Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re[1]: bridgeport boss conversion questions.

> From: Terry L. Ridder <terrylr@...>
> matt> 1. Where are you?
>
> de kalb, il. home of northern illinois university.
> 62 west of chicago.

OK, I'm in Baltimore, that's only a 12 hour drive ;)

> matt> 2. Are these machines currently running?
>
> yes, there are 4 machines currently running and 2 other
> machines are being cannibalized for cards as needed.

If it's not broke...

> matt> 3. Does the customer want to do all of them at once, or does he want

to

> matt> cannibalize one or two to get the other ones running on their

original

> matt> controls and then retrofit the donor machines with the new controls?
>
> the customer would like to convert all machines at once.
> there is a chance that he would also like to rebuild 2
> other machines which he has been cannibalizing for cards.

If the two donor machines have their axis drives intact, it might even be
best to start with them since they're already offline.

> the customer has 4 to 6 old pentium pc's which can be used
> for the conversion. i seem to remember him saying that they
> were 100mhz pentiums. they would need more memory since they
> were stripped down to 8 megabytes of memory. so the cost of
> pc's is low.
>
> i personally would rather use and recommend linux and emc.
> i have also heard from jon. i was not aware that jon was
> working on an external box so emc would integrate easier
> into a conversion of this type. i may recommend to the
> customer that:
>
> a) we wait for jon and the external box
> b) work with jon developing the external box
> c) go with linux and emc now with operating
> restraints while waiting for jon.

Well, if this was multiple choice question, I'd take:

d) All of the above

Unfortunately, I'd guess that if you pursue item c on the above list using
100MHz P1's, you're looking at a rapid feed rate of 30-60 ipm without the
external hardware. I drew up a preliminary schematic a while back of what I
thought the EMC to BOSS interface should look like as far as e-stop, spindle
control, etc. Send me your phone number and I'll give you a call tomorrow.
I'm better on the phone than I am at the keyboard.

Matt