EMC2 + G540 ?

[hagemeyp]

I've already decided on the G540 for my hobby 36"x48" machine, looks like the best damn board out there. Steppers drivers and other electronic bits are next.


Any caveats with using G540 and EMC2? I know there is a driver- Any warning signs that should make me shop elsewhere?

[beezerlm]

I have used Gecko drives a lot, mostly with Mach 3. They are simple and easy to use. I always use the G320's because I like having the position feedback (Servo). I put them on 2 Moore G18 Jig Grinders and we can hold position ( hole to hole ) of ±.0002" no problem. They have been running for a couple years now every day. I am not an EMC2 expert, But I don't see why you would have any problems with that setup.

[LazerBee]

Can't speak to the EMC end but just got my G540 in & had it set up and humming in no time with Mach 3. You will definitely want to tune in your motors as it makes a big difference. I messed up 2 "diddle sticks" trying to tune and had to custom make one from aluminum. Would like to see an adjustable micro-step function on them but this board makes my low budget steppers sing. Will EMC work on a mac?

[beezerlm]

I am not sure if EMC2 would work good on a mac. From what I have seen, older pc's work best to control latency. My old dell optiplex is dualcore so I had to disable hyperthreading. Video cards can cause problems too so I would do some research before choosing a machine to run it on. I used a dell optiplex 620. Latency wasn't great, but I used a mesa 7i43 which has its own internal clock. I don't quite understand how the 7i43 helps with latency, but I think it does the intense counting and then reports it back to EMC2?

[cyclestart]

I had some problems with the timings provided in stepconf
read here:
losing position, lots of position

BUT some early G540's had a slight defect in a few of the drives. It's possible I fluked into the work around.

The G540 is a sweet deal, go for it
btw: it's cheaper if bought from dealers

As for caveats, it's 10x microstepping. You may want to calculate what this will do to your top speed, but this requires knowing the latency figures for your computer.