Hi - I'm new to CNC and could use some help getting this machine going.

My specific question is - connecting PC parallel ports - go to which parallel ports on the machine. This was pre-setup complete and previously working, but at the time i purchased it the PC was no present. So its 50/50 chance i get them correct attaching to the Light machine modified control box.

Here is what i know about the machine:


Probabably about 10 yrs ago it was converted to Gecko drives, and a Sound Logic BOB and Mach 3 running on Windows using 2 parallel ports. One parallel port is on the PC mainboard I/O panel and the second is PCI add in card parallel port.

There are 3 parallel ports on the machine. The first one goes to the pendant and is labeled clearly, #2 and #3 are the one's that aren't labeled - so it is 50/50 chance of getting them correct.

I have read the Mach3 manual where it states 2 parallel ports can be used, but there is no documentation on connecting parallel ports to the BOB or other interface.

If it is non-damaging I would just test functionality, BUT I'm not sure this would be non-damaging to connect them wrong. And in Mach3 I'm not sure if it must be customized to the specific CNC machine.

But given it is using the Gecko G320X-DC drivers, and a common BOB (Sound Logic pc-2-route v1.9), maybe it is not so difficult.

I'll continue to read what i can find, if someone can point me in the right direction - I'd appreciate it.

Thx,

Paul G