Re: Re:EHP External Hardware Proposal

To all interested in the external hardware for stepper/servo control;

I have been using a stepper controller that I got from
http://www.eggertelectronics.com/
quite a while ago. It uses RS232 port, controlls 3 axis', lots of I/O,
and is somewhat smart.
Uses an 87C51 embedded controller, has amps on board. cost about
$100.00.

Simply send number of steps, speed, and direction to the controller and
it does the rest. Poll
the port for the finished moving flag and you know when it is done. I am
a really really bad
programmer, but even I wrote something halfway decent for it. I use it
on a old CNC lathe that
is now manual CNC only with no taper cutting (see below)

I am NOT suggesting that we use this board, because it has some definite
problems. First It can't
be used as a cnc control because it uses integers in its calculations so
while a X10 Y5 move is
possible (2 to 1 ratio) an X10 Y3 (3.3333333 to 1 ratio) is not
possible. Also it is a R/L drive
which I'm sure nobody wants.

I only bring this up on the chance you guys may get some ideas from
looking at the commands
required to control it, which are posted on his web site. He did mention
that he was working
on another board which will fix integer and R/L problems mentioned.

Bill