[coils]

I'm posting this here because it doesn't deal with any certain brand, it's just general questions.

1- What's the differences of a Break Out Board and a Motion Control Board? To me they just seem to offer more inputs/outputs on MCBs.

2- I also see most MCBs use USB while BOBs use parallel ports, advantages & disadvantages of both?

3- I see prices all over the place, starting about $30 going up over $200, why?

4- Anyone got any suggestions which models of either of these are good ones? Like reliability, support, ease of setup (good manual). I know this one is mainly "person preference" but any info might help.

[ger21]

1) A breakout board is basically a board that "breaks out" the parallel port pins into screw terminals. More advanced versions can contain relays, speed control circuits and other things. A breakout board is used with a software controller that generates step and direction signals in software. The breakout board has no control over the machine. It just passes signals from the software to and from the devices connected to it.
A Motion Control Board will receive low level commands from the control software and actually generates the step and direction signals with it's on board processor(s). A motion controller will also typically handle things like homing and limit switches itself, rather than just feed the signals back to the software like a breakout board does.

2) Again, a BOB just passes the signals from the parallel port, which is what their purpose is.
Motion Controllers typically use either USB or ethernet. Ethernet tends to have better noise immunity, but a properly designed USB motion controller should perform just as well as an ethernet board.

3) Features, and capabilities.
A $20 breakout board just passes signals from the parallel port, and only uses a few electronic components.
A $600 motion controller may have 5x the number of inputs and outputs, have numerous additional features, and has processors to handle motion control tasks. A motion controller also needs software written specifically to control it, which can take hundreds of hours of development time.

4) Basically, the more you spend, the better you get. Anything from China is at your own risk.

PMDX makes arguably the best breakout boards. CNC4PC and Homann designs are popular alternatives.
The best Mach3 motion controllers are said to come from CS Labs. But there are plenty of other good ones, like the K-Flop, UC100 and UC300, Hicon, Smoothstepper, and many others.

[coils]

Thanks for the info and fast reply Gerry.
And thank you for adding the info about the Ethernet boards. So they can just be plugged right into the PC port?


I went to Automation Technology's site to look at some, but now I have a few more questions, and I'll add links to help explain why I'm asking them.

The first I liked was this one because it's in a nice case, and has screw terminals, but doing a quick net search there's no info on it. So I'm going to guess it's one of those "from China" and would be taking a chance on it.
4-Axis Motion Control Card USB2.0 Interface, CNC MACH3 USB Card XHC-MK4 | Automation Technology Inc

I was looking at the SmoothStepper brands too, and now looking at the Ethernet model too.
But with these I'm confused with all the pins around the edge, they look like they are for PC style ribbon cables, how do you hook these up? Or is there something extra you have to buy to make them into screw terminals?
And why do these have a printer port ribbon cable with it? Do they still get a signal through the printer port from the PC?
SmoothStepper USB Motion Control Board for Mach3 with cables | Automation Technology Inc
And the Ethernet one shows this cable too?
Ethernet SmoothStepper Motion Control Board for Mach3 with cables | Automation Technology Inc
Then I seen these, is this just a SmoothStepper with an added board for screw terminals? Seems big just to add screw terminals.
USB SmoothStepper Motion Control Board with Terminals for Mach3 | Automation Technology Inc
Ethernet SmoothStepper Motion Control Board with Terminals for Mach3 | Automation Technology Inc

As for the UC300, I have the same question about all the pins around the outside.
http://www.automationtechnologiesinc...ion-controller

I check out the PMDX but theirs looks like a fancy BOB that need to be added to to get the same results as the others above. Or am I missing something? Because a $174 BOB and needing to add another MCB for the same price seems a little much to me.
http://www.pmdx.com/PMDX-126

I also looked at the KFLOP, but I think info from the others will answer what I have on it.



Sorry for the long post and all the links, I will look at the manuals for all of these to help me decide, but input from those that have used them or know about them is also needed so I don't waste my money.

[ger21]

The first I liked was this one because it's in a nice case, and has screw terminals, but doing a quick net search there's no info on it. So I'm going to guess it's one of those "from China" and would be taking a chance on it.
4-Axis Motion Control Card USB2.0 Interface, CNC MACH3 USB Card XHC-MK4 | Automation Technology Inc

I first saw that board a few days ago when someone here was having issues with it. It turned out that he needed an updated plugin, which he was able to get from the manufacturer I think.
If you must buy a Chinese board, you're a lot better off buying from Automation Technologies than from Ebay, as you'll at least be able to get support.

