Centroid Community CNC Support Forum

I've used Mach3 and I've used Acorn. While you don't need the Pro software to use Acorn, that $160 extra for the Pro software will be quickly forgotten after you use Acorn for a week.

briuz wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 12:23 pm I've used Mach3 and I've used Acorn. While you don't need the Pro software to use Acorn, that $160 extra for the Pro software will be quickly forgotten after you use Acorn for a week.

Having used Mach 3 as well, I thought it was great until I built my mill with Centroid and Acorn. I liked it so much I went back and converted the Mach 3 Lathe to Acorn as well.

You could not pay me to go back to Mach 3 even if Mach 3 was FREE!

You do get what you pay for!

Dave C.

Please don't encourage him to stick with Acorn. Four posts and three threats to return the product because he thinks it should come with pro software. I hope you guys are going to answer his 300 questions since he couldn't be bothered to read the website info, no way is he going to read the installation instructions.

I really did not want to trash Mach 3 because it's what get me going in cnc. Mach 3 is more versatile than the centroid software. If you luck out with a good combination of hardware. However I always had weird glitches that made learning cnc frustrating. The software would forget to apply tool offsets. Try and apply G54 style commands that do not exist. Forget where it is in the program. These errors took place on multiple part runs. Reload stock and push the green button so I know they were software related.

The acorn just chugs along doing what it's told to do. No weird errors. Anything that has gone wrong was my own fault. As for the cost of an acorn I think its a bargain. I used good quality hardware with my Mach 3 builds. By the time you get a break out board, speed control and relay board you are close to the cost of an acorn. If the acorn won't do what you want Centroid has higher end boards that will do much more advanced stuff. Yeah they cost a bit but they will control complicated professional level machines. Best of all if you used an acorn you already know the software.

Like a previous poster said I would not go back to Mach 3 even if it was free.

Upnorth wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 3:17 pm However I always had weird glitches that made learning cnc frustrating. The software would forget to apply tool offsets. Try and apply G54 style commands that do not exist. Forget where it is in the program. These errors took place on multiple part runs. f

This is why I bypassed Mach 3 and Mach 4 on the upgrade from GRBL/Arduino based controllers. Too many similar stories across multiple user forums. I didn't need to buy any more frustration.

Hello andrewfromscotland,

Please check your PM inbox for a solution to your problem...

DY10CNC wrote: ↑Fri Jun 11, 2021 7:15 am Hello andrewfromscotland,

Please check your PM inbox for a solution to your problem...

Sounds very ominous. Spice up his single malt Bowmore with some of your Worcestershire sauce perhaps

Hey Nigelo - not too sinister just going to make the poor guy an offer to take the Acorn off his hands!

No scotch or local condiments involved.

I've run into the "software should be free" problem many times when I designed and built process control systems. It's easy to think that the only value in a controller is the hardware, after all, you can touch the hardware. The hardware controls everything in the system; but, what makes the hardware valuable? Is it just the sum total of its components? That's easy to test. Assemble the hardware. Plug it in. Without software, what does it do?

Hardware, without software, is just a bunch of expensive electrical components.

How much should "free" software do? Since hardware will not work without some basic software, then the "free" software should be able to exercise the hardware components. The Acorn has inputs. The basic software lets us use those inputs and it allows us to verify state of the inputs. The Acorn has outputs. The basic software lets us use those outputs and it allows us to verify the state of the outputs. The Acorn has step, direction, and enable signals to command stepper motors or servo motors to function. The basic software allows us to test and verify the operation of those signals. The Acorn allows us to load G-code programs to control a mill, lathe, or router. The basic software allows us to load G-code programs that are big enough to prove that the Acorn can control a mill, lath, or router.

It seems to me that the Acorn controller with its basic software does exactly what it is advertised to do. If the basic software can't handle ALL the desired functions, then Centroid offers advanced software with advanced features. What is the value of adding rigid tapping to a machine? It is certainly worth more than the price of the Pro license. How about adding a software controlled slave axis with separate homing? A slave axis would cost at least $400 for a smallish Teknic Clearpath servo, another $250 or more for a belt drive transmission or gearbox. If I'm willing to pay $650 - $1,000 for the necessary hardware for a slave axis, should I complain if the Acorn needs the Pro version of software to make that function available?

The list goes on and on and on and on. Look at all the features that are included in the Pro version. Any ONE of those features is worth the price if you need that feature. Now, compare apples to apples. Go to the HAAS site or any other CNC manufacturer's site and see what it costs to UNLOCK those features in their software. If $459 is not a good value for the Acorn and its Pro version of software, then I would say that you either don't understand value or that you think that you're entitled to slave labor.

Going full circle, back to my decades building process control systems, the software took 90% of my time to develop, test, and install. The hardware was child's play in comparison.

Take the time to scroll down the page and look at the Comparison chart. Nothing misleading. (Search for Software Axis Pairing)

https://www.centroidcnc.com/centroid_di ... oller.html