Hi, has been a long time without any updates because I have been waiting for some motor mounts to be made + busy with other projects.
The motor mounts arrived a couple of days ago - did a test install today (some more alignment work to do) and it seems to work fine. Next I`ll install the other Y-ball screw, and then the rest of the gantry.
I consider swapping controller from Pokeys57CNC to a controller that supports Linux CNC - but have not decided yet.
If I do so, what controller should I consider?
Anyone using Pokeys + Mach 4 with great results?
Reading the first or second hit I got from searching pokeys57cnc was not a glowing recommendation from a year ago.
From the LinuxCNC mailing list it would seem the Mesa boards are quite useful if you are stepping up beyond hobby use, otherwise, you can buy parallel port cards that would offer decent control. Be sure to get a card that is supported, if you go the parallel port direction.
@Kyle_Kerr the documentation recommends a NETMOS 9815 based parallel port card. So I think that’s what I got. There’s a Rosewill RC-304-E manual in my manuals directory here, so that’s probably what I got. I don’t think they’re even being made anymore though. If I needed it I’d go with Mesa. That stuff is the top of the pops. 50 channels of I/O at 50 MHz. Plus PCW is very helpful getting it going with LinuxCNC. I’ve never seen the guy fail.
@Oyvind_Amundsen not tried yet myself but you should find infos/help in @Machinekit_io community… Please share your findings and thinkings !
For mesa boards, http://mesanet.com/ seem to be a reference
I visited MachineKit forum and found some info saying that the BeagleBone does not have graphical power needed for opengl… so the graphical interface is a bit limited - and you have to connect using ab external computer to get the full graphical interface working.
I have a Microsoft Surface Pro 2 and 3 that I can use for my CNC setup and it is not possible to insert a Mesa card or LPT card - Would it be a ok setup using a BeagleBone + cape and then run the full graphical interface on a Surface (touch interface). Use Bluetooth, WiFi or USB between the BB and Surface?
Then the BB can focus on the IO signals for the steppers…
You can also run Smoothieware and LaserWeb, another gang of cool kids see @Open_Builds annonced new controller. Have a look at CNCjs too. These, with those pointed by @Paul_Frederick , are the options today for web based remote NC.
Nevertheless, scroll back @Machinekit_io , or my CNC collection, and you’ll find a post about the clean, powerful and extensible architecture they’re building. We can hope we’ll have all sorts of panels, for many devices and OS, available in the future to pilot our computer controled machines and workshops…
@Oyvind_Amundsen softwares tied to controllers are not an option for me… ATM at least !
Nice kit, I may have favored the PCIe card (6I25) based one
And this makes me want to investigate if MachineKit supports Ethernet boards…
@Oyvind_Amundsen jump on freenode IRC, join the channel linuxcnc, and chat with someone named PCW there. He like owns Mesa Electronics so he can sort you out with exactly what you need.
see