Control 6 axis and 5 axis cnc machines from a single computer

[jpsol]

Wondering if anyone has any recommendations on how to control a 6 axis cnc machine and a 5 axis cnc machine from a single computer.

I am developing a cnc system that is comprised of a 6 axis machine and a 5 axis machine. It is not necessary for all 11 axes of the system to be synchronized, but the axes of each individual cnc machine (i.e. the 6 axis and 5 axis machines) do need to be synchronized. One machine will finish an operation before the other machine will be commanded to perform the next operation. The two machines do not need to operate simultaneously.

Up to this point I have been using Mach 3 for each individual machine. My current thought is to run two instances of Mach 3 on a computer and develop a script that will sequentially send the g-code to each instance of Mach 3. If I can't run two instances of Mach 3 on a current computer was thinking of running a single instance of Mach 3 on two computers and using a third computer to send the g-code to each instance of Mach 3.

An 11 axis cnc controller would certainly work but I am on a tight budget for this project and it seems a little overkill since not all 11 axes need to be synchronized.

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[ger21]

I believe that you can run two instance of UCCNC with two controllers on one PC. Contact CNCDrive to verify.
You can't with Mach3.

[hfjbuis]

If you can sent the gcodes to mach3, than any 5/6 axis controller having an "open" interface can do the job.

[Al_The_Man]

Post an inquiry here to see if Dynomotion can do it.
It is an external controller so it may be possible.
Al.

[my-cnc]

We can do it easily.

2x myCNC controllers, 2x instances of myCNC control software for each controller.
myCNC software has Server API through TCP Sockets.
You can run your script to control both instances of myCNC software, load and run a job, get current states, emulate pendants etc.

[jpsol]

Since this is a hobby project my budget per stepper motor controller is just $200.

Found a 5/6 axis Mega2560 fork of grbl that looks promising (https://github.com/fra589/grbl-Mega-5X). Seems that I could develop a gcode sender script that sends commands to the two machines using USB serial.

[jpsol]

Thanks ger21.

I did contact CNCDrive. Yes, you can run multiple instances of UCCNC on a single computer. You can also send gcode to UCCNC but you have to write a plugin to do so.