Re: Still a little unclear

Jon, you have made some of the process a lot clearer and my humble
thanks for that. I will digest further now your post and all the others
to try and make it crystal clear. Thanks once again

Don

Jonty50@... wrote:

>
> From: Jonty50@...
>
> In a message dated 5/20/99 1:24:23 AM Eastern Daylight Time, pencad@...
> writes:
>
> <<
> Am I right in assuming that there are many various ways in getting a DXF
> file or whatever format to the machine for processing. From what I
> believe thus far, I can produce with my CAD a file that can be
> translated into code by a CAM program and then at this point I become
> unsure of the "various" means of getting that information to the
> machine. I have downloaded many demo programs from the CAM side of the
> house, and these have helped me to get somewhat comfortable with the g
> and m codings.
> >>
>
> Probably the simplest and cheapest way to get into the CNC/CAM game is to use
> a program such as "stepster" (freeware) or DeskNC (cheap shareware). Both
> these programs (and others I haven't tried or mentioned) convert the G code
> file into a series of pulses that are sent to the parallel port. These pulses
> at the port are very weak, the purpose of the driver board which connects to
> the parallel port is essentially to amplify the pulses to a voltage and
> amperage adequate to run a stepper motor.
>
> You basically tell DeskNC how many pulses in which direction it takes to move
> your machine one inch in a given axis. In my particular case it takes 4000
> pulses/inch in the X and Y axes and 8000 steps per inch in the Z axis, keep
> in mind that these numbers are determined by the characteristics of the
> motors themselves (how many pulses per revolution) and by the characteristics
> of the machine to which the motors are connected (how many revolutions of the
> motor shaft to move one inch). DeskNC then reads the G code file and converts
> a command for a given move (eg: 1 inch left on the X axis) into the correct
> number of pulses and the direction signal to "make it so"..
>
> The flow of the overall system is rather like this:
>
> (in your computer) CAD program outputs DXF file >>> DXF file converted to
> GCode >>> GCode to DeskNC >>> DeskNC to parallel port pins >>> (now we move
> out of the computer) >>> parallel port pins to driver board/amplifier >>>
> driver board/amp to stepper motors >>> stepper motors to translation
> mechanism in your machine (can be ball screws, belts, gears, steel cable
> wrapped around a drum or what have you.
>
> Hope this helps... I've spent a considerable amount of time puzzling all this
> out pretty much by myself and wish that I had a forum such as this during the
> process.
>
> The problem with much of the hobbyist/inexpensive hardware/software is that
> it is often rather sparsely and cryptically documented, assuming a great deal
> of knowledge of the subject that the beginner (those most likely to be using
> such wares) usually lacks.
>
> Jon Croad in Atlanta, GA
>
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