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Is there a dedicated forum for Kflop users heree on cnc zone?

I am thinking about trying it on my machine if it isnt too difficult to set up.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

It's the Dynomotion forum: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/dynomotion-kflop-kanalog/

Whether it's "too difficult" to setup will be largely a function of your programming skill. Getting a KFlop working requires writing a fair amount of C code to do system configuration, spindle control, homing, limits, and a number of other functions. None of it is complex but could be daunting if you don't already know C. Also, there is a steep learning curve just to understand KFlop. It is extremely powerful, but also rather complex, and the documentation is not well organized. However, the designer, Tom Kerekes, is readily available through the forum, and is extremely helpful.

The KFlop is a wonderful thing. Once working, it is bullet-proof - 100% reliable, 24/7. I've been running it on two of my machines for several years, and would never go back. That said, if you're running it under Mach3, you'll still be dealing with most, if not all, of Mach3's problems. The KFlop CNC controller application is dead-reliable, but rather bare-bones. I took the approach of using the KFlop DLLs to write my own controller application, which works exactly like I want. It was a fair amount of work, but, for me worth every minute of the time I spent on it.

Regards,
Ray L.

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Ray,
Thanks for the info.
I found the forum shortly after I made the post, I would love to have K Flop on my machine, but at my age I wonder if I could pull it off and how long it would take to get the machine running again etc.

Mach or the PC or both have problems at times, sometimes resulting in a crash, and I just dont trust it to leave it run unattended for any extended period of time.

I have done Basic programming, and copying some things in Pascal, but that was years ago and I do not know C++.

I will read up on it and see whats involved.

edit: The reliability is what I am looking for!!!!

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Mike,

It's plain old C, not C++. If you like, I can send you some of the C code I did for my machines, so you can see what's involved. If you'd like the code, just PM me your e-mail address.

There is also a lot of sample code available on the Dynomotion site, and the Dynomotion Yahoo forum. As I said, I think the most daunting part of the conversion is just understanding the KFlop, and how to use it. There are many, many different ways to connect the stepper drives to the KFlop.

Getting the KFlop connected can also be a challenge, as all the connections are through ribbon cables. So, you need some kind of break-out board, but standard parallel port breakout boards won't work. I was lucky enough to have a friend who laid out a very nice PCB that plugged directly onto the KFlop, but he only made a handful of them.

If you want reliability, KFlop is really hard to beat. I was plagued with Mach3 problems, sometimes making it nearly impossible to get any work done. Since I switched to KFlop, I have not had one, single "glitch" or anomoly. Both machines have been dead-reliable since the day I switched over almost 3 years ago.

Regards,
Ray L.

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I really dont know C language either, but i have a buddy that does, he is an engineering student and sharp on computer related things.
I was wondering about connecting the steppers and spindle to the board etc., I should be able to handle that part.

I dont have many problems with the Mach system but I do have them occasionally, and it just makes me uneasy as you dont know when a problem is going to come up.

My buddy emailed me today about K Flop as he wants to use it on a router setup.