Re: Mach2 and parallel port cards - Dave

Thanks guys,

I need slower speeds, but more on and off relays.

I want to spritz tapping fluid, not spray or stream it out. so on
each hole, I need one spritz.

part clamp, spindle on, and a timer is tied into the spindle relay
and a counter on the clamp for hole count between bit replacement.

so I ran out of outputs, and those I do use are not high speed.

I think I run at 15khz on one motor as the max so even that is slow
enough to make it all work.

Dave

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, "caudlet" <info@t...> wrote:
>
> > Hi Art,
> >
> > can you elaborate a little ? does this mean you can use 2 (or
> more)
> > cards to run lots of motors ? or lots of I/O's ? I know there is
> > some limit, but 4 motors, 4 outs and 5 ins in kinda limiting.
> >
> > (address the Game port ?)
> >
> > I have 4 steppers now and would like to add a 5th. and would
like
> to
> > have a couple more outputs for clamps and flood, spray or drop
> > coolants.
> >
> > Dave
>
> Dave: I am currently running two parallel port cards in my MACH 2
> machine. I had to add the second card in order to have enough
inputs
> for the THC project. The PCI buss cards come with their own driver
> that does the Windows Plug'n Pray. Instead of putting the card at
> the next available standard port setting (0278h) it gets "smart"
and
> assigns some weird I/O address then remaps that address to LPT2.
> That's just great for things that use an LPT call for printing but
> not for programs that address the port directly. Art became aware
of
> the problem and included the ability in MACH 2 to assign any
address
> you want to the second port. Two cards give you 10 inputs and over
> twice that in outputs. While the PC will handle at least 3
parallel
> ports I don't think MACH 2 will do more than 2. There might be an
> issue with having to read all of those port pins every few
> milliseconds that is a limiting factor. Art can confirm/deny that
> allegation.
>
> You have to upgrade to MACH2 and It's somewhat of a culture shock
> after you get used to MACH1, but the good news is that unlike every
> other software company out there the upgrade is FREE!