General questions about 3 Axis CNC Controller

[Tomov]

Hey, there. I'm interested in building a small scale CNC router (portal type/gantry type). There will be three NC axis - X, Y, Z.
The working area will be about 800 x 600 mm ( 31.5" x 24" ). Z axis will be the vertical feed of the instrument and it will be 150 mm in length. The spindle motor is 500W standard type taken from hand plunge router. The machine is designed generally for milling, cuttin and drilling operations in solid body electric guitars.

So...

Is the New Version of 3 axis CNC/CO2 Controller board suitable for my needs - controlling the stepper motors - for each axis ?
Is it compatible with CNC Routers or it's definitely for CO2/Laser cutters ?
Is it fully compatible with Mach3 ?

My steppers are : 3 Nm 1.8 deg/step Nema 23 and 2 x 2 Nm 1.8 deg/step Nema 23

Is the 3 axis CNC/CO2 controller the right choice for my needs ?

Thank you, in advance!
With Compliments,
Tomov

[twehr]

Is the New Version of 3 axis CNC/CO2 Controller board suitable for my needs - controlling the stepper motors - for each axis ?
Is it compatible with CNC Routers or it's definitely for CO2/Laser cutters ?
Is it fully compatible with Mach3 ?

Is the 3 axis CNC/CO2 controller the right choice for my needs ?

Not sure which controller you are referring to. If you mean the "New version 3 Axis CNC/ Laser Machine Stepping Motor Controller (TB6560)." then yes, it is suitable for normal cnc work. In fact, it is NOT recommended (IMHO) for CO2, as there is no good software available for controlling it and the laser power on/off. The controller is fine, but Mach3 and others do not handle laser requirements well.

It is fully compatible with Mach 3 (I have used that combination previously).

It is probably the best choice of the devices offered here and a great price compared to comparable items elsewhere.

If you were referring to the DSP controller, it is for laser only and NOT for straight CNC.

[Tomov]

Yes, I was referring to the 3 axis stepping motor controller (TB6560).

Thank you, for your help.

[Tomov]

And one more thing... Does the "New version 3 axis CNC/CO2 stepping motor controller (TB6560)" works with an USB-to-LPT adapter. For example my oldest laptop has an LPT port, but my newer machines doesn't have one. And correct me if I'm wrong. To get the system running (my CNC router), besides the stepper motors and the PC, I need:

1. PSU - Mine is 24V / 14.6A
2. CNC controller (the above one)

Does the controller have inputs for E_Stop and Home/Limit switches ?

Please, excuse my poor english. Thank you, in advance.
Tomov

[twehr]

Technically, the board you are referencing is not a controller, but rather a driver - it simply delivers the signals from the parallel port to the individual drives and transmits e-stop and home/limit signals back to the controller. Mach3 IS the controller, running on your computer - so your computer is the hardware part of the controller.

I don't know what USB->LPT device you have, but I would suspect that it will NOT work. Last I heard, there was some development going on elsewhere of o interface board and software that would take the Mach3 signals, turn them into USB and transmit it to their custom USB->LPT adapter. I don't know how far along they got - it may be done or it may be still in the wishful-thinking category. You could probably find something on the web by googling "Mach3 USB".

I am not a LightObject representative, but my recollection is that the board you referenced does handle e-stop and home/limit imputs.

Hope this helps.

[Tomov]

Thank you, Tim. It was really valuable reply.
And still looking for answers (while finishing the mechanical part of the project).

Cheers

[baccus61]

Hi,
The best solution and easily implemented is to go with the parallel port and use a cheap breakout board that has an external 5 volt control power supply, which is easily picked up from the desktop computers power supply from one of the output leads, then on to your stepper drivers.

Some/most newer laptops only have 3.3 volts on the parallel port which is on the limit of the high/low signals from the control software so sometimes the drives don't know whether they are getting a high or low signal. This is the reason for the external 5 volt supply to the breakout board. One shouldn't cost you more than around $20 - $30 and is a good security device just in case you get a surge/power feedback to the computer which will blow the board and not the computers parallel port. (I have never had this happen but it is a safety measure I like).

Mach3 is probably the best solution for router CNC stuff out there right now and is totally configurable so you can do whatever you like with it. This also makes it a bit harder to set up as well but there are a lot of forums out there that will give you really great help very quickly.

Mariss at Gecko drive (go and have a read of his info on drives for stepper motors as you will learn a lot) says there isn't much need to go any higher than 10 micro steps so the controller you are looking at will be fine as you can set it for 8-16 or full steps if you like. Full steps will make your machine sound like it has a "card in the spokes" like a push bike and isn't very smooth. Micro stepping is the way to go and I would set it up with 8 steps as it won't take as much computing power to run it and you should be able to go faster than 16 micro steps.

There is an opto isolated 5 axis board here for about $45 which gives you lots of outputs and also a relay for spindle control. If you use a VFD then you won't use this relay for spindle control as you will need a dedicated port for PWM control. Marco sells some good spindles here with VFD. I have 2 of them and they are really good value for money and very quiet and you don't have to change brushes like you would if you had a normal AC router. It's worth saving up for, believe me.

USB can be a pain to use for CNC because if you don't use it for a while "Windows" will shut it down to save on power so unless you send a pulse at regular intervals to keep the line open then you will have to restart the USB port again. A real PITA. This happens with the Linkmotion laser software from Solustan. Frustrating sometimes.

Tom Caudle at CandCNC, who makes A digital Plasma torch height controller, doesn't like the USB implementation either and won't use it.

Any more ????

Rich.