Any Experience with Ah - ha Contollers?

[Master_TSD]

I am looking for any advice that you all may have with the Ah - ha PC based controller. Good, Bad, indifferent? Is it supported? Manuals easy to find?
Etc.

Thank you,
Ed

[John S.]

I run two of them and have been doing so for a while, probably about 7 or 8 years.
I only run the controller then take the output from the Ahha board via a breakout board to Gecko 210 drivers.
We don't run the Ahha driver box as it's not passed for electrical safety here in the UK.

Never had a Ahha based problem, had many problems, machine based, computer based and plenty of operator based ones [ me ] but never a Ahha problem.

Good manual comes with the board and software and we get very good UK support from Ian Eagland at Eagland Machine Tools
http://www.eagland.co.uk

I have though about upgrading these two big machines to Mach3 but to be honest they are bombproof, fool proof and earn me money on a daily basis and for what they do mach3 would probably not give me anything extra.

John s.

[Master_TSD]

Hello John,
Thank you for the quick reply. I am planning to go look at a machine with the Ah - ha controller, and being new to CNC, did not have experence with them.
Best wishes,
Ed

[StephenD]

I have had my ah-ha about four years and have had no problems with it.
It has only ran about 15-20 hours month,which is'nt much but it gets it done.
There is a user group at yahoo with lots of good infromation and very helpful people. I bought mine from Al Goshey, at E-Mtech here in the USA, and had no problem getting help when I need it.
Good Luck.
Stephen D.




http://www.e-mtech.com/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ahha_cnc/

[keithorr]

Needed a new driver board. 6 amp board died with no clue to reason. No smoke, no red lights. Turned on the box one day and an axis was dead. No reply to email sent to website admin address. Found the name of the board builder on a Yahoo group website. Emailed him and was told that he has them but they can only be bought from dealer. Dealer finally emailed, $350 for a board.

Bought a 212 Gecko for $168 vs. 6 amp ahha board for $350.
Wired into the RC500 box and runs fine.
4 wire stepper motor wired a,a-/b,b-, power connections via existing ribbon lead with modular plug removed, used step, direction and enable to connect to gecko step, direction and common. Kept the line polarities as before. Changed the steps/inch to accomodate the 1/5 microstep setting on the gecko.
Had to add a heatsink to attach the new driver inside the black box.
Gekco arrived in two days. Someone answers the phone. Parts in stock. Knowledgable helpful owner and great service.
Ahha is a fair piece of software but was never as good as newer less expensive options.

[famoldin]

Hi!

I having same trouble like you have in teh past and replace the board die for a Gecko 201 but something rong happen! At first power up, the geckocan move the Z axes a little slow and making noise, so I turned dawn and tried start up again but the computer make some noise (beep, beep, beep) and not power up and the monitor screen was in blank.

Could youd sen me the wire connection that you made, so I can check the connetion I do. me email is: ariasmejia@hotmail.com

I will apreciate very much!!

Originally Posted by keithorr Needed a new driver board. 6 amp board died with no clue to reason. No smoke, no red lights. Turned on the box one day and an axis was dead. No reply to email sent to website admin address. Found the name of the board builder on a Yahoo group website. Emailed him and was told that he has them but they can only be bought from dealer. Dealer finally emailed, $350 for a board. Bought a 212 Gecko for $168 vs. 6 amp ahha board for $350. Wired into the RC500 box and runs fine. 4 wire stepper motor wired a,a-/b,b-, power connections via existing ribbon lead with modular plug removed, used step, direction and enable to connect to gecko step, direction and common. Kept the line polarities as before. Changed the steps/inch to accomodate the 1/5 microstep setting on the gecko. Had to add a heatsink to attach the new driver inside the black box. Gekco arrived in two days. Someone answers the phone. Parts in stock. Knowledgable helpful owner and great service. Ahha is a fair piece of software but was never as good as newer less expensive options.

[Surjit]

Originally Posted by John S. I run two of them and have been doing so for a while, probably about 7 or 8 years. I only run the controller then take the output from the Ahha board via a breakout board to Gecko 210 drivers. We don't run the Ahha driver box as it's not passed for electrical safety here in the UK. Never had a Ahha based problem, had many problems, machine based, computer based and plenty of operator based ones [ me ] but never a Ahha problem. Good manual comes with the board and software and we get very good UK support from Ian Eagland at Eagland Machine Tools Eagland Machine Tools for Cnc Retrofit and Cad-Cam I have though about upgrading these two big machines to Mach3 but to be honest they are bombproof, fool proof and earn me money on a daily basis and for what they do mach3 would probably not give me anything extra. John s.

Hi,

I would like to fit something like your ahha system on my own large machining centers. Could you tell me about your machines. which machines they are, how big they are?