Information on Motiontek stand alone controller

[Mike4703]

Has anyone used the 3/4 axis standalone controller sold by Motiontek? I saw it on ebay for buy now price of $995. It seems that there are many built in functions as well as the ability to store programs from Mach3 on a PC. It looks like the driver board comes with it. There is no detailed specs offered and an email to thier tech support has so far got no reply. I would really like to run my CNC equiped Sherline without a PC with some automation or entire programs as needed, but don't want to buy something like this without more info.

[Mike4703]

I found that the original manufacturer of this product is Motion Control Products in England. They do have a downloadable spec sheet and this additional information:

The MO-CON501 CNC Pendant Controller with built-in DSP (digital signal processor) reads G-code or PLT programs (text file) from a USB memory stick or its internal memory. The controller then converts it into an output signal to the motor drives. It also provides digital outputs to control a spindle motor (up to 16 speeds).



The MO-CON501 also accepts inputs from up to 3 limit switches and can supply power to 3 proximity sensors. It also has an input to allow automatic setting of the Z-axis (after tool changes).



Our NEW MO-CON501 CNC Pendant Controller Kit includes:


* 1x MO-CON501 Pendant Controller
* 1x Connecting Board
* 1x SCSI cable
* 1x USB cable
* 1x 1GB memory stick


Main features


* All of the parameters are easy to set and backup to a PC
* Easy problem solving due to "On screen help function"
* Remember size of table (no need for 2 limit switches on each axis)
* Move manually in any direction at any speed
* Move to a specified position e.g. X + 20.37
* Move in user defined steps e.g. 0.1 at a time
* Remember up to 10 origin points
* Run CNC programs from a memory stick or internal memory
* Resume program from power cut or broken tool
* Check CNC program before running and report errors
* Run from any line in a CNC program to any line
* Run a CNC program in an array e.g. 3 times 100 mm apart
* Set speeds and feeds at start and change on the fly
* Turn spindle on and off automatically when program starts and finishes
* Control speed of spindle e.g. 6000rpm to 24000 in 3000 increments
* Automatically compensate for back lash if ball screw is worn e.g. 0.005 in X
* Machine a user defined area without a program e.g. 25mm by 80mm 2mm deep in 0.5 cuts


All manuals, wiring diagrams, videos, and windows transfer software for the MO-CON501 CNC Pendant Controller Kit are supplied on the Memory Stick.


Online technical support and remote desktop assistance are available. Please contact us for more details.

[Mike4703]

Despite this being a very useful controller, it is expensive and the English maker is not interested in individual users. First I had to answer an export regulations questionare to be sure I wasn't building a nuclear device or other terrorist weapon. (I kid you not ), but when they realized I was not a big corporate user (mentioned mach3?) they stopped communicating with me altogether--or maybe I'm on some no fly list and didn't know it. Anyway I bought one from a Canadian supplier which may arrive by this weekend. I've set up my power supply and driver board for my 4 axis CNC ready Sheriline mill and have used a manual controller that came with it for simple axis movements successfully. I'll post some video here, and on the table top machine forum, when I get everything working, although I hate to advertise for these guys.

[Mike4703]

I hooked up a 24 volt power supply to the Driver board (4 Axis Stepper Motor Driver TB6560 + Remote Controller) and contected the stepper motors. With some easy tuning of the manual remote controller that came with the driver board, I was able to smoothly move all the axis.
Getting the Controller unit to communicate with the Driver board is going to take some study on my part. The breakout board that is connected to the Controller unit has output for drivers labeled "enable", "step", and "direction." This would be straight forward if I was using separate driver boards such as a Gecko, but this is a combination board that has an parallel printer DB-25 connecter input. This would usually be connected to a PC running Mach3 or the like. The question is what pins to connect to the breakout boards outputs? The documentation that comes with the Driver board isn't real clear (to me) and uses different terminology. It has a diagram labeling the pins on the DB-25 connecter as X-enable, X-dir, X step, etc. The obvious connections didn't move anything but just made a humming noise. I'm studying TTL logic and info on parallel ports to figure what else to try. Anyone have any ideas?

[Mike4703]

I have lived with this controller some time now and just in case anyone else out there is contemplating this route, I want to share some things I've found out. The original manufacturer is Chinese not English of course. The best documentation comes from the English site that sells these. The documentation that comes with it from the Canadian seller is just what is supplied by the Chinese manufacturer and leaves something to be desired. I have scoped the step signal that comes out of the interface board and it had an amplitude of only 1 volt. Most driver boards are not going to trigger on this low a signal. Still trying to figure out what to do about this. Anyone got any ideas?

[Al_The_Man]

Maybe some thing like Dynomotion may have been a better choice?
US made and support is A1.
Al.

[Mike4703]

I looked up Dynomotion--no doubt better choice--but more expensive and more than I need really. Same old problem--know what I want to do but it's always more than the budget so you go cheap only to discover there is a difference. Nevertheless--maybe if I put time and effort into this I can sort it out for myself and provide info for others at the same time.

[Mike4703]

This motion controller originates from RichNC Technologies Biejing China and is called the RZNC-0501. Despite there being a C axis output on the board this is 3 axis only. There are several different models of this controller that use the same output board. One of them is the Rotary model which uses the X, Z, and C axis outputs for instance. The price direct from RichNC $350. I paid $900 to buy from Motion Tek in Canada who removes these from Chinese Routers and then sells them separately for big profits. Not doing your research beforehand can be really expensive but in fairness to myself it was difficult to track down information on this. Despite what I said earlier, I have connected this to some Gecko 251X drivers and it works fine. Apparently you can't measure the output until the driver is connected--it checks out now at over 3.5 volts.