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One PC for multiple Acorns?

Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2017 10:10 pm
by C6MFG
I purchased one of the Lenovo Tiny Pc's recommended on the forum to run my first acorn mill. I have since purchased 2 more acorns...one for another little mill and another for a mini lathe. I eventually want to have pc's for each machine but in the meantime can I bounce between the machines with the same pc?

Thanks,

Jason

Re: One PC for multiple Acorns?

Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 10:45 am
by martyscncgarage
Each Acorn is has a unique identifier and is married to the PC as far as I know. << cnckeith writes, Acorn not "married" to a PC>> This is especially true when you purchase a Pro or Ultimate license. <<cnckeith writes... the license IS married to the Acorn board itself, i.e. you cant use a license for one Acorn board for another, so if you use one PC for multiple Acorns you'll have to keep this straight along with the cnc config files for each particular machine tool. if you really want to play musical chairs with Acorn boards, scott wrote some batch files below to take care of it for you >> Not to mention most configuration will be different for each CNC Machine.

Bite the bullet and buy a couple more PCs when you need them. <<good advice>>

Re: One PC for multiple Acorns?

Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 1:45 pm
by diycncscott
Mill and lathe are in separate directories so just install and select the shortcut you want if only running 1 mill and 1 lathe. Just move the ethernet cable between the 2 acorns.

For multiple mills I wrote a couple of batch files, the format is pretty easy to follow.

1. Copy both mill1.bat and mill2.bat into your cncm directory (they were renamed as .txt for posting purposes)
2. Create shortcuts to the batch files
3. Configure mill1 as you require.
4. Create a file named c:\cncm\cncm1.txt
5. Exit Acorn software
6. Create directorys named c:\cncm1 & c:\cncm2
7. Click the shortcut for mill1.bat - this will copy all the settings for mill1 to c:\cncm1
8. Exit Acorn software
9. Plug the ethernet cable into Acorn#2
10. Run the Wizard again. Click "Restore Drive Defaults", then click "Reset CNC Configuration", configure mill2 as needed and then click "Write Settings to CNC control configuration"
11. Create file named c:\cncm\cncm2.txt, delete c:\cncm\cncm1.txt
12. Click the shortcut for mill2.bat

Re: One PC for multiple Acorns?

Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 2:51 pm
by martyscncgarage
martyscncgarage wrote: Tue Oct 17, 2017 10:45 am Each Acorn is has a unique identifier and is married to the PC as far as I know. << cnckeith writes, Acorn not "married" to a PC>> This is especially true when you purchase a Pro or Ultimate license. <<cnckeith writes... the license IS married to the Acorn board itself, i.e. you cant use a license for one Acorn board for another, so if you use one PC for multiple Acorns you'll have to keep this straight along with the cnc config files for each particular machine tool. if you really want to play musical chairs with Acorn boards, scott wrote some batch files below to take care of it for you >> Not to mention most configuration will be different for each CNC Machine.

Bite the bullet and buy a couple more PCs when you need them. <<good advice>>
Thanks for clarifying Keith! What happens if a CNC PC with a Pro or Ultimate license for one Acorn board, is used on a different Acorn board for which the license was not intended?

Looks like too much opportunity for confusion trying to save buck. :shock:
Marty

Re: One PC for multiple Acorns?

Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 4:34 pm
by Centroid_Liviu
Nothing will be unlocked if you try to use a License from another Acorn (it won't give you any capabilities above whats included in the Free). The License file is unique to the specific Acorn hardware.

Re: One PC for multiple Acorns?

Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2017 8:10 am
by C6MFG
diycncscott wrote: Tue Oct 17, 2017 1:45 pm Mill and lathe are in separate directories so just install and select the shortcut you want if only running 1 mill and 1 lathe. Just move the ethernet cable between the 2 acorns.

For multiple mills I wrote a couple of batch files, the format is pretty easy to follow.

1. Copy both mill1.bat and mill2.bat into your cncm directory (they were renamed as .txt for posting purposes)
2. Create shortcuts to the batch files
3. Configure mill1 as you require.
4. Create a file named c:\cncm\cncm1.txt
5. Exit Acorn software
6. Create directorys named c:\cncm1 & c:\cncm2
7. Click the shortcut for mill1.bat - this will copy all the settings for mill1 to c:\cncm1
8. Exit Acorn software
9. Plug the ethernet cable into Acorn#2
10. Run the Wizard again. Click "Restore Drive Defaults", then click "Reset CNC Configuration", configure mill2 as needed and then click "Write Settings to CNC control configuration"
11. Create file named c:\cncm\cncm2.txt, delete c:\cncm\cncm1.txt
12. Click the shortcut for mill2.bat
Thanks for the information! Should get me up and running until I can get dedicated PC's/touchscreen monitors.

Jason

Re: One PC for multiple Acorns?

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2017 1:10 am
by ScotY
This info might come in handy one day...thanks!

Re: One PC for multiple Acorns?

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 3:46 pm
by Dave_C
I get that running one PC for one lath and two Mills is going to be a challenge but,

Is it as much of a challenge to use one PC for 1 lathe and just 1 mill. For example, I have a rolling stand for the computer, monitor, keyboard and mouse in my small shop space and I would like to not have two of them. I would like to just roll the stand from one machine to the other having one config for lathe and one for mill (using two acorns and two licenses, both pro)

With just me in the shop, the two machines would never run at the same time, so what say yea?

Dave C.

Re: One PC for multiple Acorns?

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 6:45 pm
by Centroid_Tech
That shouldn't be an issue as you will have 2 different software, a Mill and a Lathe, with 2 separate PRO licenses for each individual ACORN.

Re: One PC for multiple Acorns?

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2017 5:52 pm
by ScotY
Just an update to this...I’ve got mill and lathe, one of each, running off a single PC. So far, I haven’t run into any issues. But, something I didn’t think about is that the Xbox controller (using Rewasd) is a problem as the configuration does not work for both machines. Not sure if there is a solution to this. Perhaps when the MPG is available, I can use it for one machine and the Xbox for the other. I’m hoping that will be how it works out.