what are my best options for a control board for Mach 3 or 4 I have been using a arduino and GRBL to this point but would like to use Mach software it seems to be more of a standard.
https://www.automationtechnologiesinc.com/products-page/breakout-boards/c10-bidirectional-breakout/ There are a lot of BOB's available.
Ok great thanks for the reply!!!! I just seems so confusing on which board to buy???? I want good board that is reasonable priced that will work with Mach 3 or Mach 4 and there are so many options out there.... Do you have any idea what a majority are using?
I've read enough gripes against noisy usb cables that it turned me to Ethernet to LPT. The downside is that I had to use a seperate power supply for 5V to the board. I just put a little 5V wallwart in the control cab. An upside is that I'm not limited by usb cable length.
I use a warp9 ess. little pricey though. I think there are a few others out there that are decent too. BTW, this is an extra device between the PC and the break out board.
Yes. The BOB sends and receives signals. So, limits, e-stop, ssr, spindle control, etc all interface with the BOB. Some BOB's are basic and straightforward others are feature rich. Draw yourself a block diagram of all the components and connections you are going to have to determine if a BOB will work for you.
Ok at this point I have been using a Arduino board and my drivers plug right into it. So with the setup your talking about, I will need the Ethernet Controller, BOB, and then my drivers hooked to my stepper motors right?
For drivers something along this line TB6600 0.2--5A Single Axis CNC Engraving Machine Stepper Motor Driver Controller | eBay For power supply one like this US Ship DC24V 100W 4.5A Switching Power Supply 115V/230V for 3D Printer/DIY CNC | eBay
The drivers are rated up to 48v. The motors will be a bit snappier than at 24v because of faster current delivery. Power is voltage times current so in a sense..yes. more power
I use a driver breakout combination. My BOB is built into a common box as the drivers. It's similar to the Gecko G540. Leadshine MX4660 4-Axis Stepper Motor Drive with I/O's You'll notice it has two port connections. A LPT and a DB26(basically a 26pin lpt). They're both connected to 2 of the 3 db26 ports of the ESS and their pins are assigned by me in the Mach software. For a future project I plan on utilizing the 3rd db26 port of the ESS to an analog MPG controller. Then I will assign db26 connection pins in Mach. I want to optically isolate the MPG instead of hardwiring it directly to the ESS.
