[Mr.Chips]

OK, What do you do when you have used X,Y,Z and A to drive the 2nd Y screw and you want to add the 4th axis?

Thanks

Hager

[H.O]

It depends on what hardware you have and what else (if any) you might be using your outputs for. A single LPT-port has 12 outputs and 5 inputs (when used as port1 with Mach3) so it is possible to drive 6 axis with a single port. So, why not slave B to Y and use A as the 4th axis.

/Henrik.

[Mr.Chips]

I didn't think that you could tie two steppers to one output, if that can be done then it is an easy fix.

I will be using Mach3 and CandCNC UBOB for controller and Gecko 251's as drivers.

Thnaks

Hager

[H.O]

Hmm....I think you might have misunderstood me... You can feed two drives with the same step and direction signals but it is not advisable to connect two motors to a single drive.

What I meant was something like this:
Pin2 & Pin3: X-Axis S/D
Pin4 & Pin5: Y-Axis S/D
Pin6 & Pin7: Z-Axis S/D
Pin8 & Pin9: A-Axis S/D
Pin14 & Pin16: B-Axis S/D (Slaved, in software, to Y)

Then you have pin1 and pin17, which are outputs as well, available for whatever you like.

However, looking at the UBOB it seems that it only provides 8 "high speed" outputs and that its 'port-stretch feature' inhibits you from using the other outputs as step & direction signals for your fifth drive.... :-( You might want to check with CandCNC though!

/Henrik.

[Mr.Chips]

Hmm....I think you might have misunderstood me... You can feed two drives with the same step and direction signals but it is not advisable to connect two motors to a single drive.

What I meant was something like this:
Pin2 & Pin3: X-Axis S/D
Pin4 & Pin5: Y-Axis S/D
Pin6 & Pin7: Z-Axis S/D
Pin8 & Pin9: A-Axis S/D
Pin14 & Pin16: B-Axis S/D (Slaved, in software, to Y)

Then you have pin1 and pin17, which are outputs as well, available for whatever you like.

However, looking at the UBOB it seems that it only provides 8 "high speed" outputs and that its 'port-stretch feature' inhibits you from using the other outputs as step & direction signals for your fifth drive.... :-( You might want to check with CandCNC though!

/Henrik.

Thanks Henrik for calaifing that. Yep i think i need to run it by CandCNC.

Hager