CandCNC Mini-IO-2 and Xylotex on Taig Mill

[Cruz74]

Almost 4 yrs ago I purchased a Taig mill running with a 4 axis Xylotex driver from Deepgroove1. Everything worked great running it with Mach3. The controller box was pretty basic. Mainly a plastic DIY project case with basic wiring. I decided to built up my own box and add in the CandCNC mini-io-2 breakout with the remote relay card 2. Unfortunately, the project was put on hold as I was getting married.

I've finally decided to get the project going again. After a few days of setting things up, I've run into a problem getting the mini-io-2 and remote relay cards to respond. More specifically, even with Mach3 being setup with the xml file provided by CandCNC, all I get in Mach3, is the the flashing reset button. I've checked the CandCNC documentation and the port and pins settings seem correct. I've triple checked wiring and all seems correct. The xylotex card works fine by itself and all axis function, but withe the mini-io-2 and remote relay, I get nothing. I seem to have power throughout the mini-io-2 and the remote relay is receiving in the required +12VDC.

Does anyone have any experience interfacing the mini-io-2 and remote relay card to the xylotex card and have it running with Mach3? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have been going over every bit of documentation I could find have search the web and this forum with no success. Unfortunately, the CandCNC cards are no longer being sold or supported, so I'm stuck.

[cameraguy]

I hate to bring it up, but changes in hobby cnc controllers have been dramatic in the last few years. You may want to simply get a controller built for a cnc machine now that they are available, instead of one hacked together using chips meant for copy machines. I started with a Xylotex as well, and hung on for a long time, but I can't tell you how much of a difference a real driver board makes - both with the ability to handle decent voltage, put out decent power, and deal with things like resonance. you get something like a Gecko 540, it has the breakout already built-in, as well as opto isolation, a charge pump, relay signals and D/A converter for spindle speed.

Don't mean to push just the 540, there are lots of choices out there, but seriously, for what little they cost now you should look to getting a real controller. You will save the money just in replacement tooling - being able to finally run tools at the proper feed rates is nice!