Discovered the Acorn!

All things related to the Centroid Acorn CNC Controller

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dudeTheory
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 5:06 pm
Acorn CNC Controller: Yes
Allin1DC CNC Controller: No
Oak CNC controller: No
CNC Control System Serial Number: none
DC3IOB: No
CNC11: No
CPU10 or CPU7: No

Discovered the Acorn!

Post by dudeTheory »

Hey Guys! A new member to the forum !
I recently discovered the Acorn and I just ordered one! 8-)

A little about my machine…
I have a CNCRouterParts Pro4896 a 4ft.x8ft. milling monster, I’m a bit new to the game, but I’m loving every minute of it so far. CNCRouterParts has a CNC control system that is based on mach3. I didn't buy it, frankly because mach3 felt archaic and I thought I could do better and cheaper by sourcing my own components. I ended up using TinyG made by syntheos. This thing had so much potential. It ran the gcode on the board, it had 4 built in stepper motor drivers, and it didn’t need a mach3 software license to run. It was real easy to to wire up. Then that’s when all the problems started. :evil: So many software glitches. I can go on and on about all of the issues I ran into. (If anyone is interested in a list i’d be happy to write one up)

Things I like about the acorn board…
  • g-code and motion planning runs on the Acorn board and not the host PC. The tinyG did this too, but it had trouble understanding helical moves.
  • Large motion planning buffer, the TinyG buffer is just too small for my needs.
  • hostPC and board communicate over ethernet, and from what i can tell, stable as a rock. TinyG used a USB connection and for whatever reason just really buggy.
  • Max pulse rate 400khz (TinyG is 50khz)
  • Tight software and hardware integration… why i stayed away from mach3/4
  • Jogging! TinyG has no jogging capability, it fakes it with a series G1 travel commands. Overshooting was a regular thing and it was dangerous.
I’m ready to dig into the PDF’s for the Centroid Mill Operators Manual, G-code and M-code, and PLC Programming Guide.
Hopefully I’ll post something on the Success Stories subform soon!
Wish me luck!
diycncscott

Re: Discovered the Acorn!

Post by diycncscott »

Welcome
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