Hello. I’m waiting for my EX Controller to arrive and just absorbing information about what others have been struggling with. Hopefully it will be a smooth transition for me.
My question is regarding the computer needed to run then CNC 12 software. Will it need to be similar to Mach4 where its an isolated computer dedicated to that one task, or can I ditch a computer and just use one computer out in the shop that is connected to the internet, and running Fusion 360, Vectric and CNC12 software concurrently?
I think they recommend having a dedicated computer with EX as well.
However, I have never had a problem with Mach4 in that respect. I always left it connnected to my wireless network, and I did editing on Vectric while Mach4 was running a job and never had a problem with that.
I have had an EX system for a couple weeks, and am doing the same with no issues.
I think the problems are more the stuff like auto-updates, virus scan, network backups, etc. Just like for Mach4, there is an app you run first for Centroid to shut all that stuff off for your CNC computer.
I have always been advised not to have the control computer hooked to the internet. Like Jim my control computer is connected to my home network. With centroid I believe most of the control computing is down on the centroid board unlike Mach 4. I have been running the EX system for about 3 months. The upgrade is pretty straight forward, was a bit of a learning curve for me moving from Mach to Centroid but well worth it for the increased performance and capabilities.
Checkout Centroids forum where you can get the spec’s for the minimum requirements for the computer, as well as info on how to set up the computer to run the Acorn board.
As Jim mentioned, the software that comes with the EX controller has an app called PC tuner which will check out and set your computer to run the Acorn.
I’ve been using the Centroid Acorn board for a couple of years now and can say that you won’t be disappointed
Thanks Jim. I watched bits and pieces of your video yesterday. Very informative, and I’m definitely looking forward to your servo comparison. It’s nice of you to take the time to do this testing. Well done.
I have 2 nearly brand new mini computers out in the shop for my cnc. I’ll probably just keep it that way. The one computer simply runs Mach 4 and has internet disabled. It’s networked via wifi to transfer files to it. Works pretty good 95% of the time. At times the network does not work for a day for no reason at all, which can be frustrating. Then the mext time I fire it all up it’s fine again.
The Centroid website notes to use a computer that has a dedicated ethernet port, NOT a USB-to-ethernet adapter.
Is anyone using an adapter? If so, to what USB type port? It seems that if you’re using a USB 3.1 port (which matches the maximum Cat 6 speed of 10 Gbps) then the adapter would not slow anything down.
When you send G code from your PC it gets sent in parts down to the controller. The controller itself process the G code and actually runs it. Or to say another way: The PC drip feeds G code to the control box.
This means that there is a healthy buffer between the PC and the control box, and since the control box is actually doing all of the motion planning you get consistent (and reliable!) performance across a wide range of PCs.
However, if the PC crashes, or has a HUGE studder that buffer can get eaten up. So you don’t want your PC crashing (duh)
Officially we recommend that the control computer do nothing but run the control. Being online is fine, as long as you are careful about not letting windows updates reboot the computer at some random time.
Part of my job here is to test things. I have three PCs. One is stripped down and has nothing but CNC12 on it. One has all kinds of software, including VCarve, Fusion, Google Drive, etc. Both PCs perform exactly the same when running the machine.
Big caveat: On the machine with Fusion/VCarve I DO NOT run those applications while cutting. They are only used at idle time to update designs. This is NOT a recommendation that this is a good idea. It’s just to illustrate that unlike with Mach setups, the PC plays a much smaller role in live machine moves.
That was probably too much information, but at the end of the day use your PC responsibly and you’ll be fine
I just read through this thread and had an additional question. My laser and EX controller arrives later this week. I am going to update my Windows PC and start with a clean install for the Acorn software. I know they have a PC Tuner program to disable a lot of things that can interfere with the operation. I am ok with not having Internet or updates on that PC. But, with the main ethernet port going to the controller from the PC, would it be possible to access my internal network storage (NAS) from a second ethernet port? Basically one LAN line going to the controller and one to my network. I don’t know if PC tuner shuts that off or if it’s possible with some Windows tweaks. I don’t want to run multiple programs at a time while carving but I would like to have VCarve installed and be able to access my files on the network between jobs. Thanks
Thank you for the quick reply. Do you know if the internal network connection will work after the PC Tuner is applied or do I need to change any settings in the firewall or somewhere else for access?
The pc tuner will only change the adapter settings for the adapter you specify.
The pc tuner isn’t super invasive. It just sets power settings and helps you with the network adapter. You can still use the computer as a computer afterwards.
I would add to that I have purposely tried to push my computer while running CNC jobs to see what would make it stutter or misbahave. I have not been able to cause any hangup in Mach4 or CNC12 by using Vcarve (even running calculations and simulations on toolpaths), watching youtube video, etc. If you have any kind of decent computer, the load on it from running the CNC controller is very minimal. I leave my wifi network connection on all the time as well.
I think the main culprits for problems are usually windows updates, and virus scanners because they are very intrusive on Windows and high priority tasks. Both of those are taken care of by the PC tuner. You can still do updates manually. I just pull those manually every couple of weeks when I’m not running a CNC job on the machine.
