Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] SuperCam & PCB Trace Milling Software

> Check out the PIC's, they will surprise you! VERY compact for small
> applications that need a bit of code, a bit of memory, I/O and even
> A/D's!

I've heard that alot lately. I think there is some really fantanstic things
that can
be done with them. I kind a regret that it is off course of the mission to
spend time on
delving into them. My sense of economics keeps me coming back to using the
common desktop as a real time controller, I know how ergo I do.

>
> Yeah, a good wrap with 1 and 1/2 turns of insulated wire, and 10 or so
> turns of bare WW wire will give you close to 40 "welds". Better then
> solder.

With alittle stretch of the imagination it was kind of like doing needle
point work.
After forty the old eyes gave out and that took the fun out of it. Wire
wrapping by
feel just wasn't the same.

> Lot less work, too! I need to see how the Width parm works in .DXF
> files. So you do the "layout" of the board in AutoCad? That could work
> for Vector CAD/CAM, too! Seems like it would be more work then a PC
> layout package, like Eagle? Have you tried Eagle? I printed out the
> 118 page manual, BOY is it DEEP! Gotta know about all kinds of stuff.
> I'm used to just drawing the schematic, and turning the layout over to
> the "board guys". OK, I think I (or the tech's) wire wrapped all of my
> designs before they went to boards, but I've only played with layout a
> little. Mostly to layout the sockets for the wirewrap!

There are DONUTS in AutoCad and any polyline can have a starting and
ending width. After a few hundred hours of doing it, it gets easier and is
merily difficult.

Circuit layout can be a tough act but if you can work with out physical
constraints the magnitude of difficulty can be greatly reduced. The great
thing
about the being the inventor is that you get to decide just how big the darn
board is going to be anyway, board size becomes a matter finese and cost.
I generally expect to pay between .50 and .60 per per square inch of circuit
board.

> I suppose all I'd have to do is use bigger darlington's, and a similar
> design. Even though the CY545's can do 4-phase, I have other hardware
> that expects step/dir, or cw/ccw. A simple darlington design would
> probably still be L/R, and not a chopper. Although not needed for
> Sherline, the higher power of bipolar drives could be useful elsewhere.

Consider HEXFET's as switches. They are far more efficient than
darlington's,
IFR540's have a much lower turn on resistance. There are HEXFET's now that
work with a 5 volt gate voltage.

> I don't know about killer app, but I have some parts that are greatly
> simplified if they are made on a rotary table. some crankshafts come to
> mind, and of course gears. I have a need for some bevel gears for a
> robotic "hand". I've built a hand (end effector) before, using nylon
> gears, that had to be machined and assembled with timing belt pulleys.
> And cutting cams/camshaft would be a breeze. Although some of that work
> CAN be done with CNC. I have some ring designs that would be great to
> engrave on the rotary table.

Point taken. I'll keep thinking on it.

> Movies? I'll have to look for that!

You will find them at:
http://www.super-tech.com/root/movies/default.asp


What's the Visual Basic DB and ASP

> for?

E commerce - wrote a shopping cart for my website. Linked a database to my
website.

Product? or do have several "hats"?
I am a one man band. I wrote a business information system for myself. Got
fasinated by Database programming when I realized that any drawing can be
considered as nothing more than a database of graphic objects and their
properties.
Thought I'd cross train myself and see if there was any feasablity of using
Visual
Basic as a programming language for motion control applications. My
conclusion
was that with PIC's and 8051's it can be, but then it would be nothing more
than
a user interface to an auxilary real time processor.

Yes, I have a website, and it

> needs a lot of attention! Always something more interesting to do!

Websites are like ham radio with show and tell. And sometimes the dog poops
in front of the whole class.

Dennis