I was looking at the SmoothStepper brands too, and now looking at the Ethernet model too.
But with these I'm confused with all the pins around the edge, they look like they are for PC style ribbon cables, how do you hook these up? Or is there something extra you have to buy to make them into screw terminals?
And why do these have a printer port ribbon cable with it? Do they still get a signal through the printer port from the PC?

The Smoothstepper and other boards use parallel port connectors to access their input and output pins. With a Smoothstepper, you typically would plug 2 or 3 separate breakout boards into the ribbon cables.

Then I seen these, is this just a SmoothStepper with an added board for screw terminals? Seems big just to add screw terminals.

It seems big because the Smoothstepper is rather small.3

As for the UC300, I have the same question about all the pins around the outside.

Like the Smoothstepper, but you can plug up to 5 breakout boards into it, or plug it's optional motherboard into it.

I check out the PMDX but theirs looks like a fancy BOB that need to be added to to get the same results as the others above. Or am I missing something? Because a $174 BOB and needing to add another MCB for the same price seems a little much to me.
PMDX.COM - Products for CNC and motion control applications

The PMDX-126 is just a breakout board. As I said, it's considered the best bob available. You can either plug it into 1 or two parallel ports, or plug it into a Smoothstepper, which can actually mount on the 126.

Again, you get what you pay for. With the PMDX, you can pick up the phone and call them if you have a problem. With a Chinese board, you usually get a thin manual that's poorly translated from Chinese.

[coils]

I first saw that board a few days ago when someone here was having issues with it.

Was that on here? If not got a link to where it was? Would like to look into this one some more, but I'm still 50/50 about it.

The Smoothstepper and other boards use parallel port connectors to access their input and output pins. With a Smoothstepper, you typically would plug 2 or 3 separate breakout boards into the ribbon cables.

I'm not sure if I'm understanding this right or not, but with you saying "With a Smoothstepper, you typically would plug 2 or 3 separate breakout boards into the ribbon cables" do you mean you actually need a BOB or does the printer port cable(s) acts like a BOB? Sorry this just confused me, and I want to make sure.

It seems big because the Smoothstepper is rather small

OK didn't realize it was that small


This is for the UC300

Like the Smoothstepper, but you can plug up to 5 breakout boards into it, or plug it's optional motherboard into it.

If you look at the link above, it looks like it's MCB & motherboard in one package?




From what your saying I wouldn't mind spending the little extra on the PMDX-126 seeing how much it can be expanded down the road.
But I was looking at the manual and I think it's really weird they only offer a "90 day from date of sale" warranty, this seems odd.



Well now you got me thinking I should just get a higher end BOB and decide of I want to expand off of it later on.
Just to let everyone know, I have a G540 now, but I'm wanting to upgrade or go a different route.

[ger21]

I'm not sure if I'm understanding this right or not, but with you saying "With a Smoothstepper, you typically would plug 2 or 3 separate breakout boards into the ribbon cables" do you mean you actually need a BOB or does the printer port cable(s) acts like a BOB? Sorry this just confused me, and I want to make sure.

The Smoothstepper has no terminals to connect your motors and switches, so you either need a breakout board, or make your own. There's an exception here that I'll get to at the end of this post.

If you look at the link above, it looks like it's MCB & motherboard in one package?

Yes, my mistake. The motherboard is part of the package. But like the Smoothstepper, there are no terminals, so you plug multiple breakout boards into it to connect your devices to it.

A G540 actually contains it's own type of breakout board. You can plug the G540 directly into one port of a Smoothstepper , and add a breakout board on another port for additional IO.

[coils]

OK I completely misunderstanding these, I was thinking they were basically higher end BOBs. But they work with BOB(s) for better performance and more options.

So with that said I guess I'm going to look at BOBs first and find one I like, with as many features as possible and in my budget. Then add to it later as I can.
Looking at that PWDX one got me interested in it too, I like how so many things can be added right to it instead of taking up more space in the box. I'll have to do some more research and see what I can find.

Just to let you know I want to replace the G540 with individual components, I know it will cost more in the long run but I feel the G540 limits what can be done with it compared to a separate BOB and drivers. I might be wrong but that's how I see it?


Thank you very much Gerry, I appreciate the time you took to answer all those questions.