Complete newby needing help.

John:

OK, it's starting to make sense now. Yes the 5i25-7i76 sounds like a better option.

Is power connected to the 7i76 by connector or soldered? Same with the 201's connectors or soldered?

I remember reading one post on the Supra KIt where the poster was not happy about the 201's being powered by a printer ribbon cable????

Any pics anywhere of the 7176's being hooked up, or just do a search and see what I can find???

thanks,
Ken

I just looked at the 7i77 and took a quick peek at the rest of the photo gallery.

The only thing "pot bellied" in my shop is me.

Ken

OK, I was just looking at the Supra controller.

How do I get the 201's off. They seem awfully snug. Do they just pull off? I noticed the back of the 201's have 2 screws in them. Do they have to be removed and the back pulled off to remove from the board?

Also can't find any identifying marks, #'s, etc on the transformer. I'll assume 120 in, but don't know voltages out.

The gecko site is having problems. Is the 7i76 a 3 or 4 axis board? I'd like to at least have 4. (who knows maybe a vertical rotary table later). How would coolant be controlled?

Is there reason to go with a bigger/better board??? Just asking before I pull the trigger on the 5i25-7i76 combo.

thanks,
Ken

OK, found the screws on the botttom. There is an extremely short wire connecting the cooling fan to the board. So when the cover is removed the only way to set it down is on the side that blocks access to the screws on the bottom of the 201's.

I have several volt meters. My good one bit the dust so now I have 4-5 HF $3.99 specials.

What do I need it for???

Ken

Dooh (Homer Simpson slap to forehead). Too obvious, John. I thought we were going to check the 201's, or maybe figure out the breakout on the printer cable.

OK, on the input side of the transformer. Top 2 pins are soldered together, and bottom 2 pins are soldered together, 118 volts. On the ouput side there are 4 pins, 2 center pins are soldered together, with leads coming off of top and bottom pins. Top and center pins +/-25 volts. Top and bottom pins (leads coming off of) +/- 50-51 volts.

BTW, all 3 of the 201's lit up the LED's.

thanks,
Ken

PS. Just left an e-mail on the cncmasters site asking for documentation, etc. Hopefully, I'll get a response tomorrow.

John:

Everything is in one unit. Large blue capacitor is there. There are 3 boards. One(A) that has 3 201's mounted and a 4th output available. One (b) that has the I/O serial ports mounted, it is connected by ribbon cable to both the main power board (C), and the board (A) with the 201's mounted. And (C) board, which appears to be the power board.

I am planning on getting and using the 5i25-7i76 combo. Will I still need to "rob" parts and or use the cncmasters power board? If so I'm wondering what/how? I'll try to look at the mesa website again, and see if I can figure out anything.

BTW, I checked and the pics are back. I took some more detailed pics of the cncmasters power board. I'll try to get them posted tomorrow. (The earlier pics were uploaded from my computer. Is it necessary to upload to PhotoBucket etc? Like on the HSM website?)

thanks,
Ken