Re: Running small machine without computer

Thanks very much...I see your points.

It's for space saving(among other things).. It's a setup
to do multiple operations on the plastic block. Being
as high speed machining is out of reach for me, the
idea is an attempt to have a semi-continuous flow of
parts being made. No tool changing mostly...
I make a groove...move the part to another machine
to round the slot or maybe dovetail it.
I'm aware there are things I haven't considered
yet. An experiment mostly.

I haven't been paying attention to the advancements
with the micro-controllers and thought I'd recalled
such a thing being available.

A friend sent this link....
http://www.hwml.com/

But the tiny computers is a do-able thing as well.
It just seems there should be some type of flash
drive controller that'd execute the simplest of
gcode files.

I appreciate your insights and experience :)

John

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, hannu <hvenermo@...> wrote:
>
> I have never used the programmable stuff, but have heard about some.
>
> Why do You wish to NOT use a std pc ?
>
> If your answer is cost, the truth is you will be MUCH better off buying
> cheap, integrated pc´s for this. They will be easier and cheaper to
> purchase, install, set-up, troubleshoot and maintain. they may cost
> less. They are quite small in size.
>
> This reminds me of some instances where people just will not believe
> that they should not try to use a laptop for application "x" ... The
> situation might be different, but probably not, if you needed to set up
> 100-200 machines. Economically, your break-even point is somewhere way
> out there ...
>
> The ONLY instance you would want to do this, would be a
> cost-does-not-matter scenario like aircraft avionics (space),
> hi-end-boating or submarines (space, wet, power consumption) or
> spacecraft (mass). I have not worked on space stuff, but extensively on
> all the others.
>
> You can get cheap, integrated pc´s for about 200$. They look like
stereo
> boxes, and have std parallel port. This is what you want.
> You *can* get special-purpose bare-board pc´s for about 100 with an
> exotic process and packaging, but the likelihood of problems and the
> guaranteed non-availability of technical support regarding machine
> controllers makes this a very bad idea. I highly recommend going with
> packaged, std, bare-bones pc´s, best if you buy nos and a spare machine
> or 2.
>
> IF you really want to do this with a "small" dedicated funky-looking
> box, you will spend a lot of time trying and testing weird problems
(98%
> probability) and have no spares available when something goes wrong.
You
> have 99% plus probability that the machines are not available in exact
> same format when they blow a power supply etc. which will happen, and
> the support costs & problems will be very much more complex and
> expensive. You may want that for job security, which in itself is a
good
> enough reason, you will know this if so. In that case your extra,
wasted
> hours, in this endeavor may well make sense, but I really wish to
> emphasize, again, that it will not be easier or cheaper. Your hw cost
> may finally be a very little lower, but you will definitely waste over
> 10x more in other parts of the job.
>
> For me, fwiw, I have about 20 years experience developing,
successfully,
> solutions like this, and would never consider anything other than a pc,
> for 4 machines. IIRC, my first robots where phone answering machines,
> diskless, with touch-tone decoders we built, booting into dos, via
> netware spx (cheaper boot roms) off a windows nt 4.0 server, running
> modified basic and a bulletin board. I got about 3 months/70.000 calls
> 100% successfully solved on the best robots, this was in about 1987.
> Good luck anyway, your YMMMV.
>
> If you do decide to go the dedicated-micro route, good luck.
> Also, to not discourage you, most if not all of the problems you will
> encounter are not insurmountable, and are fairly easy to solve. It can
> be done, it´s just too much work to make economic sense.
>
> As a guesstimate from a long-time contributor to these arts, I would
> expect about 60-100-200 hours getting non-std hw to run reliably and
> well, and at least one blown/failed purchase. This includes
> purchasing/sourcing time, all installation stuff, reliability testing
> etc. The hours are best-case, median, probable.
>
>
> > Hi to All,
> >
> > I'm setting up a row of 4 small desktop
> > routers. They'll be single purpose machines
> > to do the same task repeatedly and nothing
> > else. This will be basically milling grooves
> > in 1" blocks of plastic that will be no
> > larger than 5" x 6".
> >
> > But I don't need 4 computers or want to
> > swap wiring...I want them all running at
> > the same time. Load and let run.
> >
> > Where or what would I look at, as far as some
> > small single purpose controller for
> > each machine. It doesn't even need a video
> > monitor....just push go and let it do it's
> > job. Is there a small controller that could
> > be programmed easily with a single gcode
> > file or maybe a flash drive?
> >
> > Thanks in advance!
> > John
> >
> > __._,_.__
>