I just did an upgrade on my old home built CNC machine after the obsolete computer died. I was using a parallel port with MACH 3, replaced with a brick style computer and a Centroid Acron controller. The Centroid software seems pretty nice.
I just did an upgrade on my old home built CNC machine after the obsolete computer died. I was using a parallel port with MACH 3, replaced with a brick style computer and a Centroid Acron controller. The Centroid software seems pretty nice.
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When failure is not an option
Mediocre is assured.
From what I've been able to glean from reading Gary's comments about Acorn, etc., that's a great upgrade for your system and should kick things up a few notches! He had a machine at the Aspire Camp in the spring with that very setup, if I'm remembering correctly. The tiny computer is cute...and functional, too. Congrats!
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
Cool. I've been swapping my Mach3 over to Acorn also but I am an electronics dummy and it is taking me much longer than it should. It should really be nice when I get it finished.
I'm really happy I converted my CNC router to Centroid Acorn. It's a much better machine because of it!
I had nothing but problems with the XHC USB motion controler/Mach3 combo. I ruined a lot of carbide and material due to it's instabilities and moodiness. I haven't had one glitch with Centroid. And, it has all of the features a mature control has. Most notably to me is the probing, offsets, etc. Mach has those features, but it was far from intuitive or reliable. I'm obviously happy with it.
I did not have too much trouble with MACH3 and a parallel port but Acorn by Centroid is a lot more capable and works with modern computers. Really glad that I choose this upgrade path.
_______________________________________
When failure is not an option
Mediocre is assured.