Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Setup for stepping on revolution counter

The project you've described sounds to me like it needs to be done in a
microcontroller that receives commands from a Visual
Basic application and not try to do this all in Visual Basic.

If you must program in Basic you probably should take a look at a Basic
Stamp from Parallax or one of the products that work the same way. I would
suggest the modules from Basic Micro. They cost a lot less than $200 !

With these, you could control a stepper motor and read the switches in the
external hardware. The Visual Basic program would have a lot less work to do
and the steps from the motor would be a lot smoother. You could talk to the
box via the standard PC serial port for now. In the future the serial port
won't be there so you'll be forced to use USB or 1394 or Bluetooth wireless
as the standard PC external interface. There's always the PCI plug in card
option for desktops or PCCard interfaces for laptops.

If you don't use a standard Windows communication port like a COM port, or a
hardware interface via USB or other device driver, then you'll have to have
a device driver that grants you direct I/O access to whatever port your
hardware is on. For example, if you were planning on doing this with the PC
parallel port, you'll either have to go through Windows parallel.sys device
driver, or go through the Windows print manager driver ( not advisable on
either option ) or get a device driver that will let your Ring 3 application
access hardware directly like it was running at Ring 0. Giveio.sys or
Winio.sys are two I would suggest you search for on the web. You'll find
instructions and programming examples. This assumes of course you are going
to use Windows ME or later. Windows 98 and older will let you do direct port
I/O without a device driver.

Art's Mach1 engine OCX is a good option as has been mentioned.

In about 10 minutes you could download Winio and do this via the parallel
port using his provided DLL interface on Win2K or XP.

http://www.internals.com/

There's also the USB serial or parallel port adapters and the FTDI 245 based
USB modules on the market you could easily use.

http://www.dlpdesign.com/

http://www.ftdichip.com/

later,
Larry Edington

----- Original Message -----
From: "Pablo Roufogalis L." <proufo@...>
To: <CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 08, 2003 3:13 PM
Subject: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Setup for stepping on revolution counter


> Hello to all.
>
> I need to code a visual basic routine that would do a number of steps
triggered by a sensor that counts turns. Sensor is likely to be optical.
>
> Is there a simple setup for this?
>
> I need it to be from VB as the number of steps is determined by a separate
software.
>
> I'd hate to do loops in VB to check the sensor signal, would rather have
some sort of trigger device/code.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
>
>
> Addresses:
> FAQ: http://www.ktmarketing.com/faq.html
> FILES: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO/files/
> Post Messages: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com
>
> Subscribe: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
> Unsubscribe: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> List owner: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO-owner@yahoogroups.com, wanliker@...,
timg@...
> Moderator: pentam@... indigo_red@... [Moderators]
> URL to this group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO
>
> OFF Topic POSTS: General Machining
> If you wish to post on unlimited OT subjects goto:
aol://5863:126/rec.crafts.metalworking or go thru Google.com to reach it if
you have trouble.
> http://www.metalworking.com/news_servers.html
>
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jobshophomeshop I consider this to be a
sister site to the CCED group, as many of the same members are there, for OT
subjects, that are not allowed on the CCED list.
>
> NOTICE: ALL POSTINGS TO THIS GROUP BECOME PUBLIC DOMAIN BY POSTING THEM.
DON'T POST IF YOU CAN NOT ACCEPT THIS.....NO EXCEPTIONS........
> bill
> List Mom
> List Owner
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>