Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Z-Star EX

Laptops do weird things sometimes, No experience, but you may
want to go into the CMOS setup and see if you can disable anything
that might be causing interupts such as power management, pcmcia
slots, internal modems, whatever else. Delete or rename your config.sys
and autoexec.bat files and see if that helps. What speed and processor
is it?

Bill

> Has anyone successfully used an old Zenith Z-Star EX notebook computer as

an

> engine for a CNC G-Code interepreter? I've got one with 8 Mbytes of memory
> running either DOS or Win 3.1. When running TurboCNC under pure DOS (from
> the boot up, windows is not even in the pictur), I find that I can't get
> reliable slewing beyond a few hundred steps per second. But, if I run the
> same program using my Sony PCG-F430, I can get reliable (and repeatable)
> slewing at about 4000 steps per second.
>
> I got my 'scope out and looked at the step pulse. With the Sony, the step
> pulse train was strong and showed no dither. With the Zenith, The pulse
> train showed some dither (looks like a pulse dropped) which, I believe,
> caused the motor to fail at anything but a low speed.
>
> I tried removing the driver for the J-Mouse and also the external CD drive
> that was attached, but these had no effect on the jerkiness. I'm thinking
> that, somewhere, there's an interrupt being serviced that is eating into

the

> time which should be spent sending the pulse train out to the motors.
>
> If anyone's had any luck with the Z-Star, I'd appreciate hearing what
> software you're running and what tricks you had to do to make it work for
> you.
>
> Thanks,
>
> -- Carol & Jerry Jankura
> Strongsville, Ohio
> So many toys, so little time....
>