[robertspark]

I think the uc300eth has a faster FPGA than the uc300usb. Hence the faster output speed available to drive motors.

[vmax549]

There is a big difference between a UC300 and a UC300ETH as far as the on board processor goes.

(;-) TP

[ger21]

But should it have an effect on the motion? If so, I stand corrected.

[A_Camera]

All the movements are buffered, so connection speed should have zero effect on movement.

Yes, but the buffer is not unlimited, it can be emptied pretty fast. With Ethernet you can fill the buffer much faster and keep a faster, smoother flow of data. That is the reason for the faster pulsing possibility. 100kHz in UC300USB and 400kHz with the UC300ETH.

Did you have reliability issues with the UC300?

No, not really. Occasionally it just stopped responding, like you can see it in this video:

https://youtu.be/L3jwsjl_mq8

At these occasions NOTHING happened, no control was possible and the motion was stopped. Mach3 must be restarted, even though, the actual USB communication was still ongoing according to my communication analyzer. OK, the cause of the stop in the recorded video may have been the fact that I was doing this video, screen capture video recording takes some CPU power, plus I did some other things in the background as well, but that was the first time it crashed during recording and none of the things I did in the background was new or unusual.

Anyway, Ethernet is much better, more reliable in terms of communication because error recovery is built in into the Ethernet protocol. In USB there is no error recovery, that is left to the application, and it seems that there is very little of that stuff in the Mach3 plugin. The other great advantage of Ethernet that it is electrically isolated from the rest of the network, even if you plug it in directly to your computer. Also the noise immunity is considerably better than the USB.

A UC100 was used for both Mach3 and UCCNC in this video. I saw the same comparison in person at his house.

I have absolutely no doubt that UCCNC plays a role and it handles even USB better that it does through the plugin provided for Mach3 but I will never find that out since I am not interested in buying a UCCNC license for the UC300USB I have.

[A_Camera]

The UC300ETH with the UCCNC is a real speed monster, and I hope that it is also with the Mach3 and that the Mach3 plugin becomes available soon.

Yesterday I finally managed to connect my new control box and removed the old one. This gave me an opportunity to test my speeds again and found the (almost) maximum usable speed for my machine. It can now also be confirmed that the UC300ETH is just as fast with Mach3 as it is with UCCNC. The test version of the Mach3 plugin is available and working, and the results are really promising. The maximum speed I can use is 8000mm/min on X, 10000mm/min on Y and 2500mm/min on Z. I know why the Y is better than the others. I am a little confused about why the Z is so slow, stalling at around 3000mm/min, but it isn't important since that is more than enough for me.

There are still some speed tests to do since I did not stall the Y, so perhaps it can go even faster. X is at maximum, it stalls if I run faster than 8500mm/min, so 8000 is the maximum I can safely use. I could increase the speed of X if I would increase the rigidity even more, I think the stalling happens because of axis vibration or resonance so perhaps later on, that is my next step of upgrade, once everything else is done. I think the slow speed of Z is connected to the same vibration/resonance. My Z is very well aligned and really well made, so there is nothing to improve in that respect, as far as I can see. My whole machine is on heavy duty rubber wheels, which may also have some negative effects, but once I am ready I will use fixed feet so that the shaking will be eliminated as well. Anyway, for now it has low priority since 2500mm/min up and down is fast enough, just like the other speeds, especially if something goes wrong...

Anyway, the Mach3 plugin shows that I get exactly the same speeds as with UCCNC, and honestly, during that one hour test run I could not see any difference in smoothness between UCCNC and Mach3, so unless I find a real serious issue with the plugin, I am pretty happy moving back to Mach3, since UCCNC seems to be "under development" and not ready yet for my needs.

[battwell]

my machine is faster :-) not bad for running on single phase 220v in my garage. pushing a gantry of 2000kg around. il never go back to mach3 with accuracy that uccnc has given me !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJmcugyW8xM

[dontpanic]

Thank you Camara, good to read your experience ! It is also interesting the comments you make about mach3 and uccnc.
When you say both run equally smooth, are you cutting 2D or 3D files ? Some folks complained about 3D on M3, but 2D
was fine.
I can say nothing about the stalls you experimented
because I do not know your mecahnics components and the ratios of reduction in each axis. I understand you
do not use servos, this is a stepper machine ?

regards

[dontpanic]

good video ! thanks for your experience.

[A_Camera]

my machine is faster :-) not bad for running on single phase 220v in my garage. pushing a gantry of 2000kg around. il never go back to mach3 with accuracy that uccnc has given me !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJmcugyW8xM

Faster than what? And is your machine also just a single 1605 pushing and pulling the gantry? Did you compare both Mach3 and UCCNC exactly the same way with exactly the same code using exactly the same hardware and electronics? How fast is your machine? Not a pissing contest, just curious what you mean by "my machine is faster" and how/what you compared.

