Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Boss 5 retrofitting project

Hi Nathan,

It is a good idea to have some sort of buffer/breakout board between the
PC and the Geckos. More and more modern motherboards are going over to
3.3V parallel ports which won't directly drive the Geckos. Ideally you
also want the breakout board to have opto-isolated inputs. Optos
drastically reduce electrical noise and noise problems can be a real
PITA to find and cure.

If you need 3D contouring you have 3 options really:

DeskCNC http://www.deskcnc.com/ Windows based. This uses a hardware
pulse generator that would take the place of the breakout board. I have
no hands-on experience with this so I can't say how good the software
is. Price $350

EMC - Linux based and can be a pretty steep learning curve. The
advantage is that it is free.

Mach2 http://www.artofcnc.ca/ Windows 2000/XP based. Absolute minimum
processor is 500MHz. Mach2 is very configurable and has very good
support. Price $150

> (lots of fast really tiny moves) would be even better. By the way,
> I've seen things that say 2.5 axes, what is half an axis anyway?

Les





rocketscientistnate wrote:

> Thanks for all the info guys. My Gecko 201's are on the way. I'm
> going to try to reuse the power supply, and I can dig up an old pc
> pretty easily. Do I need anything between the PC and Geckos? Les
> mentioned a breakout board and gave a web address, does it need to
> be that one, or would any work. I've seen different software
> packages discussed on here, but at the time I was just thinking of
> something to generate g-code, not actually run the machine. What
> are the advantages and disadvantages of each. I want something that
> will run g-code, because this is how I write most programs, but
> conversational is good too. Price is definitely a factor. I want
> something that can do 3d contouring, and high speed 3d contouring
> (lots of fast really tiny moves) would be even better. By the way,
> I've seen things that say 2.5 axes, what is half an axis anyway? I
> plan to take pictures and post the entire process on my web page
> (www.clymermachine.com) but the way I get around to those things, it
> will probably be a couple weeks before I get that done.
>
> Nathan Clymer
>