Mesa boards are slightly complex devices which get plugged in your PC (PCI slot). Once you have one installed, you connect a stepper driver (the driver boards you talk about) to it. The idea is that the step pulses will be generated in hardware (by the mesa board), and not by emc2 through the paralel port. Stepconf is a program to create simple configuration files where the step pulses get generated by emc2, and sent through the paralel port. If you use a mesa card, then you don't use the paralel port, and thus you don't use stepconf.
The most common use for mesa boards (and other vendors aswell, like servo-to-go, motenc, etc..) are primarely used to drive servo systems. In the case of mesa (with a recent driver), we can use the same hardware (which can drive a servo) to drive a stepper. There are also other hardware generating pulses boards ot there, for example the boards Jon Elson builds. Hope that clarified it a bit. Regards, Alex ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter blodow" <p.blo...@dreki.de> To: "Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC)" <emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net> Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2009 19:30 Subject: Re: [Emc-users] Rattling steppers losing steps > Hello Alex, > maybe my English has become rusty those last 40 years without much > practice..., anyway: > I am using stepper driver boards of the 90'ies. So far, using the software > provided by their producer they were running all right, but rather weak > (too little amount of current) and the software is unflexible. Now, with > EMC2, rest of the setup unchanged (except, of course, for Linux instead of > DOS), the steppers don't perform right because according to Jeff Epler, > the > pulses at the printer port are too short to drive the motors. Or the other > way around, the old driver board seemingly does not adjust pulse length > and > therefore the motors don't get enough energy during the pulse to move one > step correctly. That's my diagnosis. > > As I understand, modern driver electronics care for sufficient pulse > length > independently of the trigger from the PC so the motors will run smooth > again as they used to. And there came my question: will purchase of new > electronics solve the problem? Apparently, because many participants of > this mail group seem to use Mesa boards and it's working that way. > > Now, if I had new boards, I would have to adjust the system by means of > stepconf - is that not right? Why do you say the parport setup by > stepconfig is useless? What else am I to use, and where can I find more > information? > > Now, I in turn got the feeling that I don't quite get it... > > Peter Blodow > > > > > And: since I found a sales representative of Mesa in Germany, will the >> > problem be gone with newer boards? Mine are about 15 years old and I >> > could >> > consider a new purchase if not too expensive... >> >>Err.. what? >>Somehow that last paragraph doesn't make sense for me. >>Mesa and stepconf used together is not right. >>Stepconf is a "simple" tool, meant to aid users in creating simple parport >>driven stepper configurations. >>If you use mesa boards, (stepper or servo alike), you will have to create >>a >>configuration by some other means, the parport config created by stepconf >>is >>useless in that case. >> >>Maybe I am missing the point... >> >>Regards, >>Alex >> >> >>------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>This SF.net email is sponsored by: >>SourcForge Community >>SourceForge wants to tell your story. >>http://p.sf.net/sfu/sf-spreadtheword >>_______________________________________________ >>Emc-users mailing list >>Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net >>https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > This SF.net email is sponsored by: > SourcForge Community > SourceForge wants to tell your story. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/sf-spreadtheword > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This SF.net email is sponsored by: SourcForge Community SourceForge wants to tell your story. http://p.sf.net/sfu/sf-spreadtheword _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
