On Saturday 22 December 2018 02:09:26 Gene Heskett wrote: > Greetings all; > > I finally found a pix of the controller front panel, and it turns out > that that box does include the vfd, so I'll either have to by oe of > the clones for 70 and change, or just buy it now, and buy the 18 and > change set of er-11 collets since it only comes with a 6mm. > > That then is a single parport drive cable. And more than likely a std > bob inside the controller. Does the 5i25 have a firmware to drive it? > For better control I'd druther use the 5i25<->7i76 like I'm making for > the G0704. I don't see any limit/home switches. It has 5 sockets on > the back, assume one per axis and one to drive the spindle, so there > is no facilities to hook up home and limits till I invent them as > theres no plugs for such on that control box. I wonder how they > control the water pump? > > This guy seems to think it can only be used with a 32 bit windows > running Mach3, which he doesn't sell. Chuckle. Does the mach guy > spread it that deep about linuxcnc? > > So I'm assuming some signal re-routing will be required. It also comes > with a usb based remote control, so I may be asking for some > adaptation how to's on that at some point, hopefully someone else has > cut a path thru that jungle before me. What I have in mind will need > more than a std bob on the 5i25's p2 has for inputs, but if I can hack > up my own bob thats mostly inputs, then hal can handle programming the > p2 plug (I think, iirc any un-dedicated pins can be either direction > on the 5i25.) > > This might be educational as I have only a faint clue how it controls > the spindle (and a faint hint that the direction reversal might be > only from the 3 position switch on the front panel, possibly > indicating the spindle is 100% manual control? That would be a "what a > revolting development that is" discovery. Fixable of course. > > I think I'll likely find out... We'll see what sort of docs it comes > with. :) > Turns out that for my purposes, zip docs. What docs it has is pointed at getting mach3 set up and usable. Nothing on the final assembly once you get all the 60+ lb pieces piled up on the same table. Which I've done and assembled but I'm wasted for the day now. The y cable is about an inch short so I've got to wiggle it thru all the cable chain to make it reach. I couldn't convince myself that was going to be fun though. I'd had enough fun for one day. :( I also don't think a hell of a lot of the advertising claiming the motors were 57's, which gave me a mental pix of honking big motors, but the SOB's are 17's! And x feels awfully stiff to be moved by a 17 even if it is a longer one.
Somebody asked if Y was on plastic wheels, no. Rod sliders, but all look like oilite, not ball, and a 12mm ball screw. X screw could be a 16mm, z looks like a 10mm ball screw. I think the first program I'll write will be something to exercise it over full travel about 5000 times. Wear it in IOW. But first, some overhead furniture. I'm still cogitating how to do that solidly enough to carry the computer and power unit, and hang the monitor on the front end of the x forward travel, and I picked up about a 4 gallon plastic thing with a lid at wallies for coolant while I was out collecting scripts yesterday, should be ok for cooling water, I'll set it on the back of the table. And while it does have leveling feet, I've not twiddled on them yet, maybe thats the x drag? Dunno till I see if I can satisfy a Starret level. The lid on the coolant tank isn't vapor tight but does fit fairly well and latches on so it can be carried by the handle in the lid, keeping the stink-bugs out (I hope). I'd assume I should fill and use distilled water for makeup. Whats the best way to keep microcritters from growing in the coolant? Oh, and theres some sort of a windows cad/cam thing on a cd came in the boxes. The docs have a page or so on it. Maybe cross-over will run it? Some day I'll find out... Right after I find my missing round tuit. Thanks all. Cheers, Gene Heskett -- "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene> _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
