MikeRush Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 Thank you gentlemen, the PMDX 126/107 combo it is along with a smooth stepper and Mach 3. I'm still absorbing everything I can and the discussions/experience is incredibly helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmiller Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 (edited) Yes Mach 3. encoders were mounted to the motors and the drives would throw an error and stop the machine if it got out of position. How often did it trip out? Did it only do it when you were pushing the machine? How much extra expense did it add including the encoders? Is mach 3 set up for this or did you have to hack it to do this? Thanks! Edited June 22, 2014 by bmiller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jid2 Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 Yeah only when doing bad stuff. Encoders are less than $100 each. Its the motor drives that watch the encoders and then send an error to Mach 3. My Gecko drives did it, ive seen guys add encoders to steppers but not sure how they did it. Theres a place in Canada that sells a nice AC servo setup for smaller machines.DMM Tech, check them out. I would have used them if I did it again. I think they have a breakout board as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feederic Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 (edited) I've been successfully using CNC4PC BOBs for awhile now with their parallel interface. I've seen many nightmares with their USB smoothstepper, so I avoided USB altogether. Some of their connectors are overpriced junk though. I built an industrial electronic cabinet with heavy duty connectors and E-Stop which has not faulted since I have used it. Make sure to get a really nice drop gauge and DTI. FWIW, I have some really nice kurt vises that don't indicate as true as the cheap shars vise I bought. I love my glacerne vise though. Since I am not taking heavy cuts I don't really have a need to test out insane holding power. A swivel base is a really nice option for performing slide work. I wish I bought one up front. Oh yeah, tooling is expensive Edited June 26, 2014 by feederic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blind bat Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Jid2 - Did the guy who bought your mill have enough air in his tires to load the mill before the bead let go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jid2 Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Yeah it worked fine. We filled the tires back up before we lowered the weight of the machine onto the bed of the truck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeRush Posted February 6, 2015 Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 Necro thread here, but I'm the OP, so... I was going to get the Ethernet smooth stepper, with the PMDX 126 and 107... then I saw the 422 which seems like it would simplify things. Called up PMDX and found out about the 426, which is an Ethernet BOB/Motion Controller. I think I'm going to hold out for the 426 as I'd I'm currently planning X, Y, and Z with the quill, but have considered adding a rotary table and possibly powering the Knee at some point later on. Has anyone played with Mach 4 or any of the 4xx boards from PMDX yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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