[JKG1400]

Forget all the "Stand Alone" titled Ebay controllers, and all those p.c. based controllers too. If you're liking to get a control try the Tomatech TAC-1003M control units. GSK and CNCMAKERS also make these type of affordable controllers that function just like industrial FANUC controls. Best $660 I spent in my life. I go to school and work where we use Fanuc type units and to come home and get to work on the same type of control I'm familiar with is the best. No changing up of processes during setup, machining, programming or proofing. WHY ARE WE STILL USING MACH3!!!! To have a reliable, predictable, affordable retrofitting experience, these type of controllers should really be considered. I don't represent any of these manufacturers, I'm just really happy with my purchase . One control product pretty much covered 95% of the complex components needed to communicate with a machine. Too much good to continue, Imma start a thread about this experience soon. JUST CHECK IT OUT. You won't be sorry.

[hoecken]

Unfortunately none of the units mentioned here have a Lathe Mode, so how will you do thread cutting with any of them. They seem to be useful for milling machines and routers only.
I would be more interested in a dual purpose controller at these prices.

[JKG1400]

Unfortunately none of the units mentioned here have a Lathe Mode, so how will you do thread cutting with any of them. They seem to be useful for milling machines and routers only.
I would be more interested in a dual purpose controller at these prices.

Tomatech does offer 2axis lathe units, and 3&4 axis for live tools. The latter is the only one I want. Check it out. For the price, you can't beat it. Over 389 parameters 70-120 K parameters and more, diagnosis screen, all the familiar Fanuc type screen formats. New, crazy cool for 600-700 bucks. You can spend that or more on buying the license for Mach3, motion card, any other in/output expansion boards, plus new(usb) or old(printer port) computer, monitor(if need), all the cords, plus any external buttons or keys you want..... Ect??? These kits come with all the cords you need for axis and spindle drives, encoder cord, mpg cord, 4 axis cords, and built in switching power. I switched to the 110v and wired a cord and it came on. Pretty much you build a box, plug in your existing drives and limit switchs along with vfd and your up and running. Set parameters and get the accuracy u need, and Make some chips. I DON'T KNOW how this unit will hold up for the next 5-10 years, but for now I'm good. Better than p.c. based stuff all-day. Just sayin.

[hoecken]

So you spend another $ 600.00 or so to have a controller for your lathe. Now you are at around $ 1300.00 plus shipping and before you know you are at $ 1500.00.

[JKG1400]

So you spend another $ 600.00 or so to have a controller for your lathe. Now you are at around $ 1300.00 plus shipping and before you know you are at $ 1500.00.

I don't know, I didn't like sharing one computer between 2 machines so I did 2 mach3 setups (mill and lathe) and after all the time, money and trouble shooting it's not worth it for sub-par results with lower precision and accuracy. The lathe units are $100-200(2 axis)cheaper than mill unit with free shipping from eBay. About $1000 for two machines with 1-2 days to build a box and set up for a system that is more reliable with a industrial format, I thought this would be a no brainer. If funds allow for it, I would do it. I've read countless threads on conversion and all of them are long strung out threads about issues one should not have to deal with if alternatives are available. Over 5-6 year old threads from people asking about, having and or fixing the same type of problems with forum support versus real customer service to help specific questions with the right answer the first time. In most cases we make all of our own CNC conversion parts from scratch and now we have options on the controller so we don't have to build it from scratch too. I mean building these controls can be more time and money consuming than the physical machining and installing of mounts, motors and sensor. Imma machinist and CNC programmer not an electrician and computer programmer. Too much effort for mach3 or Linux and if you want Mach4 or M4 industrial, you gotta pay again and who knows what new stuff you gotta trouble shoot and for how long before you hopefully get a reliable setup. Imma try to upload some footage along with pictures when I get home. Everyone should know about this.

[109jb]

I don't know, I didn't like sharing one computer between 2 machines so I did 2 mach3 setups (mill and lathe) and after all the time, money and trouble shooting it's not worth it for sub-par results with lower precision and accuracy. The lathe units are $100-200(2 axis)cheaper than mill unit with free shipping from eBay. About $1000 for two machines with 1-2 days to build a box and set up for a system that is more reliable with a industrial format, I thought this would be a no brainer. If funds allow for it, I would do it. I've read countless threads on conversion and all of them are long strung out threads about issues one should not have to deal with if alternatives are available. Over 5-6 year old threads from people asking about, having and or fixing the same type of problems with forum support versus real customer service to help specific questions with the right answer the first time. In most cases we make all of our own CNC conversion parts from scratch and now we have options on the controller so we don't have to build it from scratch too. I mean building these controls can be more time and money consuming than the physical machining and installing of mounts, motors and sensor. Imma machinist and CNC programmer not an electrician and computer programmer. Too much effort for mach3 or Linux and if you want Mach4 or M4 industrial, you gotta pay again and who knows what new stuff you gotta trouble shoot and for how long before you hopefully get a reliable setup. Imma try to upload some footage along with pictures when I get home. Everyone should know about this.

