I have three 3-axis engraving machines using Estlcam - two using the generic Ardunio GRBL boards, and one using an Estlcam XL Terminal board.
I recently picked up a Windows 11 pc that miraculously has a parallel port card. I have a couple of parallel port breakout boards from older systems, intended for use with Mach3 and similar setups.
Is it possible to use Estlcam with the parallel port breakout boards, or does there need to be some processing capability between Estlcam CNC software and the breakout board? Does Estlcam CNC send only g-code to the GRBL and XL boards, or can it be configured to send step/direction/spindle signals on specified parallel port pins?
There are no stupid questions here about build specifics. Every time someone has the courage to ask a question, there are multiple others with the same question but not the courage to ask it.
I’m not an EstlCAM controller user, only EstlCAM CAM. There are experts here, and hopefully one of those will be along shortly to give definitive advise.
EstlCAM (the controller part) runs on embedded hardware, not on the PC. The EstlCAM CAM app can talk to the embedded controller, but the motion control part isn’t running inside the PC.
The parallel port adapters you see for EstlCAM controller setups, as I understand it, adapt the embedded hardware such that it can drive stepper setups that were originally designed to work with a PC. (e.g. if you have electronics that used to connect to a Mach 3 PC, you could instead connect that electronics stack to through the adapter to the EstlCAM embedded electronics. ) EstlCAM the CAM and gcode sender, would still have to talk to the embedded hardware.
All of which is to say: My understanding is that having a PC with a parallel port isn’t of any help running EstlCAM.
Now, if your existing parallel port breakout boards have the electronics on them to drive a stepper chain, you could plug them into an EstlCAM controller using an EstlCAM parallel port adapter and potentially make use of them that way. But again, that wouldn’t in any way hook up to the parallel port card in your PC.
If you tell us more about your setup and collection of hardware that you have, I’ll bet we can be of more help to you.
Using Estlcam for motion control only works with the Estlcam PC controller interface/sender > USB > Estlcam controller firmware on ATmega328/2650 (e.g. Arduino) or AVR64DB64 (new Estlcam boards) microcontrollers.
Hello @MakerJim
Request help ! need your help in solving my problem. im based in india, and using EstlCAM software to connect to controller unit which has 25 pin parallel port. however in the EstlCAM UI under CNC Controller setup im unable to choose the port even though port drivers, and the port are installed correctly (checked in device manager)
