My DIY CNC project - What controller?
I want a flexible controller + based on Ethernet I think.
Have found these alternatives:
http://warp9td.com/index.php/products
http://cncdrive.com/UC300ETH.html
smoothieboard [Smoothieware] or other Smootie based controller
Anyone tested any of them?
what about the smoothieboard ?
But smoothieboard have integrated drivers that I guess I cann not use on my CNC - need more than 2A I think so then I need external stepper drivers… Is there reasons why I should use smoothieboard compared to the other boards?
@Oyvind_Amundsen If I may ask, how did you find those three options?
I mean, what did you google for to come up with those, or did you look in a magazine, etc.?
I did search for cnc controllers with ethernet… + controllers recommended by friends…
I do consider gecko that is LPT based but did search trying to find alternatives based on ethernet because lpt is a bit old?
I find it a bit hard to decide what controller to use, so great if you guys have recommendations…
In the start I considet buying a low cost controller from ebay, but then I was told that I should spend some money on the controller to get less pronlems…
Many use LPT based, but then I have to use an old computer and 32 bit OS
I understand that there is some noise issues if using USB based, so that is why I want to find if I should use a LPT based like the Gecko controller or a controller based on Ethernet??
@Oyvind_Amundsen I have a dedicated desktop computer just to be able to drive my CNC with LPT. But it is just so painfully slow and bulky. It took me 3-4 PCs just to find one that would run LinuxCNC!
Now, any kind of modern (i.e. 32bit ARM) CNC/3DP controller can be used, as long as it has the appropriate number of axes.
When the power of the embedded stepper drivers is not large enough, you can always drive the step/dir signals directly on a secondary low-cost CNC controller. I remember seeing this being done here and there.
Oh BTW, smoothieware has excellent documentation and it is open source. E.g. http://smoothieware.org/general-appendixes#external-drivers on how to use it with external stepper drivers.
@Oyvind_Amundsen Thank you for your answer, I was just curious why TinyG didn’t come up as an option in your initial search.
Obviously I’m a little biased as to if you should consider TinyG. 
However, I can say that you could still use the Step/Direction/Enable breakouts from the TinyG if you wish to use external (Gecko, etc.) drivers, but would have to use a Single Board Computer (SBC) like the Beagle Bone, Next Thing C.H.I.P, or Raspberry Pi if you wanted an ethernet connection.
I have made most of the documentation for the RADDS (3D printer controller http://doku.radds.org) and plan to test it as a CNC controller (more like a side project because then I have to do a lot of pilot testing before I can get my CNC ready).
I have found there is a re-ARM project that is interesting - possible to combine RADDS and re-ARM? but I do not think it is possible to buy the re-ARM board yet.
I love testing stuff… but I have to try to decide what controller to select to get my CNC running.
But I`m here if anyone needs help testing controller, drivers…
A few reasons to choose Smoothieboard…indusrtry leading lookahead processing, adaptive feed rates and accelerations,32bit fast processor allows it to be more efficient and be expandable for the future, very active community, commits happen to the firmware on a regular basis, open source hardwaRE AND FIRMWARE, dev team is very accesible to answer questions, ethernet and usb connectivity…wifi based on esp is right around the corner (in public beta) supports every type of printer, cnc machines, laser engraver/cutters. Post processor available for just about every CAM package, multiple open source and paid solutions available for the smoothieboard. Sorry about the essay, I just really beleive in the smoothiebaors. @Arthur_Wolf anything to add?
+Peter van der Walt was about to say the same thing 
but what cnc software supports it?
+Peter van der Walt do i have to be online to use it?
oh and not the least: super active, responsive and friendly community around smoothie board/ware. Like Arthur and Peter. This alone kills many other high cost and closed source solutions when you DIY.
Seems like I have to consider Smoothie.
I think I’ll need external stepper drivers - should i consider the smoothie with 3 outputs then, or do I need the full 5x to gett all functionality?
Seems like minimum 4x to get ethernet support
I`ll spend some time reading in the wiki/forum… so I can learn more about the options… Is there any recommended external stepper drivers, or do all work fine with smoothie?
Any resellers in Norway?
I plan to use some time trying to find an ok combination controller/Drivers and PSU for my CNC buid while working on the hardware part.
Short about my CNC:
Work area 1000x600x200mm
Bosh Rexroth 25mm rails
I have a Toshiba 1.5Kw VFD and plan to use a 1.5Kw spindle with it.
Have not decided what steppers to use yet, but Nema23
My design
missing/deleted image from Google+
I find there is many different cards that supports smoothie - is the other boards low quality copies… compared to smoothieboard?