I’m almost done with my mpcnc build and the special Marlin build with dual endstop is very interesting to me.
However this can only run on 3D printer boards by the looks of it (since i originally was planning on running grbl or some other cnc board). I know with some modifications its possible to run external and more beefier stepper drivers from a ramps…
However does Mach 3 even work with the marlin firmware over usb??
Is there a controller that has dual endstop capability that can work with mach3?
Its not worth of hustle to put bigger stepper as frame will not keep with theme nema 17 is plenty for what you can do with mpcnc. Regarding Controll board grbl i think support 3 axis as for now and homing mpcnc is quite different from what you can achieve with grbl. If you won go more advance you can use some standard cnc controller 5 axis and 2 arduino cnc shield to wright everything up then in Linux cnc or mach 3 you can do some more advance homing. Hope i answer your question.
You can’t. Marlin runs on the Arduino and controls the timing of the motors (over simplified explanation). In a Mach 3 system, the windows computer has the same role that the Arduino does, and the computer controls the motors directly. The controller is the computer itself.
They basically fulfill the same role, therefore, they cannot be used together. If you want to run grbl, bCNC is really close to the functionality/wizards thatach 3 has.
Dont need to run grbl but have a copy i managed to get cheap of mach3 and since its so widely used I assumed it would be better to get familiar with cncing? I have a mach3 controller but it requires 32 bit and an LPT port unless I get one with a smoothstepper… all great but no dual axis homing which I kinda want.
I’m ok with not using grbl but was wondering if there are any cnc softwares out there which would work with marlin ? I see some people use printrun but to me that seems really meant for 3D printing and will be more confusing the setup feed rates and other special cutting modes etc… So I want mostly software that’s really meant for cnc work.
Unless there is a specific feature you need from mach 3 I highly recommend trying it the way we do it. Don’t let the “3D printer” boards fool you. The boards are robust and the controls are simple, to me they seem extremely full featured as well when paired with Marlin. I honestly stopped trying to keep up with all the firmware versions out there as soon as Marlin got s-curve acceleration, I do not feel we lack anything at this point.