CamSoft System CS-209 - $1991.00
When I bought my Bridgeport CNC Mill, it came with a CNC CS-209 control package made by CamSoft.
Here is a description from the CamSoft Website:
I was excited about using this to retrofit the mill. Considering the kit had never been installed I thought that it should be pretty easy to get the mill up and running. The kit even comes with CAD software which is a big expense for CNC machining.
The CAD software is called Advanced System 3000 and requires a hardware key (I think). The software was on the computer that came with the mill but it was not very intuitive. I have used AutoCAD and Solidworks extensively so I was surprised that I could not really just start drawing.
The package also comes with CNC software. This software did not seem to be installed on the computer so I can not say anything about it. The manual is very complete but did not seem to have any information on how to install the system into a mill.
The package is supposed to come with a USB Game/Joystick which I did not get. The last owner said that his kids played with it and lost it. Seems to be the only part of the kit that was ever used.
The last piece of the package that I did receive was a small circuit board in a plastic enclosure that interfaces the computer to the milling machine. This package is for steppers so there are terminals for xyz step and direction.
There are also terminals for:
PWM ?
Needless to say there are a lot of terminals that need some documentation to hook up. At least the ESTOP is connected to ground with a jumper so I assume that when the connection is broken the card will enter an ESTOP condition.
I can estimate the parts on the board cost less than $40. Basically a processor, oscillator, 3 terminal blocks, a 7805 regulator, and a DB-9 plug for what I assume is a serial port. Not sure how a serial port would work for CNC unless the device is really an indexer that you send a command to serially. This is different than the idea of most CNC retrofit packages for stepper motors as they use the PC as the indexer and have a dumb opto-isolation interface/breakout board that connects to the parallel port.
So you might ask why I have nice pictures of the kit after my machine is retrofitted and running. Even before I got the Bridgeport in the garage I had called the company and requested some information on hooking up the kit.
Their response was to give me a $1000 quote for support. Even though the kit had never been installed and the only thing I needed was a hook-up diagram, they wanted to charge me $1000 to answer my question.
This got me so angry I put the kit back in the box and vowed never to use it.
I was thinking about this situation the other day and remembered my experience with Gecko. Since I also got 3 Gecko 201s with no paperwork I called that company for info and talked to Maris. He spent over an hour with me and helped me decide exactly how to use their drives and how to build a power supply for them. He even suggested that I get the first repair free if I burned one (as long as I was honest about what I did). Gecko drives cost less than $40 each ($120) when mine were bought but they still spent a long time helping me even though I was not the original purchaser. The CamSoft package cost more than 10X as much and they wanted 50% more to even talk to me.
You also might be curious as the what software and hardware I did use.
CNC Software : Enhanced Machine Controller - EMC2
Price : Free
Equivalent to CadSoft CNC lite which lists at $1995
Interface Board : CNC4PC C11G Breakout Board for Gecko Drives
Price : $109
Equivalent to CamSofts Step Motor Control Card - CS14000 which lists at $395
At the time there was no good free CAD/CAM software. I wrote a Python library to create G-Code. Maybe someday I will release it. However now there is a good free CAD/CAM software package.
Here is a description from the CamSoft Website:
CNC Lite software, AS3000 3D CAD/CAM system, USB Jog Stick Handheld Controller, CS 14000 - 4 axes stepper motion board, cables with user provided computer.
- CNC Lite Software
- AS3000 Cad/Cam System
- USB Jog Stick
- Motion Boards
Limited time special offer starting at $1,991
The CAD software is called Advanced System 3000 and requires a hardware key (I think). The software was on the computer that came with the mill but it was not very intuitive. I have used AutoCAD and Solidworks extensively so I was surprised that I could not really just start drawing.
The package also comes with CNC software. This software did not seem to be installed on the computer so I can not say anything about it. The manual is very complete but did not seem to have any information on how to install the system into a mill.The package is supposed to come with a USB Game/Joystick which I did not get. The last owner said that his kids played with it and lost it. Seems to be the only part of the kit that was ever used.
The last piece of the package that I did receive was a small circuit board in a plastic enclosure that interfaces the computer to the milling machine. This package is for steppers so there are terminals for xyz step and direction.
There are also terminals for:
EStop
Lim
Pause
Home X, Y, Z, and A
MST ? not sure what most of these are
FID ?
CW and CCW ?
OUT ?PWM ?
Needless to say there are a lot of terminals that need some documentation to hook up. At least the ESTOP is connected to ground with a jumper so I assume that when the connection is broken the card will enter an ESTOP condition.
I can estimate the parts on the board cost less than $40. Basically a processor, oscillator, 3 terminal blocks, a 7805 regulator, and a DB-9 plug for what I assume is a serial port. Not sure how a serial port would work for CNC unless the device is really an indexer that you send a command to serially. This is different than the idea of most CNC retrofit packages for stepper motors as they use the PC as the indexer and have a dumb opto-isolation interface/breakout board that connects to the parallel port.
So you might ask why I have nice pictures of the kit after my machine is retrofitted and running. Even before I got the Bridgeport in the garage I had called the company and requested some information on hooking up the kit.
Their response was to give me a $1000 quote for support. Even though the kit had never been installed and the only thing I needed was a hook-up diagram, they wanted to charge me $1000 to answer my question.
This got me so angry I put the kit back in the box and vowed never to use it.
I was thinking about this situation the other day and remembered my experience with Gecko. Since I also got 3 Gecko 201s with no paperwork I called that company for info and talked to Maris. He spent over an hour with me and helped me decide exactly how to use their drives and how to build a power supply for them. He even suggested that I get the first repair free if I burned one (as long as I was honest about what I did). Gecko drives cost less than $40 each ($120) when mine were bought but they still spent a long time helping me even though I was not the original purchaser. The CamSoft package cost more than 10X as much and they wanted 50% more to even talk to me.
You also might be curious as the what software and hardware I did use.
CNC Software : Enhanced Machine Controller - EMC2
Price : Free
Equivalent to CadSoft CNC lite which lists at $1995
Interface Board : CNC4PC C11G Breakout Board for Gecko Drives
Price : $109
Equivalent to CamSofts Step Motor Control Card - CS14000 which lists at $395
At the time there was no good free CAD/CAM software. I wrote a Python library to create G-Code. Maybe someday I will release it. However now there is a good free CAD/CAM software package.
Price : Free
Adequate option to CadSoft Advanced System 3000 which lists at $1295
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