[battwell]

see the smiley face after the words- my machine is faster- ?- means its said tongue in cheek.
i have mach 3 on 2 of my other fast routers - i was going to use it on this one if i didnt get on with uccnc. but to be fair- at speed this blows mach3 out of the game.
this is one of my work files being cut that has been cut hundreds of times on my mach3 machines. i can run it twice as fast using uccnc than i can mach3 (without rounding corners or breaking off the tiny sharp corners i require - see the narrow parts and how fine the points are on each end. shown above at 11m/minute cut rate.) using mach 3 i must switch to g61 exact stop mode for accurate cabinet work. using uccnc i machine everything in g64 constant velocity. - i havnt had to switch to exact stop once yet.
you say about mach3 with cutter radius comp. how many parts have you ruined through gouging? mach 3 g41/ 42 is useless when taking a large cutter into a segment smaller than the cutter radius - it will just gouge! it definately fails every time on the part shown in video thumbnail above. at the small segment shown just below where the tool is on the picture (as does most of the hobby software ive tested- fails in same place or throws an error. ) the only software ive used that can handle a move like that gracefully was old biesse software.
anyhow- through thousands of machining jobs and parts made with mach3 you get to know its weaknesses. to be fair to it- ive used it daily on my work machines- that would have been dead without it.
but in my experience - uccnc has got the functions it has just that bit better that makes it stand out to me. if your cutting slow it wont make much difference- but speed it up and the differences are vast!

[A_Camera]

see the smiley face after the words- my machine is faster- ?- means its said tongue in cheek.

Not easy to figure that out just because of a smiley, a smiley can be interpreted differently also.

Anyway, the fact that another machine is faster than mine doesn't really bother me at all. I am ONLY comparing my machine with my machine, not with what others use. Regardless of which, speed comparison between Mach3 vs. UCCNC is ONLY relevant if you compare with everything being the same and on the same machine. My initial impression was that UCCNC was much faster than Mach3, but that was compared with UC300USB on Mach3 vs. UC300ETH on UCCNC. Once the same controller was used the speed was the same. Note that I speak about rapids (G0) speeds.

So far I have zero cutting experience with UCCNC. I only use small cutters and have used Mach3 in exact stop mode because I do precision work, so I can't use constant speed. If constant speed with UCCNC really works as people say than I'll be very happy to use it. I have never had any issues with Mach3 regarding radius compensation, so for me that's a none issue. On the other hand, the lack of radius compensation in UCCNC is what keeps me from start using it for real plus the fact that it requires a lot of new macro which I don't have time to write right now.

[A_Camera]

Just uploaded a video showing the speeds I get. It is a test drawing and I am very pleased with the results. The letters "engraved" with the pen looks much better than the exact same letters engraved with Mach3, so I am very happy and I am convinced that once I start milling, even those results will be better than I get with Mach3.

https://youtu.be/_cJf9ZBYqo8

I settled for the following speeds:

X = 8,000mm/min
Y = 10,000mm/min
Z = 2500mm/min

Acceleration: 700mm/s/s

That seems to be very good and reliable. I could increase the Z even more, but I am not comfortable in doing that, so I keep it at as low as 2500mm/min for now. I think I know why I can't run the X faster than 8,000mm/min and will make some changes to my machine to be able to increase that to 10,000mm/min as well, but that's not high priority right now.

[A_Camera]

Unfortunately, Mach3 can't seem to be able to handle the same speed/acceleration. I made a test video with the same drawing as before and it was OK first time, but when I tried to draw once again Mach3 failed during a deceleration of X. I think it is a Mach3 bug, but at this time I am not 100% about it. Anyway, I have noticed this behaviour several times before also, it seems that with high deceleration/acceleration Mach3 fails in handling the situation and X axis pulsing suddenly stops. It seems always to have the same behaviour, I made a video about this also.

https://youtu.be/sX22OgJxnh0

In this video the speed and acceleration values are the same I use with UCCNC, which is:

X speed: 8,000mm/min
Y speed: 10,000mm/min
Z speed 2500mm/min
Acceleration: 700mm/s/s

It works with UCCNC but not with Mach3. Reducing acceleration to 600mm/s/s is the solution with Mach3. Not a huge reduction, but none the less, UCCNC is indeed faster.

[robertspark]

Can you provide some specs or a short video clip of your machine?

What ampage steppers, what voltage power supply, ballscrews, belts, rack & pinion? What pitch, any gearing / indirect drive.

Like the feedrates your getting for a xyz router spindle mill table.

Rob

[asuratman]

Hello A_Camera,
Do you recommend these products to be used with uccnc UC300ETH?
US Free! Wantai 4Axis Nema34 Stepper Motor Dual Shaft 1600oz-in&Driver 7.8A CNC

Hello battwell,
What drive, motor and bob do you use?

Thanks.

[daniellyall]

asuratman before you will get a answer what are the spec's for the stepper drivers to drive them, what is it driving mill, lathe or router what are your top Velocity requirement so on

[A_Camera]

Can you provide some specs or a short video clip of your machine?

What ampage steppers, what voltage power supply, ballscrews, belts, rack & pinion? What pitch, any gearing / indirect drive.

