Pico Systems

Parallel Port Motion Control

The Parallel Port Motion Control is a set of boards which will allow flexible combinations of motion control systems to be built. It is especially designed for use with analog-input velocity servo amplifiers. There is a 4-channel, 16-bit DAC board and a 4-channel 24-bit quadrature encoder counter available. A digital I/O board with 16 opto-isolated inputs and 8 Solid-State Relay outputs is also available. This board has the SSRs mounted directly on the board, eliminating the need for external Opto-22 type boards. It also has the emergency stop logic on the board. There is a motherboard that holds up to 8 of these boards, and makes the connections to the 25-pin parallel port and a power supply.

I have now made a card cage to hold the boards and motherboard. This is how it looks :

These boards are powered from a +5 V regulated supply, and the DAC board also requires a well-regulated + and - 12 V power supply.

The PPMC set takes advantage of the IEEE-1284 hardware signalling protocol, allowing multiple register addresses to be selected and transfers accomplished with minimum CPU overhead, and maximum data transfer rate. This requires a parallel port that can operate in the ECP or EPP mode. It is possible to use any bi-directional parallel port at the cost of additional CPU overhead. Note: You MUST use a cable marked "IEEE-1284 compliant" for this system to work reliably.

Also, if using a PCIe parallel port card, it has been discovered that Startech, SIIG and Rosewill cards with the OXPCIe952 chip will not work. (PCI (not express) cards from SIIG have worked fine for years.) The Saba PCIe card with the NetMos 9900 chip has been verified to work.

An alternative system, for stepper motors only, is the Universal Stepper Controller.

Download the PPMC diagnostic program

Instructions for setting up and using the diagnostic program

Download the ppmc.ini file for BDI-Live (rc46)

Parallel port compatibility and options

Download the ppmc.ini file for BDI 4.xx

Download the ppmc.run file for BDI-Live (rc46)

Price List

For more information, contact :
Jon Elson
Pico Systems
543 Lindeman Rd.
Kirkwood,  MO  63122
(314) 965-5523
or, email at : elson@pico-systems.com

elson@pico-systems.com

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