Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] upgrade

Hi Scott,

Quoting Scott L Golden (escowizard@...):

> I think I have a M3 firmware bandit with RS232 hookup

Cool. That suggests you actually got yours to start up! :)

> Now you will have to go a little slow for me on the "quadrature output "
> stuff. I'm not stupid but this end of things are not the easiest to grasp.

The stepper motors connected to my Bandit I have 4 phases (ABCD). The
stepper motor 'steps' by having one (or more) of these phases energized.
When they are energized, the motor 'steps' to align it's magnetic field
with the energized coil(s).

You can make your stepper motor move by energizing the phases in order.
For single stepping, it might look like this:

A B C D
X - - -
- X - -
- - X -
- - - X

Backwards would be just the opposite;

A B C D
- - - X
- - X -
- X - -
X - - -

When you control the 4 phases independently, I've seen that called
'quadrature' inputs/outputs. In this case, it takes 4 signals.

In the most common configuration I've seen for gecko drives, the gecko
drive takes a step and direction input. When you send a 'step'
signal to the gecko, it knows which coil(s) are energized now, and
which coil(s) need to be turned on/off to move one step (or
microstep) in the direction you gave it with the 'step' input.
This only takes 2 inputs (step and direction) instead of 4.

EMC can be configured to generate the 4 outputs you need above directly.
All you need to do is wire your parallel port on your PC appropriately
to the 16 pin ribbon cables in your bandit case, and assuming your
bandit's drives work, EMC will drive your bridgeport with your existing
drives. No capital investment required! :)

EMC, Mach1/2/3, TurboCNC, and others can also be configured to
work in the step/direction mode that gecko uses.

Clear as mud? :)

Jonathan