It is not often that the CAD industry gets shaken up as much as it has in the past 12 months. First we had Autodesk Fusion 360 coming out with a Cloud based service and we have recently received word of OnShape.
The pedigree of OnShape could not be purer, it is spearheaded by the founders of Solidworks, an industry favourite for as long as I can remember.
Welcome to the third instalment of the Smoothstepper series of posts. In this post we discuss what you need to do to make the computer communicate with the Smoothstepper over Ethernet.
When you connect you Smoothstepper to you computer you will need to make a very important decision: Which IP range do you want to use?
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As users of the Smoothstepper in our machine, we thought it would be good to share our findings and some tips.
First and foremost let's debunk a myth that has been going round the various CNC communities saying that Smoothsteppers have bad support from the manufacturer. This is drummed on about on a number of fora/forums but it is not exactly the case. There has always been a forum on Warp9's website to assist people and the designers of the board have actively been trying to keep up with the demands and needs of their customers. It is true however that some of the responses have been slow in the past, thankfully the organisation of the company has changed and they are now up to speed. The Smoothstepper is by a long shot the best value for money feature packed motion control board on the market and that is why here at Emvio use it.
So with that out of the way lets get to some tips
Have you seen the new Smoothstepper Configuration Utility? If not then head on over to Warp9TD.com to find out more on this amazing development!
Both the Ethernet and the USB Smoothsteppers share the same mounting hole pattern. The hole pattern and dimensions are both available in the user manuals. What if you just want to hold it done on a plate without drilling and tapping? As part of our series of tips, we will show you what we do on semipermanent installations!
Industrial cabinets have long used the DIN rail to mount all sorts of automation and safety component.
Luckily some lovely person has also made models for 3D printing of brackets specifically to be used with the Smoothstepper.
The Gallery below details a quick method with which we have mounted the Smoothstepper in the first photograph of the post.
We are sure you will come up with your own methods of mounting. If you would like us to include photos in this section to show them off, we would love to hear from you.
Stay tuned for more tips!
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