I'm getting really discouraged with this CNC project !!

[Danno]

There's tons of information on this website, but literally too much !!
Where can one go to get basic information when first starting out ??
I have tried to phone Arturo at CNC4PC for 10 days now to pick his brain, and also to find out what he recommends, but no one seems to want to pick up the phone!!
I'm close to finishing the mechanicals of the machine, and now need the electronics, but I'm as confused now as I was a month ago !!
Here's some of my stumbling blocks;

-What's the difference between Mach2 and Mach3 ?? I thought Mach2 was for turning (2axis) and Mach3 was milling (3axis)

-Where does one learn to use Mach ? I know there's Mach forum here, but this is not the place to learn. Is there a 200 page manual available?

-To use the CNC4PC breakout board, do I need 1 or 2 parallel ports on my PC?

-Is it better to use parallel ports, or to get a smooth stepper and use USB ?

-Has anyone ever written a wiring schematic showing how everything gets hooked up together? (ie. PC, breakout board, drivers, e-stop, MPG )

-I downloaded the owner's manual from CNC4PC's website on their breakout boards, but quite frankly, they suck !! I'm no 20 year old techno geek, but I do know how to wire stuff together. :-)

-Sorry for all the questions, but it would sure be nice to speak to someone in person who has done this, instead of the brief e-mails that I've been doing up to now.

Thanks, Dan
www.geocities.com/dantechfab

[sawmiller]

Originally Posted by Danno There's tons of information on this website, but literally too much !! Where can one go to get basic information when first starting out ? Here's some of my stumbling blocks; -What's the difference between Mach2 and Mach3 ?? I thought Mach2 was for turning (2axis) and Mach3 was milling (3axis) mach2 is the previous program to mach3 -Where does one learn to use Mach ? I know there's Mach forum here, but this is not the place to learn. Is there a 200 page manual available? http://www.artsoftcontrols.com/ -To use the CNC4PC breakout board, do I need 1 or 2 parallel ports on my PC? not familiar with the cnc4pc but most only require 1 parallel port you use a second parallel port if you need extra input... not normal -Is it better to use parallel ports, or to get a smooth stepper and use USB ? -Has anyone ever written a wiring schematic showing how everything gets hooked up together? (ie. PC, breakout board, drivers, e-stop, MPG ) different manufactors have different setups -I downloaded the owner's manual from CNC4PC's website on their breakout boards, but quite frankly, they suck !! I'm no 20 year old techno geek, but I do know how to wire stuff together. :-) -Sorry for all the questions, but it would sure be nice to speak to someone in person who has done this, instead of the brief e-mails that I've been doing up to now. the thing is , start slow, and study. if you are looking for a easy solution for the electronics section , and you can afford it, consider the gecko g540... it's bob and drivers in one. people here will help, but if you run in too fast, it's easy to get in over your head. Thanks, Dan www.geocities.com/dantechfab

there are many paths to the cnc, you have to decide which one is right for you.
dan

[Kipper]

Originally Posted by Danno I'm no 20 year old techno geek, but I do know how to wire stuff together. :-) Thanks, Dan

Me neither and me too, Thats why I'm not asking for help either. I hope you get some.

[LaserImage]

Originally Posted by Danno There's tons of information on this website, but literally too much !! Where can one go to get basic information when first starting out ?? I have tried to phone Arturo at CNC4PC for 10 days now to pick his brain, and also to find out what he recommends, but no one seems to want to pick up the phone!! I'm close to finishing the mechanicals of the machine, and now need the electronics, but I'm as confused now as I was a month ago !! Here's some of my stumbling blocks; -What's the difference between Mach2 and Mach3 ?? I thought Mach2 was for turning (2axis) and Mach3 was milling (3axis) Mach2 is the previouse version of the software, Mach3 is current. -Where does one learn to use Mach ? I know there's Mach forum here, but this is not the place to learn. Is there a 200 page manual available? You can download the manual, I did and ended up not reading much of it. It is very indepth and way beyond what I needed for my router -To use the CNC4PC breakout board, do I need 1 or 2 parallel ports on my PC? one port -Is it better to use parallel ports, or to get a smooth stepper and use USB ? define better... If you go USB now, you won't have to worry about your future computer having a parallel port. I would probably stick with parallel though. -Has anyone ever written a wiring schematic showing how everything gets hooked up together? (ie. PC, breakout board, drivers, e-stop, MPG ) There are too many options to do this. I can tell you how I wired MY system but unless you have the same drives, power supply and motors it won't do you much good. -I downloaded the owner's manual from CNC4PC's website on their breakout boards, but quite frankly, they suck !! I'm no 20 year old techno geek, but I do know how to wire stuff together. :-) "they suck" is a pretty nice way to put it. I fought with my C19 manual for weeks and emailed back and forth with Arturo - ended up sending it back... I learned enough about it that I could probably write a manual myself. No offense to Arturo, but he can't relay information to a novice like myself, either written or verbally. -Sorry for all the questions, but it would sure be nice to speak to someone in person who has done this, instead of the brief e-mails that I've been doing up to now. Thanks, Dan www.geocities.com/dantechfab

I'd be happy to talk on the phone, it would be much easier than writing. PM me and I'll PM back with my number.

Gary

[ViperTX]

CNC4PC only needs one parallel port, and no USB to Parallel will not work.

