Has anyone thought about switching the controller to something like this ? MASSO G3 and G3 Touch | The PC-less CNC Controller | MASSO
I really feel like the computers system and application brings on a lot of issues for langmuir. As my mini pc had many issues from the start reinstalled windows 10 and its working good but i definitely would have paid extra for a pc-less controller from langmuir.
For me personally, I much prefer my $400 touchscreen set up over the additional $1300 controller swap with all the headaches that it will entail.
1 Like
I have / am giving that a lot of thought, I have a MASSO G3 on my home built plasma table and I really like it, it works awesome & was pretty easy to setup.
There support is also very good.
Because it is not PC based you cant make any UI customizations (like you can with LinuxCNC for example) but that is not a problem for me.
I would agree my pc has given me many headaches with random notifications coming through and stopping toolpaths even though all notifications are turned off and my pc isnt even hooked to the internet. I dont have the money to do it right now but im definitely thinking about it. also Brings in the possibility of a better touch probe. The only thing i could see being an issue is the auto squaring feature, im not sure how its used on something like this.
FYI
MASSO has auto squaring support, I am using it on my plasma table.
Sweet i will definitely be looking into this some more !
Ive been looking into this and most likely will be using it on this upcoming cnc router we are building.
We run an online 3d printer shop thats slowly getting into cnc parts and equipment, im gonna reach out to masso se if we can become a reseller here in US so we can hook you guys up with discounts 
.
Sounds good to me! I was just on your website today im trying to finish up my voron v0.2 build. Doing all the parts sourcing on my own. Its been much more challenging than i thought lol
Yes! Those 0.2’s are fun to source and build. Everything is so tiny. Send us a message on the online webchat and i should be able to get you anything you are missing. We have partial Ldo kits that we use for
Warranty purposes and can pull certain things out of them for you 
. Mention the langmuir forum so they allocate the conversation to me
I have 2 G3s with my wood router. A friend has 2 for his lathe and mill. They work great great. Sorry, can’t help with using one for plasma.
Here are my Masso videos.
2 Likes
Multiple of us have done controller swaps. I don’t think anyone has done a Masso yet.
The README at GitHub - alexphredorg/mr1: Langmuir MR-1 configuration for LinuxCNC (and the link to the OneNote from there) have brief notes on everything that you need to know for swapping the controller on the MR-1. It’s fairly straight forward if you’ve wired up a CNC machine before. I documented using LinuxCNC as the control, but most of the stuff in the README is general for any MR-1 control swap.
If you make the swap I would also recommend considering new stepper drives (or going to servos) and a 48V stepper power supply. These swaps can make the machine do 300-500 ipm rapids easily. Good drives (I used Leadshine EM542S) will run the motors much cooler and more quietly.
I’ve gone as far as replacing the spindle, but that is obviously not necessary.
I am looking at the Centroid Acorn 6 controller. I don’t really have a great reason vs the Masso but it appeals to me 
. I would love to have an ATC at some point so @AlexW I’ll be watching for when you get an ATC up and running so I have something to copy!
I am getting ready to do the conversion I just got the controller in and rounding up parts. now i’m looking at my choices for upgrading any other parts like drives limit switches , and a reasonable ATC spindle that can cut steel.
Do you have access to google drive from the Masso?
no, its an embedded device without an operating system. It can’t mount an external service or file share.
There are always trade-offs but losing access to the google drive seems like a really big trade-off. Sneaker-netting a flash drive seems horrible IMO.
And getting rid of Windows seems like a non-issue as most of us have multiple Windows machines to deal with beyond the one attached to the controller so you are not really getting rid of the Windows problems.
What are two or three benefits I might be missing?
Many many professional shops do it this way every day(often to avoid putting sensitive files on networked computers). Personal opinion of course, but its not that bad.
I don’t sneakernet using LinuxCNC. I have a SMB share exposed by the LinuxCNC machine and post directly to it from my Fusion 360 machine (which happens to be a Macbook). I agree that moving flash drives around would drive me crazy. Can you drip-feed the Masso?
I’ve been doing test cuts in steel with my CNCDepot FM30F. I didn’t find any more budget ATC spindles with 4 pole motors, which I think is going to be heavily desirable for the torque. It would be good to see what @MrmachineTX is able to do with his spindle (which has a 2-pole motor and twice the max speed of my spindle).
1 Like
You don’t need to sneaker net with the MASSO they have a piece of software called masso link that allows for drag and drop