indeed firm and will rarely change. However, there is a lot value that is added by the operator GUI and maybe the underlying OS. This part of the product can be updated easily, if the system is correctly designed.

    Of course, once in while there might be hardware changes necessary to support new features. For consumer electronics devices this is every 2-3 years, for industrial equipment I would say 5-10 years upgrade support and 20 years bug fix support. For hobby/entry level CNC equipment I think a 5-10 years product life-cycle would be pretty good.



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    Default Re: Which CNC and motion control software and hardware do you use?

    At the hobby end of the market, most of the better controls are under constant development, and adding new features to the software will often require firmware updates so the hardware can accommodate these features.

    Gerry

    UCCNC 2017 Screenset
    [URL]http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2017.html[/URL]

    Mach3 2010 Screenset
    [URL]http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html[/URL]

    JointCAM - CNC Dovetails & Box Joints
    [URL]http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html[/URL]

    (Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)


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    Default Re: Which CNC and motion control software and hardware do you use?

    Quote Originally Posted by machinekoder View Post
    Moreover, would you prefer a transparent software pricing, meaning the software price is not included in the hardware/electronics costs or software price separate from the electronics?

    From a vendors perspective, I would prefer the software pricing to be separate from the control electronics. Why? Because it allows future software upgrades and continuous improvement of the software. There is no such thing as gratis software and my opinion there is enough bad one-shot CNC software out there because the vendors see it as a second-class product. Why should you write good software if you make all your money from selling electronics (or your machine/mechanics)? On the other hand, I'm a big supporter of open source software, so I would combine this with an open source business model. The latest release is closed source and older releases are open source or just the UI is closed source. Anyway - I'm derailing here.
    Our CNC control software works with our CNC motion control boards ONLY.
    There is no way to get working control board without CNC control software. The software can't control machine without control board.
    This is a set. The set has a price. We make a money from this set and this is a good reason to work hard to improve both the hardware and the software.

    It's possible to separate price to board price and software price, but it would be difficult to sell the software if it's available to download online.
    We just choose a simple way to offer the software for free.



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    Default Re: Which CNC and motion control software and hardware do you use?

    I as a customer,cnc hobbiest will not buy any software hardware that is tied together or will only work with that only piece of software,I feel im tied to that software or hardware.I will not buy any hardware that you must buy a lic.for that hardware before it will work.I as a cnc hobbiest feels like im tied to that companys coat tail for as long as I have it on my machine...There may be some good hardware out there that has those features,but me when I look for replacement hardware, ie,breakout boards,motorcontrollers,interface cards.ect.I look to see if you have to have a dongle to work I move on to something else.
    I see a lot of usb hardware going to this type of features so I stay away from the usb...I must be Old school....



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