Any User Input?? - Hind Technologies / Masso HTG5A1S Controller

I bought a Masso last week and to be honest I think its the best thing since sliced bread. I had it installed into my machine in less than an hour and most of it working perfectly. Some of the help is very thin on the website but enough to get it all going. I have sent Jatinda some suggestions about how what to add to the website and he needs to get it in a downloadable PDF. I think the issue is he is busy producing and developing this unit and is basically a one man band and maybe a bit overrun.

The unit is so simple to setup and runs flawlessly and is fast. It looks at 80 line ahead in the code. I bought the 5 axis one but you dont need to you can buy a 3 axis then pay I think 40 bucks for a software upgrade to 4 and 5 axis for 40 bucks each axis. There is a mill and lathe version the hardware is the same. You just pay for what firmware you want if you already own a mill version you can if you want make it a lathe version by uploading that firmware. Not difficult at all.

I built this mill with a PMDX126 and a PMDX107 spindle controller and started it off on Mach3 I then converted it over to LinuxCNC which was a nightmare to get going but ran much better than Mach3 ever did. I was going to convert it to a Mesa motion controller with LinuxCNC and had a test setup I was playing with on a bench but setting up the HAL files is horendous you need to be a programmer so it was very slow to get anything done. I wanted to use a motion controller and get away from computers and parallel ports. I stumbled across the Masso did some research on the net about it and ordered it. There has been a few hiccups getting it interfaced correctly but that really is only lack of some paperwork.

I have been running the machine on it..I have 6nm steppers on this machine and they are 220V steppers so has a fair bit of grunt and the Masso really throws it around. The machine sounds totally different as well. It is much smoother. Even a mate of mine who came over when I was running some Gcode on it to see the motion and accelleration etc commented as soon as he walked in saying Wow that sounds different. I have ordered some servos to fit to this machine and they will be here in a week or two so I will convert it to servos using the Masso and I think it will be just terrific.

The best thing I like about the Masso is it has just the information you need on the screen..no superfuous crap or fancy crap. I saw some comments on another thread about not HDMI...why do you need it??????? VGA is plenty fine for it. I am sure his idea was to make it powerfull in hardware and simple to operate and it certainly is that. At this stage I give it a thumbs up and am very happy with it

Mark

Mark,

Really nice install. Super clean and tidy.
I like the fact that the heat producing drives are above the controller.
And you're using the minimum amount of inputs and outputs.
So I'm guessing there's no tool changer?

Can you post a pic of the front of the machine?

Timothy

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 2ferrous

Mark,

Really nice install. Super clean and tidy.
I like the fact that the heat producing drives are above the controller.
And you're using the minimum amount of inputs and outputs.
So I'm guessing there's no tool changer?

Can you post a pic of the front of the machine?

Timothy

---

No Toolchanger yet..I am in the process of designing one for it. I want to see what the Masso can do first also what is required for its inputs and outputs for the tool changer so will get that information from Jatinda

Here is a couple of pics of my machine. I bought it as a base machine but it is the same as a Novakon Torus or a Smithy 1240 or a Syil X6 big table...all from the same foundry. It currently has 3 phase steppers but I have some servos and drives on the way to change them out

Where did you buy this machine through?

I just bought a lathe version ,it has capable tool change inputs for two different types of changers ,i am really looking forward to some CSS and it has encoder feed back for syncro spindle and feed for threading.
Seems to use a Fanuc basic post for Gcode and works with Fusion 360 ,should be here soon i will report on the current software and we will see how it goes ,i hope and pray very well.

I am so sick of Mach i could puke ,version 3 and 4 never want to hear there name again!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ToolMach_Aust

The unit is so simple to setup and runs flawlessly and is fast. It looks at 80 line ahead in the code.

---

Thanks Mark for your review. I'm about to pull the plug and buy one. Can't wait to get away from windows and all its inherant issues.

Looks like the Masso has come a long way in the past year. I really think a all in one unit like the Masso is the future of home CNC.

I had some real issues with it on a lathe ,backlash would not work and they could not fix it ,software had issues with front and rear tool post .
I finally sent it back to them and then there was and i was concerned about doing so but did it any way.

Big mistake they tried saying there where issues with Modbus and a axis and b axis ,none of the where ever hooked up or used ,this is a two axis lathe with x and z only .

Any way they RIPPED me off ,buyer beware ,i think they can get the mill part right but lathe it is a mess!

Thats bad for Masso . I won't be buying from them for sure.

Anyone else using one of these? Considering it as an option for my Chinese manufactured 5'x8' router. The router came with xhc mach3 controller and it's just not performing well. This looks like a great option.

Quote:

---

This looks like a great option.

---

Read all the reviews you can find first.

500+ dollars will buy you a lot of industrial grade interface hardware for linuxcnc

I bought a 5 Axis Masso - and am starting to wonder if I made a good choice!

I've built a multi-purpose Plasma / Router / Milling Table. I bought the 5 Axis version so I could run a slave axis and ATC (when I get around to building it).

Today is the first time the machine is operational, as a Plasma at least. I didn't realise that you need different firmware to run a Plasma - I had assumed the most expensive version would have all the capabilities of Mill / Lathe / Plasma. Unfortunately not. None of the plasma specific stuff is present - such as THC or floating head switch. Also, you cannot configure a relay as the arc enable.

Surprisingly, nor can you configure a relay as spindle on/off or direction - you have to use a TTL output with a relay driver. The documentation (still pretty thin) only shows connection to VFDs.

I've had repeated problems with the password not working - and having to load a special password reset firmware. The password is still set as the default 'htg'. It worked fine this morning - but has just stopped again. I've loaded the password reset firmware, then the latest update again - and it's OK again for now. OK, that's not a show-stopper but it is inconvenient. I've changed the on-board battery -but it hasn't helped.

When I bought it (over a year ago, it's taken a while to build the machine), support for touch-screens was promised. It now has support, but only for 4 types of monitor, listed on their web-site. I originally wanted to use it with a Lilliput 13" Capacitive touch screen - which is very nice, perfect for a CNC. Unfortunately, it's not supported, and doesn't look like it will ever be. I bought one of the four suggested options $300 on Ali-Express - but that didn't work either. I mentioned this on their forum but the response was unsympathetic. I'm using it with the Lilliput now, without touch-screen which feels a shame. Worse still, you have to buy the touch capability as an add-on.

The 'continuous jog' doesn't work from the keyboard. You can use [shift] + jog keys to rapid the axis but each keypress just moves the axis one increment. If you click on one of the jog buttons on screen - it does jog continuously. This would be OK if the touch-screen worked - but it doesn't.

New Masso controllers ship with WiFi, which was promised from the start. To add it to mine, I have to pay another $100 or so - which feels a lot for a $5 WiFi board plus the software to make it work. It makes me wonder if I'll have to pay even more to fix the things that don't work!?

It could, and maybe will, be amazing. Unfortunately, at the moment it's not.

Attachment 420302