Anyone Here Using The SmoothStepper USB Motion Control Interface

Please let me know how you like it?

Any feedback would be awesome.

Jeff...

This may be a dumb question but what does smooth stepper do..

is it a driver like Gecko,zylotex etc. or is this an extension to your driver setup?

It takes the place of the parallel port by utilizing the USB port which not only takes advantage of PC's that don't have a parallel port but takes a lot of stress off the PC's system and is supposed to have a much more smoother signal. Hence the name, smoothstepper.

I don't have one but I hear great things about it.

Dave

I used a SmoothStepper last summer on a custom lead forming machine I made for my university's Solar Car team. I found the set up to be dead simple and its performance to be excellent.

I have also had the opportunity to get to know Greg the guy that makes them. He is a super person who is very dedicated to making a great product.

He is still making additions to the MachIII plug-in and squashing a few bugs as they surface. Although, from what I can see over the past 3-4 months there only seems to be a few guys doing some really goofy stuff that are having problems.

For me, I won't build another stepper driven, Mach controlled machine without it. It works that good.

Is there a website link that you can post for the smoothstepper?

Hey, I was just reading the latest post in this section when I noticed this thread again. fretsman gave the link to the website above. They also have a forum but you need to register before you can get to it. There is also a support SmoothStepper section on the forum over at machsupport.com.

Also, I've been so happy with using the SmoothStepper I just started handling them through my website and have some in stock now.

Jeff, they never did fix the soft limits bug with that did they?

Thanks,
Dave

Will the smoothstepper increase my pulse rate, as of now Mach3 wont let me go above 50ipm due to my pc cant produce pulses any faster, will the smoothstepper overcome this issue or is it just a usb parallel adapter.

Dave,

The softlimits bug is only shows up if you are using a PWM output for a spindle. I know Greg has had a few test versions out for this problem recently. Let me double check on where it is at.

blmartech, the SmoothStepper is MUCH more than a USB->LPT (parallel) adapter. It is a motion controller all on its own. It can generate a solid jitter free pulse stream about 80 times faster than Mach can with the LPT. It also has two output ports the replicate LPT ports so it will plug right into existing BOBs (with the right cable).

Thanks, Jeff -

Dave

so, will this overcome my speed issue as i dont really have any complaints about the smoothness of my steps, but the speed issue would make for a sale.

[quote]so, will this overcome my speed issue[/quote

What type of PC do you have? Generally the SmoothStepper is far less picky than Mach itself is on the computer. If it is over 1.5 ghz CPU and came with USB2 then the SmoothStepper will help you out. If you are using a really slow old PC (like 700 mhz) then the PC is holding you back.

As you try to generate faster pulse streams the smoothness (amount of jitter) becomes more important. Due to the PC hardware Mach can't get much better with its LPT driver but the dedicated hardware in the SmoothStepper always makes a very smooth pulse stream.

What type of stepper driver(s) / power supply are you using?

48v , g540

I am in the process of upgrading my computer, when i set up the mill i just grabbed one out of the basement, I think it is around 1 ghz but not positive(will check later) I know the processor is holding me back as mach3 wont let me set tune the motors above 47 ipm that is the top speed, I was just wondering if the smoothstepper was like a coprocessor and took the step duty off the pc as this solution would allow me to keep using the pc i have, if it just repeats the pulses sent to it, then it would not help me.

If it offloads the pulse production and free's up my cpu then this would be a much cheaper alternative.

Thanks for the info, im going check it out.

OK. Feel free to give me a call or email if you have questions...

Dave, I heard from Greg last night. He said there is an issue with the step/direction spindle output right now. He doesn't think this has any effect on soft limits though. Here is the latest plug-in: http://warp9td.com/files/SmoothStepper_Beta2_v015oge.m3p

If you have a situation where soft limits are not working then please post a good explanation on the warp9 forum so he can look at it.