Running two nomads on one computer

[Simon (alexander macmillan)]

So I will, I hope, have a second nomad in about a month. I only have one computer in the shop and would like to know how I can set it up to run both nomads simultaneously.

[Radiation (Josh)]

I think someone asked about this previously for the shapeoko and it wasn’t possible? I could be wrong. Probably more possible with the raspberry pi controlling one in a remote session on the main laptop.

[Julien]

See this thread for a similar question (for two Shapeokos, but same difference)

Control of two Shapeoko XXL simultaneously

I have been tasked with a project to implement a system to inspect manufactured material across an X-Y grid. Should I used Carbide 3D hardware, I will need to control and synchronize the motions of two Shapeoko XXL machines through one PC. My control program will be custom code (I will be writing it myself) that addresses the corresponding serial ports on each XXL. I have in the past successfully controlled one XXL with this approach. I am concerned that the PC will only see one serial port,…

I never tested that configuration (since I only have one C3D machine…), but I have a feeling that since Carbide Motion does not allow to select a specific COM port, and picks the one it finds that matches the C3D vendor id/product id, a second instance of CM would (probably?) not find the second Nomad.

Now, if this is important for you, you could consider using an alternate G-code sender, they usually allow to select a COM port of your choosing, and then it should be possible.

OR someone with two C3D machines can try and launch two instances of CM and confirm what happens.

[gdon_2003 (Guy Donham)]

Not sure about Nomad but with Shapeoko it is problematic. I have an XXL and XL. Whichever machine was used last CM thinks is the machine attached. That works fine if you use t he same machine mostly but a problem when you switch.

I found the only way to change machines was to send the configuration for the machine you are currently attached to. Then CM is ok with the machine you actually are attached to.

Since Nomad’s are similar it may work but you will just have to try it out.

[Moded1952 (Lucas)]

Carbide Motion might work but I think it’ll be problematic to have it work well. For example, it might not always be clear which window is connected to which machine.

I’d recommend @Julien’s suggestion of using another G-Code sender like UGS or cncjs. One major feature I think will really help here is that these senders visually display the running G-Code. Assuming you’re running different toolpaths on each of the Nomads or they’re at different stages, it should be easy to figure out which tab/window corresponds to which Nomad.

Another option, a variation on @WillAdams’ response in the thread Julien linked, is to grab a pair of Raspberry Pis and attach one Pi to one Nomad. You could then remote into them from your main computer. The machines could be identified by hostname (e.g. nomad1.local, nomad2.local) if you know how to set that up.

[NewToThis (Peter)]

@gdon_2003

Not sure about Nomad but with Shapeoko it is problematic. I have an XXL and XL. Whichever machine was used last CM thinks is the machine attached. That works fine if you use t he same machine mostly but a problem when you switch.

I found that Windows 10 allows multiple instances of CM (and CC) to be running simultaneously recently, but don’t have a second machine to test if they can be run at the same time. I assume not if they need the same COM port - unless the second installation sees COM5 in use and looks for an alternative?

[Simon (alexander macmillan)]

Thanks for all the advice. I think I’ll just switch to UGS, I’ve never liked the limited functionality of Carbide Motion. If it works I’ll let people know.