Copyright (C) 1986-2009 by Daniel H. Hudgins, All Rights Reserved.

No part of "This Web Site" (HTML document), including associated files, may be: distributed, sublicensed, transmitted, copied, archived, mirrored, modified, bundled, embedded, sold, given away, rented, loaned, or shared in any form without express written permission in a formal Vendor agreement contract dated and signed in ink obtained directly from Daniel H. Hudgins by registered postal mail. All agreements for permission to distribute expire after a period no greater than one year from the date of the signing of the agreement by Daniel H. Hudgins. See the current "EULA" for information regarding limited copying and storage for the purpose of "Beta Testing" "This Web Site."

To view or use the current version of this Web page you may need to reload or refresh the display of this page by your browser. Just clicking on the browser's [Reload] or [Refresh] icon may not be enough to insure that all of the page's most current contents have been cached and displayed. Some browsers may have additional commands to help display the page's most current contents such as: holding down the [Shift] key and clicking on the [Reload] icon, holding down the [Control] key and clicking on the [Refresh] icon, holding down the [Control] and [Shift] keys and clicking on the [Refresh] icon, pressing the [Control] and [F5] keys, pressing [Control] and the [R] key, or some other combination of keys or clicks. Check to see which commands your HTML browser uses to load the most current page contents into its cache and then to display them onto the screen.

This Web site is dedicated to the thousands of "users" of my programs, those who have helped test my programs over the last 23 or so years, and especially those who shared their experiences with me.

You must read this notice: This is a licensed Web site (HTML document and associated files). You must read and agree to be legally bound in contract by the Terms of Use and conditions given in the End User License Agreement ("EULA"), Legal Notices, Instructions, Warnings, Disclaimers, and all other text in "SECTION: 0" of "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) before reading or using any of the information, software programs, and or files, contained in, linked to, and or associated with, "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files). Any use or "Beta Testing" of "This Web Site" constitutes your acknowledgment of your full agreement with the current End User License Agreement ("EULA") and your decision to have this current license supersede all prior and contemporaneous agreements and understandings. Information and files in "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) have been placed here so that long time users of "The Author's" programs DANCAD3D.COM (tm) , DANCAD87.EXE (tm), DANCINEL.EXE (tm), DANCINES.EXE (tm) , DANCAM.EXE (tm) , or DANPLOT.EXE (tm) could help proofread the text of the documentation files or screens displayed, and also help test data files, example files, and or any software programs that might be made available from time to time, to aid "The Author" in finding mistakes, bugs, and other errors, omissions, defects, mistakes, and faults. Everything in "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) is "Beta Test", "Beta Code", Experimental, Preliminary, requires proofreading, or is being evaluated for possible revision, and is NOT warranted to be free of defect. To help "The Author" report any bugs, foul-ups, defects, or mistakes that you find, see "SECTION: 8" for instructions. "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) and all other files and programs by Daniel H. Hudgins are made available "AS IS" without warranty of any kind express, expressed, or implied. All offers and specifications are subject to change or discontinuation without notice of any kind. Please look over "SECTION: 8" of "This Web Site" before contacting "The Author."

The pages in Section 5 mix text, photographs, and other illustrations or media in the hope that you might better understand the descriptions of how to do things that relate to testing or using the programs. Because of space limitations, the size of the graphic files associated with any down-load-able or compact distributed edition of this document might need to be small or absent. Likewise if this document is posted on the Web I might need to keep the graphic files small for two reasons, 1) the whole document will need to fit in the Web space that I can afford, 2) smaller graphic files load faster over a modem. If I someday make this document available as a CD-ROM there might be room for various sizes of each graphic file, so that you could possibly change the default size graphic files if you install the whole HTML document on your hard disk. To change the default size of the graphic, you might be able to copy the file with the same name from the sub-directory of the size you want to use to the directory with the *.htm files in it on your harddisk. The size of the graphic files will probably be indicated by the approximate horizontal number of pixels in the image before it was cropped, since I may crop some of the images to save file space. For example, files in the "320" sub-directory would be about 320 pixels wide, these might have the same filename as the files in the "160" sub-directory allowing you to copy one or the other to overwrite the same graphic filename in the default directory. The default graphic size will depend on the type of graphic file used, photographs will probably default to about 120 pixels wide, and drawings to about 800 pixels wide, but the size of files will probably be different in various distributions.

My CAM programs use your computer's parallel port to operate your computer automated machine tool by sending step pulse and direction signals out of the pins on your computer's parallel port. The parallel port can also be used for the input of signals from the home and limit switches to tell my CAM programs when the machine has reached the home position, or moved out of range. Only one parallel port is needed, and you can pick one of the three possible parallel printer ports to use if you have more than one parallel port card in your computer.

If you have a mother board that has a parallel port built in, you might want to purchase a plug in parallel port board, since connection mistakes, bad wiring, circuit failures, and other problems can burn out the parallel port and possibly also damage your mother board. If you are using a plug in board, you can replace the plug in parallel port board at a lower cost generally than having to replace the whole mother board.

Optical isolators can be inserted between the parallel port and the motor driver and other circuits to reduce the risk of damage to the parallel port, but the cost of the isolators, and associated circuitry, printed circuit board, and extra power supplies can be more than the cost of the parallel port board, particularly if you are using an old parallel port board out of some junk computer. Also optical isolators can have problems relaying short pulses, and might cause the step pulses to not trigger the motor drivers properly.

Shielded wire should be used for the step, direction, and other signals. Do not use the same wire for the signal ground (common) and the ground (common) from the motors or motor power supplies, that is run separate (duplicate) ground wires for the signals and the motors. How long the wire from the parallel port to the motor driver circuits can be depends on the sensitivity of the motor drivers, and the amount of EMI/RFI that the wires will pick up. The wires coming from the parallel port should be kept away from the wires that go to the motor coils, and the AC wires that go to the spindle motor in your machine. With proper connections, a distance of 10 to 30 feet between your computer's parallel port board and the automated machine's driver electronics should be possible, but the maximum distance might be 3 feet or less in environments with considerable electro-magnetic interference.

SECTION: 5.20.1.0 Parallel port Hook-up 1, 2, & 3 drawings for CAM programs.