[Blakea1790]

I was wondering if anyone out there has switched over from Mach 3 to Flash Cut on a Tormach 1100 CNC mill? I purchased a Tormach second hand and I'm looking at my options of switching from Mach 3 to a different Controller. Would I have to completly gut out the tormach to do this?
Would love some feed back...Thanks
Blake

[datac]

I'm not familiar with Tormachs control cabinetry and connectivity, but if you have a look and see that they simply send signals from a PC boards parallel port to their driver interface, its a rather easy operation. For the most part, Mach just sends data out no differently than Flashcut, and the machine end of things boils down to that data getting to the motor drivers.

I tossed Mach off of a Novakon NM200 in favor of Flashcut, and it was mostly just making a new cable to go from Flashcut's signal generator (also a DB25) to Novakon's driver cabinet (DB25 as well).

Novakon used a CNC4PC interface between Mach and the drivers, and I recall other than making the cable up to fit the new pin configurations on each end, I had to disable the "charge pump" option on that board... don't really need it for Flashcut.

You should have something similar..... Look at your Mach setup and draw up a little map of the current pin configurations, then line that up with what you need to make that same end of the cable look like to interface with Flashcut.

Too bad Tormach didn't just choose to use Flashcut to start with, or at least give the buyer the better option. It would be real simple for them to accommodate this if you ask me, and then they would probably have the best possible import machines available (though I ended up with an NM200 because I really needed the extra travel)

[Blakea1790]

Thanks Chris, I contacted Flashcut a few weeks back and was told I would need a USB signal Generator, and I/O threading expansion board for usb signal generator, and a Mach 3 adaptor, all this is going to run me a little under 1800.00 dollars. I just dont want to get into a situation that I keep dumping even more money into the machine, I need the machine to work without any problems. I also program and run Haas and Fanuc controlled machines. The Flashcut just feels much more comfortable to me, compared to Mach 3. I'm going to do some more research on this but it looks like I will probably be doing the switch...

[deanq]

Blake,
I swapped a machine (Bridgeport retrofit) over from Mach to flashcut as you are talking about. I would suggest the following:

1. Down load the manuals for flashcut and the signal generator as well as for Mach. I did not need the extra I//O board. I bought the Mach 3 adapter but would HIGHLY recommend NOT getting it. All it is, is a $5 DB25 pin adapter that has motor signals re-wired to reconfigure the cable for flashcut signals.

2.Study the manuals and see what signals need to be changed for your parallel cable. On mine, I had to add the limit switches and actually made an adapter box for my cable.

3.Draw it out on paper.
After I did it, it really seems simple now.
Flashcut is GREAT. you will love it.