The answer appears to be yes if you look here

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index. ... 657.0.html

I am getting a little confused now! I use mach 3 on laptops on several NC machines and have never had any problems. Secondly, feedback from the mach 3 forum is telling me that Parallel PCMCIA Cards should work fine. I need to go back to my first question has anyone actually tried this method of prov...

Has anyone had any tried using Parallel PCMCIA Card (ie additional printer port) to provide additional Inputs and Outputs to Mach 3? Will this work and can Mach 3 be configured to see it? I am using a laptop and all my I/O's are being used to control my ORAC lathe. I have just designed and interface...

Hi

The electrical / electronic mods all makes sense.
Is it possible to supply the VBscript macro that runs the toolchanger in mach G&M code.
It would be useful if you could post it on this site.

Regards

Hi Everyone

I am very sorry I have not been posting on this.

I have had very close family bereavement that has knocked me back in my tracks, and am unlikely to be working on this for a while.

Hope to get back to it later in the year.

Regards

Hi You are asking a number of questions which are complicated in themselves. My suggestion is you look at the link below "Running an unmodified machine using Mach3. http://www.denfordata.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1108 If you use this method you can ignore most of the slow electronics and use Mach3 on a...

Hi All I am just trying to produce batches of PCB's in a cost effective way before going any further. Machining is not an option for batch quantities as the cycle time is too long. I have had a number of questions/enquiries regarding using it for other CNC machines. On the final version of the board...

Hi Matt

What the charge pump does essentially is make sure that the machine does not start etc. when you power up your PC. ie the machine will only power up when Mach3 is running and in control.

Regards

Hi Again Been quite busy developing this Mach3 interface board. Soon to be available on Ebay, probably as a kit. This particular interface board offers X, Y & Z step and direction. O - 10V output. Homming via X, Y & Z limit switches. E stop. Charge pump control. Although developed for the Triac I be...

Richard

If you go to http://www.cncathome.com/vfd.html you will see how it is done. I used a MOSFET instead of a logic gate.

Hi

I am now investigating the Charge Pump function after yesterday switching on the machine in a strange order and finding the spindle started and all sorts of strange table movements. Reboots and machine shutdowns appeared to sort it out but it was a bit disconcerting.

Just out of interest what do you think a fair price would be for a kit of components, wiring diagram and some words of wisdom??

Don't forget this board piggy backs on a fully working machine and is only suitable as it stands for this application. It uses the driver boards, power supply, limit switches etc of the existing machine. Part of the objective of this exercise was to be able to revert to the old control system easily...

Yes, I have thoroughly tested the machine and everything is fine. I can't beleive I did the whole thing for £4.80 + lots of time of course. I machined my first components yesterday, it's excellent, the dwell time between blocks of code is completely eliminated. And the functionality of Mach3 is a re...

I have virtually completed my project today. I have my Triac running fully under the control of Mach3 without gutting any of the existing hardware. The homing and soft limits is working fine as well as the PWM speed control of the main motor via a jaguar Inverter. The 3 homing switches are inductive...

Hi The 0-10V from the PWM output by Mach3 is simple enough using an digital to analogue filter. I may get time to explain more fully later. I also spent some time yesterday investigating the homing and limit switching. This is more complex than I anticipated mainly because the homing switches are in...

Hi

This is the interface board to date.
Showing X Y Z direction and Step Mosfet circuits.
Also shown PWM to 0 - 10V output circuit.
All circuits protected by Buffers or Opto Isolator chips.

Thanks Martin, just what I was looking for!!

Excellent.

Hi All I have now also succeeded in driving my Triac in X Y Z directly from my PC using Mach3 with no mods to the Triac. I am now tackiling PWM speed control into the spindle motor inverter. I am also now needing to link in the home switches. Does anyone know exactly where I can pick them up on the ...

Hi

Can anyone tell me where I can pick up the signals from the X, Y, Z home and limit switches on the main processor board.
The cable colours for each switch would also be useful so that I can trace them in the loom.

Thanks in anticipation.