Generic CNC Controller

My company does the mechanical design for XYZ Test stages for electronics testing equipment and products. The general premise is move xyz, test, record.

The projects always starts out with a video of a simple Arduino XYZ. It quickly goes to we also need this, this, and this; the Arduino won't work. We then have to wait for a controls engineer to spec a motion control which are always different. There not only becomes confusion as to who is driving the car, I have to learn to drive again.

So,

I want to create a Generic CNC Controller. I would have everything ready just before the drives. I supply drives, motor, and hardware and the machine is moving. They would then call my LinuxCNC programs (from Windows machine). The CNC machine would move and they would get their readings. Repeat.

Size does not matter for the prototype/proof of concept. I want to use a desktop computer and Mesa cards.

After proof of concept, we can possibly look at moving it to a BBB with Machinekit. The products would probably get their own ICs. Both these are not within the scope of this controller.

For the moment, I am also limiting my scope to machine movement and not the data acquisition. But I would like to have a better understanding of what is available.

Thoughts? The bottom line for me is if I can get things to move by myself, I can test faster.

tommylight wrote:

With Lcnc and some persistence there is a world of what and how can be done, so it absolutely pays off learning Lcnc.

That is sort of the thing. I already have lcnc/mesa test machine set up for my mill retrofit. It runs servos, but I am sure I can make one with steppers. I have even read where you can do steppers and servos together.

What has always held me back is the Windows. Their programs are in Windows. I think the VNC will solve this issue. I would just use a separate cheap pc.

well lcnc can do all you require in one package , but i'd forget toys such as the beaglebone if you want reliability
stick with a atx mini pc and say mesa controllers and you wont go wrong

as far as remoting just use vnc or design a windows gui , if you are running as a test bench for machining tolerance test then
that has also been done , look at the probe functions etc .

learning one set of software has it's advantages . is that you can change everything to do as you wish from one setup to another
quite quickly as end up with a library of setups to either modify or use again

Thanks for the help! I think it is time to jump in and see if I can swim.

My goal is to just to test motion/controls so no BBB for me. It does give the customer a path forward for their future development. Some of these devices are very small so this quickly gets out of my wheelhouse. I will let the experts handle it.

I do need a new computer as I am currently using my CAD station. I am thinking mini ATX or mini ITX. The mini ITX has some advantages in size and not having to listen to a fan, but not sure it is worth it? I can make the room and will most likely have a fan anyways.

I think this is a mini ATX
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883798414

mini ITX
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138412
www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home...A&is=REG&A=details&Q

Any advice here? I have been confused about the computers and latency so I have not bought one. I don't think it matters as much with the mesa cards.