Smart box / Dumb box was: Re: Signal gen Interface

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@egroups.com, "Mariss Freimanis"
<geckohall@h...> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> The dumb box, smart box thing.
>
> I come down on the dumb box side. You already have a smart box;

it's

> the PC. It can calculate moves in 14 different dimensions a million
> times a second; why replicate it? You have paid for it, make it do
> the smart stuff.
>
> What it can't do is output in real time very well, especially while
> in WINanything.
>
> That's where the dumb box comes in.
>
> A cheap (<$100) dumb box can be very fast. It should put out

multiple

> axis pulses at a rate no sane person would use. The pulses would be
> perfectly spaced and accurate.There would be
> unobservable "staircasing" while acel/decel.
>
> A smart box is a losing proposition. Doing smarts in hardware is

very

> expensive and locks you in regarding future changes.
>
> Mariss
>

I agree with you on the dumb box. It seems to me the people who want
the smart box are programmers who want to write there own routines to
talk to the box and do not want to use a cam program.

The only good reason for making a smart box is for super high
performance. These controls sell for $6000.00 or so. I would not
mind having this box but it will take a long time to make it
reality. I still say start simple.


Wally K.