ARCNC100

 
The ARCNC100 FPGA board connects directly to the
Mini-ITX main board seen bellow via fast ethernet

Last Updated Dec 12  2007

The ARCNC100 is a CNC Appliance,  an advanced CNC intelligent indexer/controller. This appliance is a replacement or peripheral to the typical Desktop PC in a CNC system. It takes as input a standard G-Code file and produces step and direction signals for up to 6 channels. It is small in size (6.7"x6.7")  and contains no hard disk. Program files and G Code files are stored on a solid state CF flash memory card for reliability. It is capable of much higher pulse rates than PCs (4.7 MHZ compared to 40KHZ for a top end PC). The pulse train is very stable ( jitter < 13ns ) to allow running  motors at high pulse rates with less strain on the motors. It can boot and run completely standalone. It also has a user interface  when connected to a user provided standard PS2 keyboard, mouse and VGA video monitor. The video monitor can double as a DRO.

The ARCNC100 can be controlled/programmed via ethernet from a PC or Mac with the ARCNC software. We currently have the ARCNC100 booting from CF flash and running standard G-Code files stored in CF flash in standalone mode and expect to have the first production boards available in the first quarter 2008 (read availability schedule at the bottom of this page). Lower on this page you can also view videos of the ARCNC100 running a desktop mill and stepper motors and encoders for demonstration.

To receive announcements related to the ARCNC100, join our yahoo group here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AtelierRobinCNC

  
ARCNC100 Mini-ITX main processor board with Intel fast ethernet
PCI card for connecting/controlling  our ARCNC100 FPGA board.
The other on-board fast ethernet conection is used to connect to
your in-house ethernet network and PC/MAC systems 

ARCNC100 features

• 6 axis: x,y,z,a,b,c step and direction outputs and limit inputs
• Accepts standard G-Code input files
• Pulse rates up to 4.7 MHZ  on all axis simultaneously.
• Very clean and stable pulse train with cycle-cycle jitter < 13ns
• Variable duty cycle step outputs
• 6 quadrature encoder inputs (A,B,I)
• 4 analog outputs
• 4  10 bits analog inputs
• 16 digital outputs
• 20 digital inputs
• Runs from a single unregulated power input from 6-26V DC
• Mini-ITX form factor main board directly connects to our custom FPGA logic and motion control IO card via fast ethernet.
• Total Dimensions: 6.7"x6.7"x3"
• Standalone operation (runs G-code completely independent and disconnected from PC )
• User customizable via tcl/tk ,Python scripts or C/C++ user programs.
• Main board is I586 compatible PC. Users can develop custom applications on their standard desktop PC and then copy to ARCNC100 via ethernet.
• Standalone PLC co-processor for running ladder logic
• Supports very large G-Code files (only limited by CFcard, up to 4 GB)
• Can run/edit/save/open G Code files standalone (without PC)
• Ethernet connectivity for  file download from PC
• MS-Windows PC, Mac OSX and Linux  ARCNC software to edit/download GCode files to the ARCNC100
• 256 MB of flash storage (CF card included) upgradable to 4 GB via standard CFFlash card (same used in digital cameras and MP3 players)
• User interface: PS2 keyboard+mouse connector and VGA video output connector.
• Compatible with popular stepper motor drivers from Geckodrive,  Rutex , Xylotex, DeskCNCand others.
• Price for ARCNC100 hardware/firmware and PC/Mac software to edit/copy files to ARCNC100:  $599 US for qty 1. Please email us for quantity pricing.
• Runs EMC 2.x headless (no keyboard/monitor) in a compact format.
• We are also considering offering a Mach 3 plugin fo rthe ARCNC100 . If you are interested in such a plugin, let us know
• You want something different?  Please fill our quick survey

Videos

The videos are DivX encoded. DivX is a popular video coding format. If you system cannot play them, you can download the decoder/player for free here: http://www.divx.com/

• ARNC100 running G-Code and driving the X-Y axis of a Taig mill

Here the ARCNC100 is controlling the X-Y axis of a Taig Micro Mill 2019 ER equiped with servo motors and Gecko G320 DC servo drives. The 115 IPM maximum feed rate is a limit of this motor's maximum 3000 RPM speed. ARCNC100 is running the file spiral.ngc included in EMC2.  The GCode file is composed of 1011 lines of GCodes.

ARCNC100 Availability Update. (Click here for a complete progress report)

Dec 11 2007: We decided to use an off the shelf mini-itx format i586 processor board for the ARCNC100 and connect to it our FPGA custom logic board via fast ethernet. The entire package with processor board and the FPGA card is "6.7"x6.7"x3". This makes for a very powerfull, compact and modular system than can run headless (no monitor or keypad) if required. We expect to have our complete board packages for early testers in the first quarter 2008.  For those who cannot wait for our custom hardware solution and  want to start using the ARCNC100 features right away and are satisfied with 3.3V digital I/O only for step/dir generation and encoder inputs, the ARCNC100 firmware was initialy developed and runs on the Digilent SP3E board available from Digilent or Xilinx for $149. This board offers a FPGA together with ethernet and RS-232 serial I/O. When loaded with the ARCNC100 firmware, it can generate step/dir signals for 6 channels and have some  3.3V digital IO to spare. It can be controlled via a single fast ethernet cable from a PC running EMC2 or any computer/uController with a RS-232 serial port using simple byte commands.  Email us with your exact I/O requirements if you are interested in this option. Click the image bellow for more info on the Digilent SP3E board.

Digilent Spartan 3E board

 

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To keep up to date on the ARCNC100 join our yahoo group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AtelierRobinCNC/):

It's spelled ARCNC100 not ARC100 :)