Hi Kirk,
I plan to Home on Index ANDed with Left Limit, so if I wire the
two Left switchs in series and the two Right switches in series, then only
Home one axis at a time, there should be no confusion. Also I will then have
an input for Stop and a spare
My EMC2 box only has two slots and they are both used, so no room for a PCI
port card. I will take your tip and add a second port on the new card with
provision for splitting up the tasks between the two ports. Maybe a box with
more slots will come my way, I will check the local stores for trade-ins.
Does the PCI Parallel Port card have a faster I/O rate than the default
mother-board port?
I will also plan ahead by adding a CPLD to handle a spindle encoder input
and a PWM output.
Thanks again
John
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kirk Wallace" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC)" <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, October 19, 2008 1:39 PM
Subject: Re: [Emc-users] Parallel Port Breakout Board
> On Sun, 2008-10-19 at 14:48 -0400, Greg Michalski wrote:
>> <snip>
>> So there is no default usage for each of the 12 outputs and 4 inputs?
>
> Correct. HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) lets you "connect" EMC signals
> or "pins" to real pins as needed.
>>
>> I'm thinking about a 3-axis small mill with limit switches on the two
>> X and
>> Y axis plus spindle on/off and two coolants.
>>
>> Outputs
>> 3 Step and 3 Direction = 6
>> 1 Common Enable, 2 Coolant and 1 Spindle = 4
>> Total 10 outputs
>> Inputs
>> 2 Left Limit and 2 Right limit = 4
>> Total 4 inputs.
>
> You can share the limits in different ways. One option is to wire the NC
> (normally closed) limit switches in series to one input. With this EMC2
> will only be able to see a general limit event, but not know which
> limit. It should not be a big deal, but it's more convenient to have
> each limit sensed. Homes can be shared on one input also, but then you
> have to home one axis (joint) at a time.
>>
>> Will the .ini file allow this combination?
>> <snip>
>>
>> There is a "default", if you want to call it that, that the Stepconf
>> wizard starts with, and a couple "default" pinouts for off the shelf
>> control kits, but you can alter that to whatever suits your fancy so
>> the combination you mentioned (although for clarity by left/right I
>> assume you mean +/- for the limits on X and Y axes) would be possible.
>> If you add a second parallel port ($5-15 PCI card) then you can get a
>> little more advanced with its setup defining it as dedicated to be
>> mainly input or mainly output (mine is configured as mainly input and
>> IIRC it gives 12 inputs and 4 outputs - sufficient for me to
>> eventually implement a spindle tach and dedicated +/- limits and
>> homing switches along with a number of other expansion options). I
>> can't answer the Pico/Pluto question but I know both are decribed in
>> good detail in the documentation. I chose to design my own BOB as
>> opposed to a commercially available unit so I didn't have to abide by
>> any set pinout or other limitations.
>
> I tend to only use PCI parallel ports because they are cheap (even the
> double port cards,
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815166007
> ) and saves the motherboard port from my mistakes.
>>
>> I will add .02 though - your inputs don't mention anything about an
>> E-Stop input - I'd recommend adding that and running your limits in
>> series if you don't want to add a second parallel port.
>
> As mentioned elsewhere, an e-stop is recommended. I haven't researched
> this enough, but one e-stop feature is that the e-stop button should
> independently disable power supplies and drivers (I have a relay on the
> mains, my EMC2 PC is wired ahead of the relay so it stays on), and then
> the button should notify EMC2 of the event through an input. There may
> be other features to consider.
>
>> HTH - I'm sure someone will expand on the Pico/Pluto but read through
>> the docs and you'll probably see what is going on.
>>
>> Greg
>> www.distinctperspectives.com
>
> The Pico and Pluto-P controllers use the parallel port to pass data,
> rather than raw signals, to intelligence built into the controller, so
> the relatively slow signaling of the parallel port is much less of a
> factor. The controller has application specific firmware and hardware,
> so the I/O resulting from the data is much faster. I believe, typically
> a parallel port output can toggle at 20 to 30 kHz, whereas a controller
> can do 200 kHz or more. These controllers do cost more though.
>
> Kirk
>
>
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