RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Running small machine without computer

If cheap is the primary concern then consider salvage PC’s….



A while back I was buying skids (pallets) of PC’s at George Tombarrelo’s
Salvage in Lawrence MA for $25 to $100 per pallet, and a pallet had 12 – 24
PC’s on them. I don’t know if they still sell to walk in’s or not, salvage
yards have gotten pretty strange in that respect in recent years. But, most
of the PC’s worked, many had operating systems still installed, most were 4
or 5 years old, maybe a bit more. Your local salvage yard is a good place
to start…. The worst they can do is throw you out….



By the way, they frequently would have 25 or more skids of PC’s awaiting
destruction…..



Jim DuBois

6610 Ranch Creek Court

Magnolia, TX 77354



From: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of David G. LeVine
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2007 1:39 PM
To: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Running small machine without computer



At 10:57 AM 10/16/2007, you wrote:

>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.

Cheaper yet, buy the surplus PCs from a company
doing an upgrade. They almost pay you to take them away.

You can probably get EMC2 or a DOS product to run
from a USB stick, modern machines will boot from
them. Any PIII 1000 should be plenty and they
are being upgraded all the time. Interfacing two
push buttons (start and emergency stop) should be pretty easy.

David G. LeVine
Nashua, NH 03060





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