CENTROID ACORN 4 UPGRADE MY MACHINE

I'm not using it for a lathe I have a router. Do yourself a favor and sign up for their forum as it's the place to have all your questions answered. I have zero complaints and it was very easy to get up and running and I had zero CNC experience. But I canвЂ™t find many reviews of the acorn online by people who have actually fitted one.Anyone here with good/bad experiences?I'm a actual user and I looked at everything prior to going with Centroid Acorn.

The ease of setup is childsplay. The support on their forum is second to none and there are tons of videos and support documents for the Acorn on their site. I recently (within the last month) converted a Chinese Blue Elephant 6090 CNC router I bought used on Craigslist over to the Acorn board and I'm completely satisfied with their hardware and software. I can second everything Ntl stated. Here's a video of my machine running on Centroid.I too am an actual user of the Rev 4 Acorn board. There's a lot of guys using Acorn for their lathes and I haven't seen anything but happy customers.

No mix and match controller with BOB's to get your system working. Oh and their basic control software also. For $299 and FREE shipping you get an ethernet control board, a 8 position relay board, dual power supply (5 & 24 volts) and a shielded ethernet cable to control your entire system. Very soon you'll be able to customize the screen layout and buttons with an all new 'router' version that's coming. This is truly a 'prosumer' system and it's constantly being worked on and improved, if that's even possible.

Centroid Acorn 4 Upgrade My Machine

The Acron V4 board required zero special configuration, worked out of the box. I saved so much money I bought a touch screen monitor, the wireless pendant (worth every penny!) and upgraded to the Mill Pro software. The fact that it was an all in one solution, that was backed by a company that builds OEM controls, not just DIY controls made it an unbelievable deal at $299 for the motion control board with built in break out board, 8 relay board, power supply and the software! I had originally planned to upgrade my machine from Mach3 to Mach4 and use Smooth Stepper along with PMDX boards to try to get as close to a 'professional' solution as possible but in the end, that would have cost me 3 times what I paid for the Acorn. I looked at Uccnc, Masso and all the different combinations I could do with Mach 4 and picked the Centroid Acorn in the end. I built a new control box around the Acorn 4 board and with the Video's, schematics and documentation I had no issues getting my existing GeckoDrive 203V drivers, my HY VFD and Spindle working with my machine. I think the Centroid Acorn is hands down the best value in DIY CNC.

Also, I just did not want to mess with older parallel port BS computer interfaces. 'why is it doing that' type of thing I see with mach3 and other boards. No caveats, not excuses, no extra drivers, no special circumstances, no. Feedback with Acorn was that it just worked.period.

The software side is also simple to set up and if you are an advanced user then you have much more customisation possiblities with mach3 and the uccnc.Sure Centroid employes and contractors making those threads, CNCKeith, NTL, Gary Campbell and their friends.Talking about software: What I see is a non-customisable DOS looking UI of the Acorn which looks like it is from the late 80's. Both softwares have much more features than the Acorn and does not need any special things like you think.For example I have an AXBB-E which is a similar board as the Acorn, it has the motion controller and also the breakout board functionality. I enjoy a modern computer as well.Those what you read mostly were written by Centroid employees and contractors.You have never used mach3 and uccnc is clear from your writing. Support has been good as well. **** just worked and has never missed a beat.

Some of the oddness happened on a random part of a multi part run. I was not so fortunate and had some odd things happen I could not explain. I think the people who are happy with mach 3 made a lucky choice of hardware that was compatible with mach 3. I could never trust mach 3 and it did some weird things once in a while. However the acorn actually works, So far it does what it is told with no weird stuff happening. I do agree with you that Mach 3 has more features and is more customizable.

I personally would not judge a controller that I haven't installed on at least a half dozen machines. Have you actually ever purchased and used one? I have. It offers me the adjustability to fine tune for smooth motion, equal to that which is offered by WinCNC at a much lower cost.You seem to make a number of unqualified comparative analyses between Acorn and UCCNC, hardware and software. I didn't drop UCCNC until after I had proven to my self that Centroid Acorn far outperformed UCCNC. Even tho UCCNC was not as smooth or adjustable as WinCNC, it cost a lot less, so I sell more systems.

And if customization is your forte, UCCNC doesn't have anything on WinCNC, with the added bonus that it does not require any programming or script language to customize, or write a macro for that matter.