I have built many machines, and have three machines in operation in my shop/lab. Each controller PC I built myself. They all are running Windows 7 32bit at about 1.8Ghz.
The machines I build are very simple, and yes you can still purchase motherboards with parallel ports. I probably spent around $300 for the parts on each machine.
I prefer building may own PC for the CNC machines because, I can do it my way. No optical drives, proper filtered fans for cooling. One of the CNC machines cuts MDF every single day and has been doing so for well over a year.
Now that said, I use my laptop for testing and special projects. It has a USB SmoothStepper. I simply unplug the parallel cable from the original controller PC and plug it into my laptops SmoothStepper. Bam! I'm up and running.
I have also taken this laptop over to others shops and hooked it up to their CNC machines with success.
The SmoothStepper serves a purpose. But will this $175 device, Add anything special to a already working CNC controller. NO!
Author of: The KRMx01 CNC Books, The KRMx02 CNC Books, The KRmc01 CNC Milling Machine Books, and Building the HANS Electric Gear Clock. All available at www.kronosrobotics.com
I just hooked my CNC up to my Mac using a SmoothStepper. I am using VMFusion and windows7 32 bit. Im sure it would work with the 64 bit version as well.
Its a little laggy but it works.
Jog Control with Xbox Controller: Works
Jog Control with keyboard: Works
Probe: Works
Homing Switches: Works
Router Relay Control: Works
Router SuperPID control On and Off: Works
Router SuperPID speed cpntrol: Does not work
My Mac is a 2Ghz Mac mini with Lion Server.
Author of: The KRMx01 CNC Books, The KRMx02 CNC Books, The KRmc01 CNC Milling Machine Books, and Building the HANS Electric Gear Clock. All available at www.kronosrobotics.com
Gerry
UCCNC 2017 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2017.html
Mach3 2010 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html
JointCAM - CNC Dovetails & Box Joints
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html
(Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)
I tried the settings in the post, and pretty much get the same results. The speed does change but its so far out off that its useless. I am not using all the resistors to change the voltage as I am using a +5v as the ref voltage. This works fine without the smoothstepper so it should work with it.
Tommorow I will try a spindle calibration, but this has never worked in the past.
Author of: The KRMx01 CNC Books, The KRMx02 CNC Books, The KRmc01 CNC Milling Machine Books, and Building the HANS Electric Gear Clock. All available at www.kronosrobotics.com
Ok. After much playing around I was able to get the speed control to work or at least within 500RPM.
Apparantly the Spindle Calibration wizard is not compatible with the SmoothStepper. If you do try the calibration, be sure to remove the linearity.dat file as it will really mess things up.
Since you cant calibrate you have to adjust the min and max in the "Pulley Selection" form.
For the router I am using, I had to use a Min Speed of 1500 and Max Speed of 32000.
With these settings I get within a 200 RPM at the bottom and 500 or so near the middle and 1000 or so near the top. This is acceptable.
I will make the changes to my SmoothStepper setup project and let my folks know what I did.
This does bring up a point. If you can get your machine up and running without a SmoothStepper you will be better off on the long run. There are compatibility issues that may or not be overcome without some research. On the other hand if you don’t have a parallel port and can’t add one or are using a 64bit OS then your only choice is to use the SmoothStepper.
Personally, my preference is still a dedicated PC running a 32bit OS and parallel port. If you are doing any kind of production, this is the only way to go.
Author of: The KRMx01 CNC Books, The KRMx02 CNC Books, The KRmc01 CNC Milling Machine Books, and Building the HANS Electric Gear Clock. All available at www.kronosrobotics.com
Cut some gears today using my 30x27 KRMx02 machine.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov5j-y0qcM0]GearTest - YouTube[/ame]
The Video the left is cut with a DIY PC (Dual 3Ghz) with parallel port. The video on the right is my HP Envy (Dual 1.8Ghz) with SmoothStepper.
Both are running the same Gcode connected to the same G540, SuperPID and CNC. Part is cut at 100IPM with 1000IPM Rapids using a 3/16" Spiral bit.
Both were perfect and exactly the same.
Author of: The KRMx01 CNC Books, The KRMx02 CNC Books, The KRmc01 CNC Milling Machine Books, and Building the HANS Electric Gear Clock. All available at www.kronosrobotics.com
Excellent video, Thanks for sharing.
You can thank Gerry for this one. It was his link to the post that got me much closer to getting my machines setup for full control of the router, probe, Xbox controller, and all the other accessories.
Here is a link to the SmoothStepper project I provide for my book readers. I added the advanced settings project for those wanting full control of there router. Keep in mind other project on the site show the SuperPID wiring and configuration.
SmoothStepper Hookup
Author of: The KRMx01 CNC Books, The KRMx02 CNC Books, The KRmc01 CNC Milling Machine Books, and Building the HANS Electric Gear Clock. All available at www.kronosrobotics.com
Is your SuperPID firmware set up for manual control or Mach3 control?Ok. After much playing around I was able to get the speed control to work or at least within 500RPM.
Gerry
UCCNC 2017 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2017.html
Mach3 2010 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html
JointCAM - CNC Dovetails & Box Joints
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html
(Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)
Mach 3. Im pretty good at setting up the SuperPID. I have three of them, including the old one as well.
The current configuration on my two KRMx02 machines is that I have a run bypass and a pot/Mach3 switch so I can choose to go manual or Mach3. In POT mode its a little sensitive at the low end due to the Mach3 firmware loaded.
Im happy with the use of the SmoothStepper/G540/SuperPID. There are a lot of settings to get it correct. I was kind of supprised that I could not get my answers from the smoothstepper or SuperPID folks.
The cool thing is with my current setup you dont need any resistors. The G540 allows you to supply the ref voltage. If you want a 5v PWM signal then you provide 5v as the ref. I get mine from the SuperPID, which gets it from a regulated source.
I did some more tweaking and at 10000 RPM Im only off a couple hundred RPM. I can now move my laptop from machine to machine bypassing the production PC and run tests or tuneup confiurations.
The SmoothStepper is working well enough that I may do a chapter on it in my next book.
Author of: The KRMx01 CNC Books, The KRMx02 CNC Books, The KRmc01 CNC Milling Machine Books, and Building the HANS Electric Gear Clock. All available at www.kronosrobotics.com
Why don't you use the second port on the SS to get your PWM signal? It sounds to me like the G540 isn't providing a linear analog voltage.
Gerry
UCCNC 2017 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2017.html
Mach3 2010 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html
JointCAM - CNC Dovetails & Box Joints
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html
(Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)
I got it pretty close now. The goal here was not to add any hardware changes and to plug the SS between the G540 and the laptop.
To be honest, I have a couple routers that were a nightmare to get calibrated properly. However the use of the calibration wizard helped in those cases.
Author of: The KRMx01 CNC Books, The KRMx02 CNC Books, The KRmc01 CNC Milling Machine Books, and Building the HANS Electric Gear Clock. All available at www.kronosrobotics.com