Centroid Community CNC Support Forum

Hello I already have a g540 controller setup. It presently uses a usb smooth stepper. Will the smooth stepper work with the Acorn? Also I'm really wanting the lathe edition, can I buy the mill now and is the lathe just a software upgrade? Last but not least can I use the Acorn for 2 different machines? One controller to run a lathe, or a mill with the same control box? Also would this controller work for my Plasma cnc table? Thank you for your time and I really think this is a great product.

I'm sure Marty or Keith will confirm what I say...

The Acorn would replace the SmoothSteppe and one for the lathe would be just a software update.
You can use the same PC for both by saving a report for each installation and loading the report for the mill or lathe when you get ready o use one or the other. Marty made a video on how to make and save the report here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ecvg0VJ ... e=youtu.be

Not sure regarding the plasma table.

Hello. The Acorn CNC controller does indeed replace the smooth stepper controller and the Acorn CNC Control board directly plugs into the G540 and even has a preconfigured selection button in the Acorn CNC Wizard for the G540 making it very easy to connect to and get a G540 running in just minutes. check our marty's G540 video on this page.. he shows us how to do it!
http://www.centroidcnc.com//centroid_di ... guide.html

As you know Acorn is provided with Centroid Free CNC12 MIll software, Lathe CNC12 is being worked on as i type this and we are very close to a release. When Lathe CNC12 is ready for public release it will be freely available for download on this page.
http://www.centroidcnc.com/centroid_diy ... loads.html

And yes you can install both Mill and Lathe CNC12 software on the same CNCPC. Acorn Software and Hardware wise it doesn't matter and is happy to run in Mill or Lathe mode. Your machines however might be different enough that switching between them might not be a convenient as you think. (limit switch wiring, vfd wiring, stepper drive wiring would all be different? and don't forget the confusion factor which leads to costly mistakes) so this falls into the penny wise pound foolish department.... most simply install one Acorn board per machine tool as the cost in time to swap between machines exceeds the cost of doing it "right".)

and yes Acorn will work with Plasma, Water Jet, Flame cutter, 3D printers, Ice Carving machines, Granite Carving machines, Bed mills, Knee mills, Bench top mills, Table top mills, pretty much anything that moves and needs to be controlled by Gcode!

Thumper650 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2017 11:44 pm Hello I already have a g540 controller setup. It presently uses a usb smooth stepper. Will the smooth stepper work with the Acorn? Also I'm really wanting the lathe edition, can I buy the mill now and is the lathe just a software upgrade? Last but not least can I use the Acorn for 2 different machines? One controller to run a lathe, or a mill with the same control box? Also would this controller work for my Plasma cnc table? Thank you for your time and I really think this is a great product.

A bit more info please. What kind of machine is Smoothstepper running? Are you using the equivalent of one parallel port?
A picture (or two or three) of the machine and your control box, and a description of what its controlling (Limit switches, spindle motor, relays etc.) would be really helpful.

In general yes! You unplug the DB25 from the Mach machine, and plug it into Acorn. Configure the software and you should be good to go, but need more info on your machine.

On the issue of two machines.
I would imagine if BOTH are using G540's, then it could be possible. But more details about the machines would help give you a little better answer.

I think you are really going to like software, and it is continually updated and improved. The same basic user interface hasn't changed much over the recent years that I am aware of.

Software issues get resolved because its the same software across all their product lines. It hasn't been custom written for Acorn.
Marty

Sorry guys. Didn't mean to ask questions then run off. The machines running the G540 are a Taig cnc mill, and a Taig Lathe conversion. The 4x4 plasma table is running a uc100. The Acorn has the capability to run a THC? No limit switches on any machines though. The mill has 166 oz so no biggie if it hits end of travel. Both are lead screw taigs also. I'm thinking 2 acorns for me. One for the plasma table and one for the Taigs. I was curious about the 799.00 all in one computer? Would the Acorn run better from a different computer or is this one have powerful enough memory, and enough ram to run the Acorn efficiently ? I'm sorry about all the questions, figure better to ask now. I do like the mobile stand for the computer. Steve

Good to hear from you. We all have a life that's for sure...
The Taigs with G540 should be a piece of cake. How are the spindle motors controlled?

How does the UC100 interface with your torch height controller? (Which one do you have?)
Plasma is of interest to me. Thing is I want to do a plasma table and use it as a router table as well. My idea is to slip a slip board on top of the burn table....

Let us know how you get a long if you proceed and be sure to take pics along the way!
Marty

The ALLLIN1PC exceeds our minimum PC requirements. You can of course provide your own PC as well as long as it meets the minimum specs. Beyond the minimum there is no additional benefit for our Software, but future proofing a bit is never a bad idea. Please keep in mind that the minimum specs are calculated on the PC being set up according to our instructions and that CNC12 is the only thing running.