If you like it that is fine, but $600 is a lot of money to some people. I use LinuxCNC (free) on a free computer and once the mechanicals were done it took me all of about 3 hours to completely set it up and it has been running flawlessly ever since. I can run it on a lathe, a mill, a 3 axis machine, a scara robot, or whatever I want up to 9 axes.

The controller has very little to do with the precision and accuracy of a machine. So, talking this controller up like it can magically improve things is just plain fiction.

Standalone controllers like that have proprietary firmware and hardware. When something goes wrong, you are screwed. I operate under the premise that something WILL go wrong. With that Tomatech controller there is virtually nothing you can do to fix a problem. At least with Mach or LinuxCNC you can do something about it. Where would you have to send it for service? China? How long would the turn-around for service take, and how much would it cost? You talk about professional customer service but have you had to have any from this company? Can you attest to the quality of their customer service. They are a Chinese company, do you need to speak Chinese to get service? How much was your phone bill for the customer service call to China? I went to their website homepage and clicked on the big customer service icon and got a "Site can't be reached" response. Not inspiring. I also went to there download section to download a manual to see what it has and the download link doesn't work.

I do like the idea of a standalone controller like the Tomatech, but as a hobbyist, just cannot justify the expense given all of the unknowns.

[JKG1400]

If you like it that is fine, but $600 is a lot of money to some people. I use LinuxCNC (free) on a free computer and once the mechanicals were done it took me all of about 3 hours to completely set it up and it has been running flawlessly ever since. I can run it on a lathe, a mill, a 3 axis machine, a scara robot, or whatever I want up to 9 axes.

The controller has very little to do with the precision and accuracy of a machine. So, talking this controller up like it can magically improve things is just plain fiction.

Standalone controllers like that have proprietary firmware and hardware. When something goes wrong, you are screwed. I operate under the premise that something WILL go wrong. With that Tomatech controller there is virtually nothing you can do to fix a problem. At least with Mach or LinuxCNC you can do something about it. Where would you have to send it for service? China? How long would the turn-around for service take, and how much would it cost? You talk about professional customer service but have you had to have any from this company? Can you attest to the quality of their customer service. They are a Chinese company, do you need to speak Chinese to get service? How much was your phone bill for the customer service call to China? I went to their website homepage and clicked on the big customer service icon and got a "Site can't be reached" response. Not inspiring. I also went to there download section to download a manual to see what it has and the download link doesn't work.

I do like the idea of a standalone controller like the Tomatech, but as a hobbyist, just cannot justify the expense given all of the unknowns.

Don't know about Linux too much but a friend of mine tried it and said he had issues with it so he switched back to mach, I've only used mach3 so I can personally speak of that only. Basically without going into all the math and drawing it out, the pulse/ signal rates are faster and smoother and the overall higher hz rate is higher then all axis on mach3 combinded. I tried it with desktop and brand new laptop, mk4 motion cards, and other b.o.b.s, I've use Nema 23&34 stepper and hybrid servos, i ran 2010 screenset with touchprobe function. Don't get me wrong, you can make good parts with mach but when I run 100K-200K lines and walk away, I guess mine freezes and I have to hit cycle star to get it to continue. Along with too many versions and plugins with glitching on both computers I wanted to look for an alternate. I don't know alot about computer hardware logic or code stuff. I also own that DDCSV1 stand alone control off eBay and the backlash comp didn't work and it was metric only with no direct editing capability from the console, so I figured if Imma buy chinese off of eBay, then let me make a mid range purchase. That's all. Didn't mean to sound like a grifter or business rep, just excited about a CHEAP copy of higher priced Fanuc type control that I'm used to. As far as support, I mean emmediate email response on setting up parameters or verifying compatibility with other components and assistance with schematics. I pray nothing happens with the internals, and no I don't have anyone to fix it if it breaks but what the hey, let's try it out and if it works then great. But I have been holding +/-.001 easy and haven't really tweaked anything, all default and calibration variables necessary to get it working and slight backlash comp. Just saying, but whatever works for you is good to me. I'll try to post when I get back in town.

[Bravin Neff]

The controller has very little to do with the precision and accuracy of a machine. So, talking this controller up like it can magically improve things is just plain fiction.

I realize you're not familiar with industrial or professional CNC controls, but if you ever become familiar with that world, you will realize this statement is about as factually wrong as you can get:

1. Pitch error comp
2. Backlash comp
3. Thermal comp
4. Etc.

A modern CNC control can take an adequate and even worn out machine and have it perform miracles.

Not kidding.