now Breakout boards

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, "alphawolf45" <haushahn@c...>
wrote:

>
> Really really excellent manners Dave..I commend you on list despite
> yer warnings aganst it -caint help myself.I am impressed with your
> tact.

Thanks

> Hey but I got a question..Bad need an answer to this'un.I want to
> buy a breakout board but am confused by the language used to

describe

> them.

I can't speak directly to Bob's breakout board because I have never
used one.

What it offers is an onboard power supply and I like the PC power
supply.

It also offers manual movement of the axis. Again, I never plan on
doing manual movement so it is not something that piques my interest.

since I made my own board, I just did a little research into what I
needed.

I'm using Geckos for one machine and a Xylotex on another and my own
super simple full step on a third.

The Gecko's have on-board optos so the output pins for those are not
isolated. redundancy is not needed.

I also used relays for my outputs to other relays. So, I used
seperate 2N222 transistors to drive DIP on-board relays. That too
did not need optos.

That leaves the 5 inputs, the e-stop, home and end switches. And
there I realized I'd have low voltage running next to high voltage.
Opto's are deffinatly needed.

That brought out every line from the Parallel port to an end device.

Pins 2 thru 10 are the outputs for the steppers. non optoisolated.
Check your Rutex drives to see if isolation is needed.

If you are running solid state relays, check those specs to see if
they are optically isolated.

And use some isolation for the inputs. H11AA optos are AC so you
don't have to worry which way you connect the wires.

I chose to use parts on hand so I brought 5 and 12 V from the PC. 5
for the logic and 12 for the relays I had.

I thought about making a cheap breakout board, but it seems like it
would have to be about $50.00 even for a bare bones version.

If I make another one, it will have transistors on the outputs
instead of relays. Since I'm driving external relays anyway, the
redundancy is not worth the cost of relays. Espically for board
space.

I think some has a db25 connector to a set of screw terminals with no
anything between. That too makes a simple way to get the wires out
to the driver box.

I'm not sure if I answered your questions, but hope you can use some
of that informaton.

Dave