Re: now Breakout boards

Dave
I appreciate your response and you may well have answered my
question very well..Hehehhheh Honestly there is some stuff in your
response that I didnt understand but I've printed it out to read
later when the morning caffiene kicks in.
.
Just a casual observation..I am a machinist. I already have and use
a cnc mill.I have 20 years of (hobby)electronics experience, have
repaired hundreds of electronic circuits and built a few--but I am
sorta lost in this project , nothing in my experience quite prepared
me for this..Seems having computer geek in one's resume would be
worth more than all my experience thus far.If I actually get this
thing working I am gonna brag about it for years.Hehhehehheh
Steven

>
>
> > 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