Jesse,<br><br>Thanks for the note! We would welcome your expertise. <br><br>Come by tonight we will be poking at the MaxNC electronics. (I just set up a wiki page: <a href="https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/MaxNCMill" target="_blank">https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/MaxNCMill</a>, also found some pinouts we can check).<br>
<br>Cheers, <br><br>Jon<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 5:57 PM, Jesse Welz <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:welzart@yahoo.com">welzart@yahoo.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
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<pre><div class="im">Hi,<br>I have never posted to this list before and a discussion of interest to me popped<br>so I thought I'd post one. It is really coincidental that I was just going through<br>the process of researching what is needed to get that mill going. I consider myself <br>
more of machinery hacker than computer hacker [although I am working on remedying that]<br></div>and when I saw that others are looking to get that mill going too this will be perfect.<br><br>Johnathon Moore was showing me around Noisebridge for the first time and I noticed <div class="im">
<br>the little mill and lathe right away as something I would love to mess around with even <br>though the machines I used to run as a machinist where way bigger and scarier. Johnathon <br>told me that a few people had messed with it to no avail and since moving into the new<br>
space and seeing it there, while also now
understanding the theory of DoAcracy present at <br></div>noisebridge I thought I would start doing something. I was doing some research and wanted <div class="im"><br>to put together a team or group or guild to work on things machinist related at noisebridge. <br>
<br></div>> Waitaminit, I thought we was leet hakerz! Looking at the linuxcnc<br>> setup, it's pretty straightforward to interface with a parallel port<br>> if we can find the stepper and encoder signals.<br>
><br>> <a href="http://www.distinctperspectives.com/emc2installsetup/page4.html" target="_blank">http://www.distinctperspectives.com/emc2installsetup/page4.html</a><br>><br>> I've done that before on another project and it went pretty well:<br>
> <br>> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/headrotor/3549404637/in/photostream/" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/headrotor/3549404637/in/photostream/</a><br>> <br>> If I have permission to poke at the mill controller boards I can take<br>
> a look
tonight.<br>><br>> Someone want to find a PC with a serial port and install the linuxcnc<br>> ubuntu image?<br><br>I think that running EMC2 [the linuxcnc milling software] would be totally feasible. This<br>is already being done by some including <a href="http://www.timeguy.com/cradek/cnc" target="_blank">this guy</a>. Like Jonathon Foote points out I think it <br>
really is just configuring it correctly with a the parallel port pins on the mill. If this is still <br>not working there is also another less preferable option of running an app called <a href="http://www.machsupport.com/" target="_blank">Mach3</a> which<br>
through some forum surfing I have seen some other peeps running this software on our exact mill<br>and I believe there is even pre-configured modes for certain kinds of mills which include the <br>Maxnc - 10. The issue with this software is it runs on windows and I have seen the general <br>
feelings about windows around noisebridge and think that an open source
Linux based software<br>would be more conducive to noisebridge's mission.<br><br>There is a box next to the mill, I did not check for a parallel port but could this <br>machine be used? It seems that there is general interest and more than just me thinking about this <br>
mill. <br><br>I noticed that during the move the enclosure around the controls for the small lathe got<br>smashed and now the crux of the meager noisebridge machine shop machines are out of commission. I would <br>like to re-build that enclosure out of aluminum so we can get that machine back up. Does anyone have <br>
any objection to me doing this? I am a skilled fabricator and will do fine job of it. <br><br>I am also very interested in starting a noisebridge machinist guild which I think would be very useful <br>at noisebridge. How many times have you been working on a project and needed a small plastic or metal <br>
part that just doesn't exist. Wouldn't it be cool to have prototyping
abilities for this kind of shit.<br>I used to do that kind of work and would be thrilled to start doing it again but for fun this time. Plus,<br>I have some of my own uses for small custom parts anyway. Does anyone else have machine shop experience <br>
and want to get involved or has no experienced but is very interested in the process of building stuff <br>out of metal or plastic?<br><font color="#888888"><br>Jesse</font><div><div></div><div class="h5"><br><br>On Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 2:26 PM, Ani Niow <v at <a href="http://oneletterwonder.com" target="_blank">oneletterwonder.com</a>> wrote:<br>
<br>><i> In the shop we have a small blue CNC only mill that would be wonderful for<br></i>><i> making custom circuit boards and machining small metal parts. No one has<br></i>><i> been able to figure out how to run it however. A group of us tried getting<br>
</i>><i> LinuxCNC (<a href="http://linuxcnc.org/" target="_blank">http://linuxcnc.org/</a>) to connect to it but the trouble is it<br></i>><i> doesn't support the controller used in the mill. Wish we had figured
that<br></i>><i> out earlier before spending so much time on it. The only other option was<br></i>><i> using a DOS based program that came on floppy disks. After hours of trying<br></i>><i> to get FreeDOS to even install, people gave up.<br>
</i>><i> Been doing some research on it and it seems that the official DOS software<br></i>><i> has been replaced by a much improved Windows version with some neat<br></i>><i> features. It's not free though and is not cheap either at $242 (<br>
</i>><i> <a href="http://www.shop.maxnc.com/product.sc?productId=23&categoryId=8" target="_blank">http://www.shop.maxnc.com/product.sc?productId=23&categoryId=8</a>).<br></i>><i><br></i>><i> As I see it there's three options on getting this running.<br>
</i>><i><br></i>><i><br></i>><i> - Fuck with the DOS version enough (which likely is hard to use with a<br></i>><i> horrid UI, not to mention it's fucking DOS) to get it working<br></i>><i>
- Write a driver to support the controller inside the mill or replace<br></i>><i> the controller to make LinuxCNC work<br></i>><i> - Suck it up and buy the Windows software<br></i>><i><br></i>><i> Given it's a $2,500 machine that was donated to us, $242 seems like small<br>
</i>><i> change. I'm sure people have religious reasons for not running Windows and<br></i>><i> by all means don't use the mill because of it or write a Linux driver for<br></i>><i> it. Until that happens I would absolutely love to figure out how to use a<br>
</i>><i> CNC mill.<br></i>><i><br></i>><i> I'm willing to gather pledges and get the software, alternatively if anyone<br></i>><i> knows where we can get it for free (maybe someone else with the same<br></i>><i> machine) then please go for it. Do-ocracy and all.<br>
</i>><i><br></i>><i> Until then, I'm pledging $20 to The Software For the Mill
Fund.<br></i>><i><br></i>><i><br></i>><i> -Ani<br></i>><i><br></i>><i><br></i>><i><br></i>><i> _______________________________________________<br></i>><i> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list<br></i>><i> Noisebridge-discuss at <a href="http://lists.noisebridge.net" target="_blank">lists.noisebridge.net</a><br>
</i>><i> <a href="https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss" target="_blank">https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss</a><br></i>><i><br></i>><i><br></i><br><br><br>
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