RE: 1st of many home-built CNC

Hello Joe;

I found the MicroKinetics software to be the best finished low end package,
but it must be used with their board. Also, it does not work well with
large motors because there is no ramping in jog mode (so it loses steps).
One advantage of this system is that the board is optoisolated - something
you should have if you are controlling a plasma torch.

EMC is powerful and free but best suited for someone who likes to tinker.
You really need to be a programmer of sorts to work with it. As it develops
further, I suspect this will be less of an issue.

CNC-Pro is reliable, mostly bug-free and runs fast - real fast. It's cheap,
powerful and Doug Yeager keeps improving it. I looked at DeskNC, Ahha and a
few others but finally went with CNC-Pro for the reasons mentioned.

If you were using small motors or didn't need the jog function I have a
Microkinetics board and software I would sell cheap.

Doug Harrison

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joe Vicars [SMTP:jvicars@...]
> Sent: Monday, January 31, 2000 10:31 AM
> To: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@onelist.com
> Subject: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] 1st of many home-built CNC
>
> From: Joe Vicars <jvicars@...>
>
> Greetings,
> I am new to this list and hope to be able to contribute and benifit.
> I am building a 2 axis (rotary/linear) plasma cutter.
> The Mechanicals are 99% complete and I am getting ready to implement the
> controls. I am using surplus steppers and drivers, and
> trying to decide on which software controller to use (freeware or what?).
> Drivers are Anaheim unipolar bi-level with integrated
> power supply. Motors are old unipolar slo-syn (180 step/rev.)
> I have hooked everything up and jogged the motors using DanCad. But
> DanCad will not let me import the complex toolpaths I
> need to get the desired results. (getting from .dxf to G-Code) I am not
> an electircal guy. I have built several machines but
> this is the first NC.
> I am worried about a couple of things and was hoping to get some input
> that may help me prevent any damage to my equipment.
> Number one is the HF of the plasma. I am using a Lincloln Pro-Cut 55.
> I am worried that the firts time I fire up the
> plasma arc that the controls will go haywire. Do I have to physically
> separate the machinery from the computer? Sheilding or
> what?
> Number two is the multiple solenoid switching. I have three separate
> solenoids for automatic chuck, bar feed, and plasma
> trigger. I plan to use solid state relays (logic triggered) and AC
> solenoids. I also understand that activating a solid state
> relay is not a simple as just hooking +5 and COM.
> So far I have copies or demos of DeskNC, ProCAM, DanCad, Stepster, and
> Practical CNC (P_CNC_D) I really don't care which
> controller I use and I am willing to pay a few bucks if the shareware
> can't do the job. Any reccomendations on where to go with
> controllers?
> Any suggestions or experience would be a great help.
> Thanks.
> Joe Vicars
>
> Dan Mauch wrote:
>
> > From: "Dan Mauch" <dmauch@...>
> >
> > I had one other customer run into this problem. It was a solder bridge
> under
> > the socket. There should only be continuity with the Chips removed
> between
> > pins 18 and 19.
> > bet that is the problem
> >
> > Dan
> > --
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> Welcome to CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@...,an unmoderated list for the
> discussion of shop built systems in the above catagories.
> To Unsubscribe, read archives, change to or from digest.
> Go to: http://www.onelist.com/isregistered.cgi
> Log on, and you will go to Member Center, and you can make changes there.
> For the FAQ, go to http://www.ktmarketing.com/faq.html
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> List Manager