Surface plate height gauge adapter for dial indicator holding

[tonyfoale]

The Mitutoyo, a 5 pin:

i didn't know about the 5 pin o/p. I have some Mitutoyo instruments but they are 4 pin. The cable that I am getting is 4 pin and AFAIK all the chinese stuff is too. I know that, at least the 4 pin, Mitutoyo uses a query/response data format. i.e. Your display unit sends an update request to the device and then it sends you a data packet. The chinese scales send data packets continuously at regular intervals.

If some simple PLC box with an interpreter language existed, that had 16+ I/O with quadrature decoders built in along with up/down counters, so you would not have to do interrupt driven code (did lots of that too), I could see working through to make some machine enhancement devices.

the Arduino makes this stuff very, very easy. The extent of coding it for interrupts is a single command "ATTACHINTERRUPT(pin no., HIGH/LOW or CHANGING)"

I bet Mitutoyo, does not want anyone to de-crypt their SPC port, as they want to sell the hardware and software. But your right, why wouldn't the low end of China manufactures want to do this, other then they too can sell the reader hardware, as it's useful for a DRO.

I haven't done it, but others have decoded it and put details on the net, in some cases even with Arduino code.

I have looked into the Arduino, but my interest in learning ANOTHER program language just does not 'titillate' me.

It didn't appeal to me either, I have been writing code since 1960 and have had to go through several languages along the way. For that reason I was slow to look at the Arduino. I had been using LabJack (labjack.com) for my DAQ and interface needs, that is totally controlled under the PC code and so there was nothing extra to learn, but then I had an application which needed a standalone micro so I was forced to start playing with the Arduino. It is very easy to do quite complex stuff. It has its own IDE for code writing and micro programming through the USB port. The code is C like but you only have to learn a little of the C syntax to be up and running. I am now a convert and wish that I had done it earlier, it would have saved me a lot of time. I now have an application for which the Arduino is not suitable and I'm going to have to use a PI Rasberry. I know little about it but I am NOT looking forward to it, I think it is Linux based and I know nothing about that.

Just this morn, I was looking at how to get Mach3 to work on a computer that does not have a printer port.

Easy. Use ethernet instead. That's how I control my mill.

I want something super simple, download the code, plug in the interface card to a USB port, hook up the servos, and encoders, and watch the machine move the desired amount.

With the right hardware, and there is plenty of that around, it can be pretty much that simple. When I have enough time I was going to document my efforts in that direction and post here but it'll need to be long.

Then there's the CAD to learn, and how to build the G code from this. I have several dials that need to me made, so engraving with a 4th axis would be handy.

Yes I really should learn CAD but I believe that software should be easy to use and the fact that courses are commonplace to teach CAD is enough to indicate that ease of use for newbies is not a built in feature. So far I have managed by hand coding G-code and I have written some software for automatically producing G-code for some specific uses that I have.
When I graduated, long before PC CAD, I was given a drawing office, so even though I knew how to draw, I had a team of draftsmen to do that for me. Then I had my own business before PC CAD came along and I designed on a drawing board. When PC CAD became available I had little need for drawings so there was no need to learn it. Now it would be useful to be able to use CAD occasionally, but nowhere near enough to warrant the time needed to learn it. Even daily CAD jockeys find some operations difficult to do, let alone an occasional geriatric user.
A few years ago I was working with a famous race car designer on a project. He said that when he started out in the business, the conversation over the lunch table was about suspension geometry, roll centres and other performance related stuff. When CAD came along he said that the conversations had changed to "how do I draw this". For this project he ordered a huge drawing board so that he could layout full size prints of the car. he was a skilled CAD jockey himself but nothing replaced the full size version that you could pencil draw on.