Re: BP Retrofit - Major Fork In The Road?

Hi Mark - I'm pretty much at the same point you are. I've got an
older Kondia CNC mill that I purchased sans electronics and motors.
I was originally planning to use Geckodrive or Rutex step/dir amps to
drive servos, and run it all from either the parallel port, or one of
Jon Elson's step ouput boards. Before I was able to buy all these, I
found a very nice, barely used Galil 4 axis usb based controller at a
downsizing auction of a large company. Now I've changed plans -- I'm
going to try to use the Galil controller with EMC, by
modifying/rewriting the motion controller module to simply send the
controller periodic setpoints in place of the usual calculations and
step generation. I may be nuts, but I've got a pretty good grasp of
C and embedded programming, so all I have to do is learn linux ;)

I know it's not user friendly, but depending on your programming
skills, something like the above might make a pretty fun project with
your Aerotech board. Otherwise, I think your best bet would be to
get a set of Rutex step/dir -> analog +-10 boards, and use them with
the parallel port, or Jon's step board. That way you can have your
pick of controller software. I wouldn't bother with the Aerotech
software unless it either isn't very expensive (~= cost of rutex
boards + Jon's board), or it supports some features not availible in
the current crop of hobby control packages.

- Cameron

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, "natchamp_87" <mark@h...>
wrote:

> Thanks CS, I had originally loked at John's board and using EMC.
> John seems like a great guy to work with but working with EMC (even
> with BDI) did not appear to be very user friendly. Has that
> changed? The Aerotech board I have puts out analog outputs, it's
> the interface software that is the issue. It seems like all the
> reasonably cost software is based on step/dir. That's why I was
> considering using one of them, for the good user interface, and the
> Rutex boards to be able to run a brushless servo system.
> Mark
>