Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] running the BDI EMC on a real machine

Les,

Comments interspersed...

> Ordered the card and am now trying to find cables and breakout boxes. I
> don't like Mouser's price very much.
> STG ought to sell cables and stuff.

I used CW 50 con. Socket to Socket cables from Digikey ($10ea for 36"). The
connectors come off, so the cable can be shortened if the length is too
long. I think Doug Harrison at CNCkits had the 50pin breakout box I was
looking at.

> I have a question for you-
> Did you only use 2 of the 50 pin connectors for 3 or 4 axis
> EMC? I note axis 0-3 DAC outputs and encoder inputs are
> all on one connector and digital i/o on another.

Yes, I used only the two connectors P1 and P2. I split the 50con. wire for
the amps/encoders, and ran the encoders to one 25pin D-sub, the amps to
another 25pin D-sub. The IO runs directly to a 16IO Grayhill Opto22 clone.
(www.ControlForLess.com)
The home switches are tied to the same address as the respective axis
negative limit in stg2.c so that four axes could fit on the 16IO board. (No
spindle control) When homing, a limit exceeded error pops up, but doesn't
affect the home, and is cleared easily by pressing 'return'. The enable
outputs are 'port c' addresses, so the cable needs to be split and some
wires shifted to lower pin numbers on the connector, to fit the 16IO board
scheme.
The e-stop is not connected to EMC's e-stop at this time. Instead, I'm
using the EMC amp fault sense connected to the FX drive IO, which signals
motor stop/fault when E-stop is hit. I didn't want to use the parallel port
for my IO, but have yet to modify the EMC IO task portions to access the
Servo-To-Go card IO. Not as straight-forward as it seemed at first :)

- Keith




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