Glossary
Key terms (towards a Glossary for the Vizproto class):
Breakout Board: A Breakout Board is used to interface between your PC and the various motor controls, relays, and other devices you want to control on a CNC. The advantage of the breakout board linked here (a step up from the $20 version I bought) that I can see is that it provides clear documentation regarding pin connections. This would also require separate relays (which I already installed on my little cheapie breakout board). https://www.homanndesigns.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=54_22&products_id=59&zenid=om3h9t626fh9enqgqidae81fk6
Charge Pump: A DC-to-DC converter that uses capacitors for energetic charge storage to raise or lower voltage. Charge-pump circuits are capable of high efficiencies, sometimes as high as 90–95%, while being electrically simple circuits. The Charge Pump is an essential part of every CNC system - especially a CNC router system where there is the possibility for home build or DIY CNC applications. The Charge Pump is a 12.5kHz signal that is triggered down an output pin of your CNC system. When you hit RESET on Mach3 to enable the system you trigger the charge pump.
CNC: Short for “computer numerical control,” the CNC process runs in contrast to — and thereby supersedes — the limitations of manual control, where live operators are needed to prompt and guide the commands of machining tools via levers, buttons and wheels. https://astromachineworks.com/what-is-cnc-machining/
Diode: A two-terminal electronic component that conducts current primarily in one direction (asymmetric conductance); it has low (ideally zero) resistance in one direction, and high (ideally infinite) resistance in the other. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diode
ECP: Extended Capabilities Port, a parallel-port standard for PCs that supports bi-directional communication between the PC and attached devices (such as a printer). ECP is about 10 times faster than the older Centronics standard.
FDM: Fused Deposition Modeling. General term for any additive-type 3D printer that extrudes or deposits a filament (usually plastic) that builds a part layer by layer from bottom to top.
Holography: The science and practice of making holograms. A hologram is a real world recording of an interference pattern which uses diffraction to reproduce a 3D light field, resulting in an image which still has the depth, parallax, and other properties of the original scene. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holography
LPT: Line Printer Terminal (also known as a Parallel Port). Rapidly going the way of the dinosaur as most computers now equipped with USB printer connections that obviate the need for an LPT. So , the problem is, how to identify the “pins” on a USB connection when the pins refer to an obsolete technology that we are not using in the current USB connection between the XP PC and the break-out board? In order to suss out the actual “pin out,” will I need to go back to the standard Parallel cable so I can clearly identify “pins?” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_port See this discussion about pin assignment for typical CNC applications: http://www.cncroutersource.com/cnc-breakout-board.html
Potentiometer: A potentiometer is a three-terminal resistor with a sliding or rotating contact that forms an adjustable voltage divider. If only two terminals are used, one end and the wiper, it acts as a variable resistor or rheostat.
Ports and Pins: In this case, the “port” generally refers to the original 25 pin port (LPT) that is directly connected to the computer’s motherboard. Pins are the individual connections in the LPT. Here is an excellent guide explaining the relationship of ports and pins to specific break-out board and setting up pins in Mach 3 (this is what I don’t have for my break-out board!).
http://www.hobbycncaustralia.com/Instructions/iI20PinsandPorts.htm Unfortunately, the last update on the site was 2015, and the specific “board” the company offered is no longer available.
Punched Tape: a form of data storage that consists of a long strip of paper in which holes are punched. It developed from and was subsequently used alongside punched cards, differing in that the tape is continuous. It was used throughout the 19th and for much of the 20th centuries for programmable looms, teleprinter communication, for input to computers of the 1950s and 1960s, and later as a storage medium for minicomputers and CNC machine tools.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punched_tape
PWM: Pulse width modulation (PWM), or pulse-duration modulation (PDM), is a method of reducing the average power delivered by an electrical signal, by effectively chopping it up into discrete parts. Read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse-width_modulation As I understand Mach 3, it looks like most guys are using the PWM settings under the spindle config menu to set up variable speeds for spindle. Do we need a separate A/D convertor in our circuit between the VFD and the break-out board to be able to set the PWM? The alternative appears to be selecting the option for “Step and Direction Controlled spindles.” See the quite complete explanation of PWM relative to setting up a lathe with Mach 3 (attached)
Relays: Electric switches that use electromagnetism to convert small electrical stimuli into larger currents. These conversions occur when electrical inputs activate electromagnets to either form or break existing circuits.
Resistor: A passive two-terminal electrical component that implements electrical resistance as a circuit element. In electronic circuits, resistors are used to reduce current flow, adjust signal levels, to divide voltages, bias active elements, and terminate transmission lines, among other uses.
SEM: Scanning Electron Microscope.
SLS: Selective Laser Sintering. Selective laser sintering is an additive manufacturing (AM) technology that uses a high-power laser to sinter (fuse) small particles of polymer powder into a solid structure based on a 3D model.
SPM: Scanning Probe Microscopy.
Stepper motor: A stepper motor, also known as step motor or stepping motor, is a brushless DC electric motor that divides a full rotation into a number of equal steps. The motor's position can then be commanded to move and hold at one of these steps without any position sensor for feedback (an open-loop controller), as long as the motor is carefully sized to the application in respect to torque and speed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepper_motor
Stepper motor driver: Stepper motor drivers are specifically designed to drive stepper motors, which are capable of continuous rotation with precise position control, even without a feedback system.Maybe I should have started with a new 4 axis integrated driver (like a Gekko G540 with decent documentation- just under $300). It looks like this obviates the need for separate motor drivers?
Tachometer: An instrument for measuring rotational speed--such as a motor axle or spindle.
VFD: Variable Frequency Driver. A variable-frequency drive (VFD) or adjustable-frequency drive (AFD), variable-voltage/variable-frequency (VVVF) drive, variable speed drive (VSD), AC drive, micro drive or inverter drive is a type of motor drive used in electro-mechanical drive systems to control AC motor speed and torque by varying motor input frequency and voltage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable-frequency_drive