[kiwichris]

Hi-ho,

Per my question in the BOB thread, I'm retro-fitting my K6100 router with LinuxCNC to replace the DSP controller.

The DSP controller has become unreliable, and I've never been 100% happy with it's Gcode support, and I wanted MDI back...

I chose a C11 BOB from cnc4pc.com and was hoping it would be here by now but the gods of international airmail were not in my favour, and I really need to get some stuff cut.

So.. I've wired the parallel port directly into the stepper drivers (They are opto-isolated) using 5V from the USB port for the high side.

For home sensors and tool height sensor for the moment I'm using LED's across the proximity detectors and probe. It's not ideal, and far slower than working with inputs to the controller but at least I can made dust. :-)

Down side, no E-stop, and the wiring is a little bodgy.

The photo attached shows the DIN rail where the old controller sat and the dodgy wiring.

Parallel cable and USB comes in along the bottom, and the terminal strips to the left connect the +5V and step/dir signals to the stepper driver inputs. The terminal strips on the right connect the prox sensors, probe and VFD signals to some LED's and a temporary switch to fire up the VFD.

Bottom right is a 12V / 5V SMPS which is providing +12 for the prox sensors and will provide the 5V rail for the BOB when it arrives.

End result: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya5qGdSXx-M]Testing LinuxCNC on K6100 - YouTube[/ame]

Per the video, the rapids are getting a shade over 5m/min which equates to 27khz or there abouts. (320 steps per mm) I tested it up to 7m/min and didn't detect any lost steps or massive jitter/lag (37khz).

Obviously this is temporary, the BOB will be here soon and can tidy up. I've fitted ferrules to all the cables that will be re-used and mapped out what is required for the BOB so it should just drop in and go. (Famous last words)

The only thing I'm not 100% clear on is how to set up the tool height macro to set the G54 offset. I've read a couple of how-tos and blog posts and there is a bunch of assumed knowledge which I'll have to read up on to make sense of.

Cheers, Chris H.