It's a bit confusing trying to figure out what Mach4 will and won't do. My goal is to control the new lathe well enough that it can thread accurately granting any physical stability will play into accuracy but if the control system is accurate then I can work on the physical. My thoughts on threading is that Mach4 would have to know where the spindle is as well as where the X and Z axis are. I have searched the forum and find conflicting information so here I am. The forum seems to indicate Mach4 will perform threading and second Mach4 can use my Yaskawa Sigma V servo drives but for the life of me how? The servo drives can be controlled three ways from what I read. Via Mechatrolink, Analog voltage and pulse train reference, and via USB connection (I have played with this a tad using Yaskawa's SigmaWinPlus). So how do I get Mach4 to perform one of these protocols? Next, one would think an optical encoder would be needed on the spindle. How to get Mach4 to read the encoder?
I see some products referenced on ArtSoft's website designed to interface with servos such as the Galil products but that seems like an awfully big hammer when my Sigma drives already do all the processing to position the servo.
I have been reading threads on Artsoft's website and here as well. Responses say Mach4 outputs "step and direction" ...ya, ok, how? The old parallel port idea is pretty well dead so one is left with USB, LAN, wireless or Bluetooth. Mach4 configuration seems to want a "plug-in" of some sort though few are listed.
So for example I attach a device via USB that can output a signal. I use that signal to send a pulse to my servo controller telling it to "step" one degree CW. Next, my USB device inputs a signal from the servo drive indicating the "step" is complete. That begs the question, how fast can Mach4 send "step" signals?
A simple interface could be an Arduino via USB to handle the input/output but how to get Mach4 to talk to the Arduino?