Carbide SO3 Plug In?

[LarryGZone]

Is there a plugin available to use Mach3 with SO3 using a USB connection?

[cvoinescu]

No.

Mach3 can not interface with GRBL. Mach3 can talk to a "pulse generator" over USB (e.g. SmoothStepper), but the Carbide Motion 2.1 is not one, and there isn't firmware to make it into one (and I don't think it's possible, in fact).

[veng1]

there isn't firmware to make it into one (and I don't think it's possible, in fact)

That actually sounds like a useful piece of firmware. Out of curiosity, why don't you think it is possible if the SmoothStepper can do it?

[cvoinescu]

I take that back. It may be possible with some effort, but it may require a new Mach3 plug-in to talk to it, and it would be limited compared to the SmoothStepper. (The SmoothStepper has a 32-bit ARM chip, and I think a more flexible USB interface than the USB-to-serial on the Arduino Uno and the Carbide Motion board; the 328P may not even have enough RAM for the buffers required by the protocol.) Maybe I'm wrong, and someone with the knowledge and lots of time will step up and do it -- but with Mach3 being replaced by Mach4, and the Uno being so limited, I doubt it.