win or get mach to work

[daisydog]

Hello I have tried a the Mach3 on my new router and cannot get it to function. The support has been prompt and but ineffective. Over 3 weeks and many hours and e-mails it still does not work. The latest suggestion is to add another piece to the puzzle, the Smooth Stepper. I realy don't want to spend any more money unless it is a sure fire cure.

I have a Win Cnc on my other router and other than a few problems that were fixed it is easy to run and very efficient.
I am ready to spend the money and get a Win to replace the Mach. First a few questions, the Mach uses windows for the g-code as well as the motor signals and is totally dependant on windows for it's performance, this does not fill me with confidence. Win on the other hand has it's own boards. Does this mean that Win is not using windows for the motor signals and therefore is only using windows for the g-code and the ugi, or is Win using windows for the signals and is also very dependant on it for accuracy.

I am willing to spend the extra cash if it means a controller that is not Windows dependant. The extra security is worth it.

Thanks,

Joe

[ger21]

I use Mach on a $20 Dell GX150 (1Ghz) from Ebay and it runs perfect. Installed XP, installed Mach3 and had it running in a few minutes. Rock solid pulse frequency. I'd try that before a Smoothstepper. Not sure if it'll work for higher than 25Khz kernel speeds, but at 25Khz, it works great.

[daisydog]

Thats nice to here, maybe I should invest in anoher computer, but at this point I am trying to determine if Mach is worth the investment. If it is totally dependent on windows to perform accurately I would rather look at Wincnc or Flashcut. I am not totally sure if those are any less windows dependent, thats what I am trying to find out.

Thanks,

Joe

[TOTALLYRC]

Originally Posted by daisydog Hello I have tried a the Mach3 on my new router and cannot get it to function. The support has been prompt and but ineffective. Over 3 weeks and many hours and e-mails it still does not work. The latest suggestion is to add another piece to the puzzle, the Smooth Stepper. I realy don't want to spend any more money unless it is a sure fire cure. I have a Win Cnc on my other router and other than a few problems that were fixed it is easy to run and very efficient. I am ready to spend the money and get a Win to replace the Mach. First a few questions, the Mach uses windows for the g-code as well as the motor signals and is totally dependant on windows for it's performance, this does not fill me with confidence. Win on the other hand has it's own boards. Does this mean that Win is not using windows for the motor signals and therefore is only using windows for the g-code and the ugi, or is Win using windows for the signals and is also very dependant on it for accuracy. I am willing to spend the extra cash if it means a controller that is not Windows dependant. The extra security is worth it. Thanks, Joe

Two things come to mind.
1. When using the smooth stepper or other external motion controller it takes away your windows concerns as the motion is generated on the external board.
2. The other thing to consider is the standarization of all the machines in your shop.
Having two different controls means more support and having to know how to program two different software packages.


Having said both things I have settled on Mach3 as my one control software. At some point in the future I will convert my router over.

When I had my Taig mill, it took me an afternoon to get it up and working using mach 3 and the pport so it shouldn't be 2 hard to make it work.

During the 3 weeks of trying to get it to work I hope you swapped out computers just to be sure it wasn't the computer or the pport itself giving problems although Scott is pretty through.

[Torchhead]

WinCNC and Flashcut both use proprietary hardware/software to generate pulses. It's difficult to compare a system that costs 500.00 to 1200.00 with one that is only $175.00. You need to be aware that MACH3 is used in thousands of installs (actually 10's of thousands). It's made to be flexible and the interface is open so 3rd party vendors can develop and sell add-on products (spindle Speed, Pendants, Probes, Digital Torch Height to name a few). The other options you list are closed systems that require you use their software and hardware and your only source of features or support is from them. Finding a PC that will run MACH very well is easy. Find the SURPLUS-PRODUCTS Ebay store and get their 3 GHZ P4 1G RAM re-furbed PC with keyboard and mouse for $169.00; FREE Shipping. It has the required parallel port to run with and you shouldn't need a SmoothStepper.

If you are adverse to Windows then your search should include EMC (Linux based) and the vendors of hardware that support that OS. It's FREE (open source).

Of course if money is not a factor.............

TOM Caudle
www.CandCNC.com
Totally Modular CNC Electronics
Hardware for MACH3 and EMC2

[daisydog]

True enough Mach is probably the best bang for the buck, however the question still remains does it rely more heavily on windows than Wincnc or Flashcut and is it to a degree would make a big difference. If the difference is only a matter of an occasional inconvenience, so what, but if it is a matter of an occasional crash or lengthy amounts of down time well than the extra $1k for a heartier control package is money well spent.

Thanks,

Ddog

[ger21]

Thousands of people use Mach3 without any crashes or downtime.

Mach3 generates step and direction signals in software. The others do it in hardware. There are several hardware options for Mach3 which would make it functionally similar to Flashcut and WinCNC.
See the plugins page for supported devices.
http://www.machsupport.com/plugins.php
Smoothstepper plugin is available from Warp9TD.com

[powerr]

i run both flashcut and mach3. and like them both. flashcut does not have all the extra that mach does. but flashcut does do what it is told 100 percent of the time. my set up with mach does what it is told 99.5 percent of the time.
both are great. do you have a post of the problem you are having with mach.

and to answer your question. it looks like WINcnc does not use windows for step and direction. but i could be wrong that could be just a IO card