I'm wiring one up to some Keling KL-6050 stepper drivers and can concur with you about the documentation.

When wiring the CNC4PC to the KL-6050.

The Output Side of the CNC4PC C11G is used for the negative side of the Step and Dir Signals of each Stepper Driver:
Pin 2 = X-Step
Pin 3 = X-Dir
Pin 4 = Y-Step
Pin 5 = Y-Dir
Pin 6 = Z-Step
Pin 7 = Z-Dir

Jumper all the Step + and Dir + of all the Stepper Drivers together and then to +5 pin which is next to the EN pin, they are both on the same side of the board as the Output.

The EN gets wired to the Input Pin 10 which also wired to the Emergency Shut-Off Switch (Normally Open Contacts), the other side of the Emergency Shut-Off Switch goes to the 5V pin next to the Input Pin 10.

That's about as far as I've gone. I should have the rest wired and tested by this weekend.

Any input?

[scrambled]

Danno-

I feel your pain! For every person that says do it this way, there are two who say no do it this way.

I am almost finished with the mechanical part also, and I am worried that I am going to buy a bunch of pieces and parts that won't work together. I won't have any problems wiring the parts together, it is the choosing of the parts I am having problems with.

And I can't afford to buy one of the assembled prewired units

Let me know what you found



Steve

[MrWild]

Or you could just take the nearly painless method and go with a Gecko G540. Plug in a parrllel cabe to your computer, plug the other end into the G540 and don't worry about a BOB to drives wirin at all. Almost plug and play in simplicity. Keling has stepper motors, power supply, and a G540 as a kit even. The best thing about a "How do I wire this up?" part is their three page manual and EASY to understand wiring schematic.

[tjs88yj]

I think that Dan has forgotten some information. I believe that he is attempting to retrofit a CNC knee mill and use the servo motors that orginally came on the mill. These motors have some unique characteristics that would probably prevent using the G540 that was mentioned. Most likely he would have to use something such as the Larken Viper 200 for these motors.

The motors are 80V 45amp DC servo motors with 1000 count encoders.

I noticed that nobody has addressed the smoothstepper question, I for one, and Dan too I think, would like to know what is the advantage to the smoothstepper over the parallel port that would make it worth $165, as you can easily add a parallel port to a desktop computer for $20.

Sorry Dan if I hijacked your thread or gave out some info in error.

Tom Jager

[lovebugjunkie]

I have a smoothstepper and used it for about a month on my Romaxx HS1. As far as making a difference in the operation of my machine I saw none. Some people say it “smooths” out their movements, but again on my machine I could not tell the deference between using the parallel ports or the smoothstepper. IMO this is due to Ron at Romaxx used all the “right” parts to begin with so no need to “try” to improve it.

One thing I did notice when I had the smoothstepper connected....... I could not increase the feed speed with the controls in Mach3. If I remember correctly this is something that the people at smoothstepper are aware of and will/are working on.

I liked the idea of a usb interface to my machine so that was my may reason for getting one, any other benefit would have been icing on the cake.

I had to replace my pc I use on the router and for some reason I was never able to get the new pc to communicate with the smoothstepper as it should so I connected the parallel cables back up.

It it worth the $$, hard to tell but in my case.....no.

[Danno]

Thanks for the replies!!
I posted my original question a few hours ago when I was a bit stressed out , and I thought a lot of readers would have blasted me for it. Thanks for understanding !! :-)

I have since been looking at the cambell designs breakout board, and the instructions seem a lot better than Arturo's.

Like Tom said, I'm retrofitting an older knee CNC, but I have to correct him on the specs. The servo motors are 45v, and I will be using the Larken Viper 200 servo drivers to power them.

I would like anyone to give input if they have used the Cambell products for their projects. I was hoping to use a hand held MPG, but not sure yet how to adapt it.

Thanks again, Dan

[LaserImage]

Originally Posted by MrWild Or you could just take the nearly painless method and go with a Gecko G540. Plug in a parrllel cabe to your computer, plug the other end into the G540 and don't worry about a BOB to drives wirin at all. Almost plug and play in simplicity. Keling has stepper motors, power supply, and a G540 as a kit even. The best thing about a "How do I wire this up?" part is their three page manual and EASY to understand wiring schematic.

After months of fighting with a Mechatronics 3 axis board and Arturo's C19, I ditched both of them and ordered a G540 yesterday. The Mechatronics board is a piece of crap and the C19 is so poorly documented that it is virtually worthless.

Gary

[TOTALLYRC]

Originally Posted by Danno Thanks for the replies!! I posted my original question a few hours ago when I was a bit stressed out , and I thought a lot of readers would have blasted me for it. Thanks for understanding !! :-) I have since been looking at the cambell designs breakout board, and the instructions seem a lot better than Arturo's. Like Tom said, I'm retrofitting an older knee CNC, but I have to correct him on the specs. The servo motors are 45v, and I will be using the Larken Viper 200 servo drivers to power them. I would like anyone to give input if they have used the Cambell products for their projects. I was hoping to use a hand held MPG, but not sure yet how to adapt it. Thanks again, Dan

I have no experience with the campbell bob.

I do recomend the stuff from www.candcnc.com.
Tom has a nice line of stuff and is a regular contributor to the zone.
He has several nice pendants/mpg's and the documentation is good.
I have not used his newest version of the BOB but if it woks like the two I have, you are golden.

Mike