Like the feedrates your getting for a xyz router spindle mill table.

Rob

It's kind of complicated... the specs are constantly changing and improving, but here is a post which describes some of the specs at the bottom of the post:

Adapting Camera: CNC upgrade progress (mechanical parts)

I don't have a video specifically showing the machine but there are plenty on Youtube and on my blog (some are pretty old) showing the progress and different stages. Perhaps next weekend, or some times later, I'll make a video specifically showing the machine. On my blog there area at least 16 posts about different stages of my progress with the design and building, have a look if you are interested.

Adapting Camera

Some technical data of my current CNC

Material used (mainly, but not a complete list): 49x90 and 30x60 aluminum extruded profiles, 10mm, 12mm and 15mm thick aluminum plates, hundreds of stainless steel screws, T-slot nuts and bolts mainly in 5, 6 and 8mm diameters. Total weight is approximately 80kg, including wiring, motors and all the electronics and power supply. CNC fixed to its own feet with four lockable rubber wheels for ease of moving around. The machine is a moving table, fixed X beam type which provides high speed and very good stability/rigidity, but I have plans to improve even more. Of course, every improvement increases the weight as well.

Mechanical data:

Footprint (total area it is occupying in the room): 750 x 650mm
Table height from floor: 910mm
Y table size: 450 x 300mm
Weight of Y: 17,5kg
Working area: 310 x 270mm
Weight of X-beam: 13,7kg
Size of the X-beam (height x width): 500 x 540mm
Size of Z: 350 x 150 mm
Weight of Z: 8.5kg (old data, now probably about 14kg because the Z plate is larger and thicker and the spindle holder is also much larger and heavier than before)
Z clearance from table top: 135mm
Maximum X speed: 8,000mm/min
Maximum Y speed: 10,000mm/min
Maximum Z speed: 2,500mm/min (not a machine limitation but I feel uncomfortable when the Z moves faster down towards the table)
Acceleration: 700mm/s/s with UCCNC (don't want higher right now, but maybe later) and 600mm/s/s with Mach3 otherwise X deceleration fails (will have a look later why)
One direct driven 1605 ball screw on each axis
Fully supported 16mm round rods on each axis

Electrical data:

Stepper motor data: NEMA23 2.7V/phase, 3A, 1.6uh, 0.9 Ohm/phase
Stepper motor driver: DQ542MA
Power supply for stepper drivers: 43VDC 600W analog PSU based on toroidal transformer, equipped with slow starter
Power supply logic: 12VDC 7.5A industrial high quality switching supply
Power supply logic: 5VDC 2.5A industrial high quality switching supply
Motion controller: UC300ETH or UC300USB (can easily swap back if I want to)
RS485 interface: USR-TCP232-410S Serial RS232 and RS485 to TCP/IP Ethernet Modbus Client
Spindle motor: 400W 48V DC motor, maximum 12,000 RPM, 52mm diameter or 1.5kW 65mm diameter air cooled spindle (can swap easily if I want to) with ER11 collet
DC spindle motor power supply: 43VDC fed to a manual PWM speed regulator providing 10,000 RPM
Brushless spindle motor power supply: Bosch Rexroth EFC5610 VFD 1.5kW controlled via Modbus

Maybe I forgot some bits and pieces, but that is I think a pretty complete specification of how it is now.

[A_Camera]

Hello A_Camera,
Do you recommend these products to be used with uccnc UC300ETH?
US Free! Wantai 4Axis Nema34 Stepper Motor Dual Shaft 1600oz-in&Driver 7.8A CNC

Hello battwell,
What drive, motor and bob do you use?

Thanks.

See my answer above regarding the motors I use and other specs about my machine. The BOBs I am using (I have two in my control box) are just cheap ones similar to this one:

Neu 5 Achs CNC USB Breakout Board mit Optischen Koppler Schrittmotoren MACH3 | eBay

Regarding your link, no I would not buy that kit for several reasons, but remember that this is my opinion only.

I don't want switching supply any more. The one I built is in my opinion much better.
I don't like the way the motor shaft is machined down. I prefer round shaft, it provides larger gripping surface.

Other than that, I don't like to recommend anything unless I know something about the parts I recommend. In this case nothing in that kit is similar to mine and I have no idea what you want to use them for, and even if I knew that it would be difficult for me to penetrate all the details and see all the drawbacks or benefits of the parts. Generally, I think NEMA23 is enough in most cases, but like I said, I have no idea what you are going, or planning to do. Please start your own thread if you have a question about the hardware you want to use and don't hijack mine.

- - - Updated - - -

asuratman before you will get a answer what are the spec's for the stepper drivers to drive them, what is it driving mill, lathe or router what are your top Velocity requirement so on

Discuss that elsewhere, please.

[asuratman]

Discuss that elsewhere, please.

Sorry, I don't want to hijack this thread...I will discus my build here when I get home...

[robertspark]

Thanks v much AC, I'll have a read, digest and a look at your YouTube channel.