Re:Dahlgren Engraver Z axis air actuation

Or look at M62 and M100. Just depends on how you are writing the G code.

I do like Rick's idea better than mine. Just set up the Z as a stepper axis with no feedback and make your Z moves long enough to give you enough time for the Z to move up and down and that should work.

John

Looks like your driver board does not use all of the pins from the parallel port. You could break out one that is not used and with a small opto circuit that could pull in your 24v relay. Another option if you have a spare pci slot is to just plug in another parallel port for $10 and have several more I/O available to use. In any case you still need the electronics to bridge the gap between the parallel port and your relay. I'm not good with that so perhaps someone else can show you a simple circuit for that or some google searching might find what you can do with some Radio Shack parts to get it going.

John