Re: Anyone considering the centroid Acorn instead of path pilot?
Hi Jason, I think we both made the right move for sure. I'm really excited about ti. A real CNC controller for our machines is what's needed. I've looked at everything as I'm sure you did and the big factor here is Centroid has been around in the USA for a long time. I think most of the other guys are really trying but they don't have the years and years of experience that Centroid does. I'm betting it's going to be awesome. I'm glad they decided to look at the home built market and jump in. My son has a CNC running Centroid in his shop and he really likes it.
Re: Anyone considering the centroid Acorn instead of path pilot?
Has anyone tried the Acorn on a CRP plug and play system? I have the plug and play spindle too, so I think the analog output will control the VFD. I am concerned about the Tool setter probe though. I think it will run everything else okay.
Anyone researched it enough to figure that out?
Re: Anyone considering the centroid Acorn instead of path pilot?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
LeeWay
Has anyone tried the Acorn on a CRP plug and play system? I have the plug and play spindle too, so I think the analog output will control the VFD. I am concerned about the Tool setter probe though. I think it will run everything else okay.
Anyone researched it enough to figure that out?
Lee, just go to the Centroid Acorn forum and ask. The Centroid guys moderate it. I know they have inputs for the tool setters and part probes. It's pretty awesome.
Re: Anyone considering the centroid Acorn instead of path pilot?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
LeeWay
Has anyone tried the Acorn on a CRP plug and play system?
It will no longer be "plug and play". You may need to rewire the whole thing, as they use custom breakout boards ( I think) to connect to the Smoothstepper. I know a few people attempted to switch over to UCCNC, and it does require making some changes.
Basically, you'd take out the ESS and breakout boards, and wire everything direct to the Acorn.
Re: Anyone considering the centroid Acorn instead of path pilot?
Thanks, Guys.
I did take a look at the CRP box yesterday. It basically has 4 individual lead shine drives. The motor side of those run direct through the panel to the motors. The control side uses a Smooth stepper BOB. That can simply be unplugged and the acorn wired in there. The limits and other inputs are on a BOB themselves. They attach through ribbon cables. I may need a BOB for a ribbon cable. The the spindle controls need to be wired to the Acorn. So mostly just straight point to point wiring. That I can handle. ;)
There is plenty of room inside for the additional PS and Acorn board especially once I remove the ESS and it's BOB.
It will need some testing of course, but it looks quite capable of doing what I need. I placed the order for the Acorn and the Pro software this AM.
Re: Anyone considering the centroid Acorn instead of path pilot?
Here is why I’m going the Centroid Acorn route and a few of the draw backs I see:
My experience with Mach3 was mixed at best. I thought adding in an ESS would help. It didn’t. I’ve been following the discussions on converting to PathPilot and was going to go that route as I use Linux but wasn’t looking forward to the process of sorting out errors and editing hal and ini files. Though others here have done a great job and I’m sure with their help I could have made the change, my machine is not one of the ones that has been converted. I would very likely have needed a firmware update for the Mesa card as well. I was also put off by the apparent issues with the PathPilot 2.0 update.
Looking at the options out there the Centroid Acorn system seemed to be the one which offered the most straight forward conversion for me. My goal is to get back to milling parts ASAP, spending as little time as possible trouble shooting a new setup. I also like that the Centroid Acorn runs on modern PCs (actually requires one). I don’t like that it requires Win10. Win10 is the reason I switched to Linux. In this case I will install Win10, update it, then as Centroid recommends, isolate the PC from my network hopefully to never update Win10 again. A drawback to switching to Acorn is that I will not be able to use my VistaCNC pendant. I have read that there is a wireless pendant which will work with Acorn.
As others have pointed out Centroid has a 30 year history in the industry. That appeals to me. The Centroid Acorn forum appears to be very active and individuals with problems setting up or using Acorn seem to be getting the answers they need in short order. I also like that I can get factory support (for a price) if needed.
I’ll report on my experience with Acorn in a separate thread as I go through the install, setup and everyday use.
CJ
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Re: Anyone considering the centroid Acorn instead of path pilot?
So to clear up my understanding of Acorn, does it provide the functions of BoB and motor drives for step-dir motors?
Re: Anyone considering the centroid Acorn instead of path pilot?
Not the motor drives, but it does calculate and deliver step and direction commands to the motor drives.
Re: Anyone considering the centroid Acorn instead of path pilot?
You still need stepper drives, but you don't need a breakout board.
Re: Anyone considering the centroid Acorn instead of path pilot?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kvom
So to clear up my understanding of Acorn, does it provide the functions of BoB and motor drives for step-dir motors?
Though it may not be completely accurate, I think of the Acorn board as a combination ESS and BOB. The Acorn has an on board CPU which handles motion control. Like the ESS it takes a load off of the PC CPU.
CJ
Sent from my XT1094 using Tapatalk
Re: Anyone considering the centroid Acorn instead of path pilot?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kvom
So to clear up my understanding of Acorn, does it provide the functions of BoB and motor drives for step-dir motors?
The graphic on the Acorn page at the Centroid website doesn't show the drivers between the board and the stepper/servo motors. This could lead one to infer that the board replaces the drivers. It doesn't.
CJ
Sent from my XT1094 using Tapatalk
Re: Anyone considering the centroid Acorn instead of path pilot?
So given that on my NM200, which has the BoB and drives mounted together, interfacing the Acorn would mean bypassing the BoB, wiring it to the drives, and also wiring the 0-10V spindle control to the Acorn. That said, maybe the BoB would just pass the step and dir signals through.
I'd still need a PC and the Centroid software.
Probably not a good choice for me given the relative ease of the PP hardware which was just a DB25 cable between the Mesa card and the BoB. Obviously the software integration took some effort, but that's more in my sweet spot than wiring. The components for the Torus are probably easier to work with then what I have. In any case I'm very satisfied with PP.