Centroid software Vs Mach 3

[chris.poirier]

Ok i am getting to choosing software.
I don't want to load/learn both to compare so if anyone can give me some input I would appreciate it.
With what I have found in researching, Mach uses trapezoidal velocity trajectories causing jerk and if I get down to pushing my knee mill hard will I see this?
Is the Centroid software superior by it's method of control giving longer life to my equipment in theory?
Will the motion control board (MP11) with the plug in make up for Mach any how so I should just be fine?
In the end it is hard to evaluate how using one will benefit over the other without a massive effort to learn both.
Anyone out there use both?

The cost of one Vs the other is negligible with respect to total investment.
I am only concerned about the end result of making the machine work well without issue.


Regards,
Chris

[bonestock]

As customer that has evaluated both I can give you some of my experiences--take from it what you will.

I started with the Mach kit first due to the lower price point but mostly because I had already decided to go with Mach based on my research of EMC2 and Mach3.

The Mach interface leaves a little to be desired but had an active community and provides many capabilities to customize to your needs.
The Ajax Mach plugin I found to be just a tad rough around the edges. Most of my concerns have since been remedied by updates or the addition of Mach brains to enable missing capabilities on the MPU11.

My specific experience with Mach found it to be occasionally quirky and it took quite a bit of trial and error to sort things out. I only complicated matters with my constant tinkering of the brains or screen sets. I never did sort out an occasional issue where the MDI or other input fields would lock focus or would not allow focus. You’ll only need to jog a tool into your work piece once before you curse having Jogging and MDI history both accessed via the arrow keys. (yes jogging can be disabled but other functions like Homing with the Ajax plugin will not work)
I was also not a fan of the VB style macros and the very inelegant way Mach would terminate and fail to cleanup if an Estop should occur during the execute of one of these more involved macros. On many occasion I would have to close and reopen Mach to resolve the problem.
It was funny but I found that I was modeling my custom screen sets after the CNC11 interface. It’s very simple, no bones, and productive. I really did not want to fool around with a mouse but it is required for most any operation in Mach. I ended up with some customization and short-cuts to create a mostly keyboard driven interface.

Around this time I was frequently bouncing back and forth between Mach and CNC11 as I was troubleshooting or comparing functionality. I noticed one day that I was spending more time in CNC11 making chips and less time in Mach pulling out my hair. At this point the only thing I was really trying to get going in mach was the MSM probing screens. Sadly the Ajax plugin implements probing a bit differently which was not compatible with the screen set’s probing routines. Having geeked out on the Mach probing implementation Ajax really did take the safest route in their implementation. It just sucks for compatibility on your more involved proving implementations.
In the trial and error of writing my own probing scripts I found the CNC11 M codes to be much more sensible and usable.

I only open Mach these days when helping someone here on this board or on the machsupport forums. CNC11 is simply easier, faster, and more reliable for my needs.

[polaraligned]

As a long time Mach user, I purchased the "Mach" version of the AJAX. I was not thrilled with how smoothly the Mach plug-in worked and I have been playing with the demo version of CNC11 for the last couple of weeks. I am impressed with the software, though I like the Mach user interface better. The CNC11 more closely resembles the software you would find on a "real" VMC. I think that CNC11 is a professionally developed package with many years of development behind it whereas Mach is currently a hobbiest package that was put together by a hobbiest. Needless to say, I will be sending a check to AJAX in the next couple of weeks for a permanent license for CNC11.