Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Wish list

At 01:57 PM 4/5/2000 -0500, Jon Elson wrote:

>
>
>Eric Keller wrote:
>
>>

<snippage and reformatting>

>> I have come to like the idea of replacing the us digital chips with
>> pics, but i'm not sure how many axes one could read reliably with a
>> pic. are you planning an 8 axis board?

<more snippage>

>My personal view is to replace all 8 encoder counters with one Xilinx
>chip, with all the necessary logic in it, and solve a number of
>problems with the US digital chip at the same time. (The way the
>index pulse is handled in the US digital 7166 is pretty poor.)
>
>Jon

Jon, how does that replacement compare pricewise? Maybe people who
are more interested in DRO than CNC could buy your Xilinx chip to
handle the encoders, and use a PIC to manage user interface and
display tasks if they didn't have room for a PC.

Also, do you plan to use the MAX547 octal D/A chip, or a pair of
quads with external buffers? I had a real case of sticker shock when
I looked up the price; $70 from DigiKey, who didn't have any in stock.

Last question, for now. Will these be kit form or preassembled?

Jim