Controller upgrades

[jbolt]

After a year of running my PM932 mill conversion It is time to make some changes. I will be changing the motor to a 2hp, 3ph with VFD on a belt drive and adding a mist system along side the current flood coolant system.

Currently I'm running a basic BOB with a UC100 USB controller. This will not handle the extra mist sytem and VFD so I need to upgrade. These will move to another project.

I'm looking for suggestions on BOB's, motion control and spindle control boards. I'm still trying to wrap my head around exactly what boars I need. Also looking for thoughts on USB vs eithernet.

Jay

 

[bladehunter]

Those with more knowledge than myself would recommend the Ethernet Smooth stepper, the opinion is it is more stable & noise tolerant then the USB version, plus you get a number of extra inputs.

Homann Designs & cnc4PC seem to be the most recommended BOBs.

If just for extra input & output POKEYS or Modio (from Homann) might be the go.


I'm just a happy customer form both cnc4PC & Homann Designs.

 

[Al-Hala]

I myself opted for the Dynomotion KFLOP. It can run Gecko drives, pair with their own Kanalog (analog and IO driver), KSTEP (stepper and IO), Konnect (IO expansion board). Has a plug-in software for MACH3.

Fair warning: it is powerful, based on a one-size-to-fit-all-applications mentality and absolutely requires some ability to understand, cut and paste C code. Might be overkill for your needs, but some very sophisticated machines have successfully used it for retrofitting.

 

[Al-Hala]

I myself opted for the Dynomotion KFLOP. It can run Gecko drives, pair with their own Kanalog (analog and IO driver), KSTEP (stepper and IO), Konnect (IO expansion board). Has a plug-in software for MACH3.

Fair warning: it is powerful, based on a one-size-to-fit-all-applications mentality and absolutely requires some ability to understand, cut and paste C code. Might be overkill for your needs, but some very sophisticated machines have successfully used it for retrofitting.

Since the new software apparently is winning against me (Edit Function?) I'm responding to my own post.

Since I originally commented a perfect example of the versatility of the KFLOP appeared: a six axis machine on the Yahoo Groups for Dynomotion (Original Post Here) with video links to the CNCmotion software modified for all six axis; I'll post the youtube links here directly:

Homing 6 Axis Turning Centre

Checking "A" Axis Tracking

The KFLOP motion controller can run 8 axis total (usually used for slaved dual motor uses).

 

[jbolt]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I looked at the suggested products. The KFLOP seemed like overkill for what I need and a little less user friendly but very capable. I have looked at the cnc4pc borads and they seem like good products but I decided to go with the PMDX-126 BOB, PMDX-107 speed control and Ethernet smooth stepper. I read a lot of good reviews of the PMDX products plus they have been extremely responsive to my questions and they have excellent support. I also like the ability to add the smooth stepper and speed control as daughter boards to the 126 BOB.

Thanks again,

Jay

 

[slowtwitch]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I looked at the suggested products. The KFLOP seemed like overkill for what I need and a little less user friendly but very capable. I have looked at the cnc4pc borads and they seem like good products but I decided to go with the PMDX-126 BOB, PMDX-107 speed control and Ethernet smooth stepper. I read a lot of good reviews of the PMDX products plus they have been extremely responsive to my questions and they have excellent support. I also like the ability to add the smooth stepper and speed control as daughter boards to the 126 BOB.

Thanks again,

Jay

I use the same setup on 2 Lathes and my mill and I couldn't be happier.