1 Attachment(s)
Help with what I need to get a laptop to talk to my new to me mill
I just got a mill at a estate sale and don't know what I need to get to make my laptop compatible with it. My laptop has windows and I want to run with that for now. I have 3 ametek 40vdc motors and they have a renco encoder on them and the power supply box has 3 gecko 340's in it. Do i just need a usb breakout board and cad/cam software? Right now I also have a old disc drive computer that it was run with originally but it comes up in a dos prompt when I try to boot it up so I have no idea if it even works still or how to get it booted up. Being new to this world I apologize if my terminology if off. Any help would be appreciated.
Re: Help with what I need to get a laptop to talk to my new to me mill
It's not generally recommended to run machines like this from laptops. They have a lot of built-in power management stuff that turns the power off just when you want it to keep going. And the parallel ports are weak, if there is one at all. You're better off dedicating an older desktop to this - not a DOS box, but something running XP to Windows 7. Then you can use Mach3, which transforms the computer into a CNC controller. The other alternative is to use LinuxCNC, which will install Linux on your computer. But it's more hassle to set up, and you have to like Linux.
It looks like there's already some kind of breakout board - see if you can plug a 25-pin parallel port cable into it. If so, you should be good to go once you get some CNC control software. Yes, you'll probably want CAD and CAM software too, but that's not necessary in order to get your mill running.
Re: Help with what I need to get a laptop to talk to my new to me mill
I managed to get my hands on a computer that has a windows xp and has a 25 pin parallel port. What do I need in order to make this run the cnc with my gecko 340's? I'm preferin to stick with a free windows based cad/cam software like autodesk autocad 360 the if possible for now until I get more familiar with all this.
Re: Help with what I need to get a laptop to talk to my new to me mill
Quote:
Originally Posted by
davejr
I managed to get my hands on a computer that has a windows xp and has a 25 pin parallel port. What do I need in order to make this run the cnc with my gecko 340's? I'm preferin to stick with a free windows based cad/cam software like autodesk autocad 360 the if possible for now until I get more familiar with all this.
You need to download Mach3, this is a control software that you will have to configure to suit your machine, it's not to hard to do, this software is free for up to 500 lines of code, & is the link between your computer & your machine, there are lots of machine control software, that will work for what you need, but with Mach3 you will have the most support
As for using your laptop, there is no problem with this either, you just need the right software, & USB connection, UC100 is a stand alone USB to PP connector that has it's own CPU, this also will run with Mach3, your laptop will connect to the UC100 through the USB connection
So first you need the control software, then cad for your drawings, from your drawings to your cam software, which is were you make your G-code that will control your machine to make your parts, this seems a lot, but once you have it in place & understand what is happening, it is not really that much
Re: Help with what I need to get a laptop to talk to my new to me mill
I put Mach3 on it and got it working after changing pin configurations. Now to just figure out homing and the limits.
