Masso vs Mach 4

[perry]

I've got a Millright Mega V and have purchased a 1.5kW spindle/vfd set. While I can make this work with UGS (which is what Millright recommends with their controller), there are so many limitations and the software is so flaky, I'm considering bypassing their controller altogether and just using their stepper drivers with some other controller. The final two contenders are Masso and Mach 4/Warp9 ESS/C11G breakout board.

Is there anyone here who is familiar with both enough to sell me on why I should use Masso over this Mach 4 setup?

For context, most of what I'll be cutting is fairly straightforward: aluminum, some plastics, delrin, maybe a bit of MDF. These are primarily parts for a custom machine we're building at work, but I have some personal projects I want to do as well. Only 3-axis, and the Mega V has dual Y motors on the same stepper driver. I have X/Y/Z homing switches and a touch plate. I may at some point want to add a 4th axis, but it's not really anything I'd do short term. I would like to control a coolant mister line, and maybe at some point in the future, I might upgrade the spindle with one that has an ATC. But mainly, the things I don't like about UGS are:

1. doesn't handle tool changes well
   
2. freaks out when it hits the limit/homing switches
   
3. doesn't allow for restarting a job from some point in the middle (say if an end mill snaps and I stop the machine)
   

Sell me on Masso - why should I spend $630 (US) for this, vs about $150 less for the mach 4 setup described above? Thanks!

 

[stevefrisby]

I had my Chinese made CNC controller fail just before their New Year and now the virus It was actually a very good controller for me beginning, I had already purchased a mach 4 and a mach 3 controller so I tried to get those running I had all the issues you described, and I couldn't get the spindle control I wanted. Having Software that is designed to be configurable for anything (way to many complicated options and ways of doing things) try to connect that to a hardware controller with buggy or drivers designed for version number xxxx of the software and hardware. Then try to get any support for it what so ever ended up with me putting in an incredible amount of time and effort to get the same results you did. Honestly I spent three weeks with two different controllers mach 3 and mach 4 and ended up with a machine that only half worked and wasn't stable enough to be used.

Not to mention the number of times I cringed watching my machine try to test the limits of the physical end stops, power drive bits into the spoil board (The auto Zero is crap). made me look into alternatives

I purchased a Masso controller, wired it up, put the settings from the old controller into it, unfortunately it used a different method of setting motor travel not the normal mm per pulse I posted a question on the forum and got the answer within hours. And it worked everything just worked

So here is why Masso is worth the money

Support is incredible on this forum you will get an answer to any problem quickly and there are some guns on here that don't mind answering simple questions. Masso support is also good but have found that the forum is the best way to get answers

The online tutorials are also very helpful and they cover most of the setup and use of the Masso

You don't need a PC, thats a saving right there. Also the G3 comes with the wifi as standard and its easy to set up so you can just send files to the memory stick you put into the G3 using the program supplied on the PC you use to design with

The Post processors work and if they don't again the forum or Masso itself will work with you to get your machine. I have found the G Code processed to be clean and tidy and efficient

The difference I noticed between the old controller and the Masso when cutting a project is obvious The Masso runs smooth its control of motors is amazing

So the time to convert and get running and reliability afterwards is worth the extra money alone

The only cable from the machine is a vga cable for the monitor, keyboard and mouse are wireless so it has allowed me to gain a lot of room in my workshop

Starting and stopping a program works 100 percent (I broke an end mill through my own stupidity)

Honestly having the hardware and software all in the same unit has allowed for a very reliable and efficient product, also a lot of the features have come from users requesting them so they listen to the community of users and will add a feature if it has merit

Have a look at my build on the forum (Btw I completely rebuilt the electrical system and incorporated into my CNC rather than just a controller upgrade)

Search results for query: chinese-1212-router-conversion-a11-to-masso/

www.masso.com.au

Basically its a quality product, that is easy to get working, reliable, and very well supported. I actually would consider it the best available from what Ive seen and tried

It actually slows down before getting to the homing switches lol

Hope to see you joining the Masso community soon and please post your build and introduction on this forum its great to see what others have done with this amazing product.

Cheers Steve

 

[perry]

Thanks. That's very helpful.

On the stop/start mid-job question: is there a way to tell it to back up to a certain point in the gcode and start from there? That is, can I arbitrarily set the point at which it restarts and if so, is that a relatively straightforward thing to do?

 

[supman]

On the stop/start mid-job question: is there a way to tell it to back up to a certain point in the gcode and start from there? That is, can I arbitrarily set the point at which it restarts and if so, is that a relatively straightforward thing to do?

Goto Support / Video Tutorials/ scroll down until you see learn with Peter (CNCNutz) Video 1 "How to use jump to line or resume" should help or

Peter's Jump to Line or Resume Video1

 

[phil_sf]

Kind of late to jump in, but for anyone who stumbles upon this thread -- if you're using Mach 4 as part of your business, the version that you're supposed to use is the $1400 Industrial version. Just saying.