I have built a solid small 3 axis mill. It's all homemade but is constructed from Aluminum with linear bearings on all axis. Now that I have the basic design built I am ready to hook it up to a computer. I am a computer guy by trade was am a converted tool/die maker who is responsible for the maintance of CNC equipment up to 6 axis. I need to get a much better insight on how they work, so I thought this would be a great and useful project to learn on and a tool I can use often. I work on classic cars in my spare (right) time and plan on using this to machine aluminum parts. What program is most of you using to control servo's. I am using Allen Bradley N-2304-1 motors (x3) with matching Allen Bradley drives. I also have a Yaskawa SGM-04U motor with matching drive as the spindle motor. I can hook the motors to the drives and have all axis working smoothly. Everything is super tight and works great in testing. Acme threaded rods are the lead screws. Where can I find more info on actually connecting it to the PC. I thought about running each encoder to it's on serial port (4 is not a problem), do I need limit switches to find home? I'm sorry for the length of my first post, but I feel very luckly to have found such a great resource. I have used forums in my older cars (mostly my 66 mustang) and these are great. I'm going to try to post pics in my photo gallery.

Thanks in advance