[Teyber12]

Thanks for the quick response. Being a newbie I would feel more comfortable with a plug and play system but at the same time I would like the knowledge and experience of doing the wiring myself. Guess I'll have to ponder some more

cough 203v's :wee:

[Torchhead]

yngndrw,

Gecko is coming out with a new stepper drive with a USB interface in the very near future.

I doubt Gecko is going to invest in what you are asking for when the technology product life cycle is nearly over.

Jeff...

USB has technical limitations for CNC control. While you can build an interface that will give 4 axis of reliable step & dir for spinning motors, the timing of any feedback (inputs) becomes non-realtime. That creates problems if you want to do anything that approaches a quasi-servo loop (aka THC, spindle speed feedback or lathe spindle positioning).

We have offered for over 8 months a product based on the G250 (similar to a G540) but could be expanded to 5 axis. You could hardware slave two axis so the 5th axis could still come from PORT1. (or run it from a second parallel port if you needed a true 5 axis output). In the entire span of the 8 months not a single 5th axis unit or extra "blade" was ever ordered. The newest design we released last month only has options for up to 4 axis.

TOM Caudle
www.CandCNC.com

[Mariss Freimanis]

There is a misunderstanding here and I need to correct with a little bit more information than I had wanted to give at this time.

Yes, we are working with a 3rd-party motion control firm. We are working with them to create a G540-like product with the same drive specs but containing this embedded controller.

The best way to describe it is it will be a "CNC player" much like an mp3 device is a music player. The "music" recorded to the SD card will be for 4 axis of motion updated 1,024 times a second. This is very similar what the G100 does; output a series of motion vectors to the "tune" of 1,024 per second.

The "song" will be generated by a CNC program, the "vocal artist" will be the application run on the CNC program. It will be "recorded" to this G540-like device's SD card. Unlike an mp3, the song can be paused (motion decelerates to a stop), restarted (motion accelerates back up), played backwards or started anywhere in the middle and played as many times as needed. The song length can exceed 6 hours with an inexpensive 4GB SD card and most important, it does not need a PC to to play.

The main utility of this G540-like device will for repetitive motion control applications. Say your business is hot-wire cutting foam RC model kits. You need thousands and each is exactly the same as the next. Plug in the SD card for that particular kit model, hit "play" and the G540-like device will carve out as many as you need. No PC is employed.

Bitter note:-) Mach3 would have been nice for the CNC program but it's not. I tried, it could have been a good fit. Many thousands of CNC licenses will now go elsewhere.

Did I miss any music analogies or did I get them all?

Mariss

[Torchhead]

This appears to be the same approach that was done a year or two back (before the "Brain" approach) where a processor chip(s) was used to build a totally self contained CNC controller. It would take g-code via an SD card, and move the motors. It had the prerequisite e-stop and limit inputs and it had a elementary user interface. It was, if I remember, about 500 bucks. It did not (and could not) use MACH as the UI.

I know the bigger market is the industrial controls world but the DIY crowd does not easily sort that out.

The music analogy was that it never climbed the charts and was not a hit in this market so faded into obscurity.:rainfro:

TOM Caudle
www.CandCNC.com

Aside to Mariss: We just picked up two working Panasonic P & P machines along with enough spare parts to almost build a 3rd one. I have no illusions about how hard it's going to be to set these back up and get them running our cards. (chair) . We have a CNC controlled automatic solder paste dispensor machine built (VS doing the screening process) and a conveyor reflow oven. Just those two items have cut our SMT assembly time in half.

[Mariss Freimanis]

Tom,

So it was kind of like a one hit wonder?

Mariss

[Torchhead]

Sorta like the Roberta Flack rendition. Never made the top 10 and only stayed on the charts a few days.

[Teyber12]

Tom,

So it was kind of like a one hit wonder?

Mariss

I think it sounds like a Great idea and would buy one myself

But- how would you zero the toolpeice evertime and all that jazz?

[Mariss Freimanis]

It has a canned home routine.

Mariss

[.xXACEXx.]

i still say all you guys with electronics in your brains.... ROCK!!

i can only read with amazement

[Mariss Freimanis]

Uh,.. We have rocks in our brains?.. Let me shake my head.. Yeah, it rattles like there's rocks inside... Duh,.. I don't remember eating any.. :-)

Mariss

[Mariss Freimanis]

"Aside to Mariss: We just picked up two working Panasonic P & P machines along with enough spare parts to almost build a 3rd one."

Tom,

We have 3 Juki 760s here. We pay $10,000 a year for a service contract on these machines. That means a Juki service technician comes around 6 times a year to tune the machines up and is on call 24/7 the rest of the time. He is worth his weight in gold.

As you know, P&P machines are very complex pieces of equipment. They require regular maintenance to keep them in top form. Almost anything can cause them to malfunction and be "down". The smallest of things: nozzle pick-up error, laser parts centering, just a myriad of things.

I wouldn't put up with it except for the fact they "earn" $400K a month. Any worker that brings in that much money is a worker that deserves the best treatment possible.

Our schedule is we have two low-time machines and one high-time machine. The high-time one need more service than the others. Stuff starts going wrong on it more often than it does on the other two. The machines cost $250K new and we got them for $50K average. Each earned its keep in two weeks and that was 2 years ago. When the eldest becomes more expensive to keep than the younger ones we will sell and replace it.

If you plan to set up an SMT line, don't screw around with a cantankerous machine. Life is to short to deal with those sorts of problems. It's like buying a 1980 car for $1K only to find the sucker drains you for $500 a month in repairs. You can do it yourself and save $$$ but your function is not to be a repair man. The "drain the swamp vs. wrestle with alligators" thing. Get a good, low-time machine. Get an annual factory authorized technician service contract. He takes care of the machine, the machine then makes you money.

Mariss

[Shanghyd]

...they "earn" $400K a month.

:wee:

Takes me 20 years to make that. When I'm reincarnated I want to be a CNC machine.

[Mariss Freimanis]

It would wear you out placing 3 parts per second all day to an X,Y accuracy of +/-0.001" no matter how much you made.:-)

Mariss