Information on my J310 retrofit. Note that my J310 does not have the spindle under CNC control... My Baldor servos and the Servo-Dynamics amps were in good working order. The DP10 control however had issues, I think bad memory... Like others, I quickly dismissed the idea of repairing the DP10 since even if it was in perfect working order you will still have 1980's computer technology and you would need to drip feed to do any real work.
In my opinion, if you choose Mach3 or Mach4 for running a servo based machine you need to use dedicated motion control hardware because you must maintain the feedback loop between the control, the amps and the servo motor encoders in order to get professional results and maintain safe control over your machine.
For my retro-fit I choose a motion controller from CS-Labs. Here’s the link:
http://www.cs-lab.eu/en/produkt-7,2-CSMIOIPA_Ethernet_Motion_Controller__10V_6_axis_with_connectors.html
I also purchased an MPG and MPG hardware control from CS-Labs. Link here:
http://www.cs-lab.eu/en/produkt-6,2-CSMIOMPG_Kit_module_and_handwheel_for_all_CSMIO_controllers_types_S_M_A.html
All of the above hardware will set you back about $1,000.00. You will also need a windows PC and a license for Mach 3 or 4 which runs $150. In my case I used a dell all-in-one touch screen pc that set me back about $500.00
Another option for you is the KFLOP motion controller from Dynomotion. You would need the KFLOP with Kanalog setup which will set you back about $500.00. Here’s the links:
http://dynomotion.com/KFLOP.html
http://dynomotion.com/Kanalog.html
Dynomotion offers free software (windows application) for CNC control called KMotionCNC and it looks quite nice. They also offer a Mach 3 plugin. I kind of wish I had discovered Dynomotion before I did my retrofit because I like the way their software looks and I would like to have the option of creating custom software for my machine using C rather than the VB scripting supported by Mach. The negative for KFLOP is that the interface is USB rather than Ethernet which is not as robust… Also adding an MPG to KFLOP will not be as “plug and play” as the CS-Labs is…
Other options are:
Vital Systems:
http://www.vitalsystem.com/portal/motion/motion_controllers.php
Galil:
http://www.galilmc.com/motion-controllers
Others have had great results with Mesa and LinuxCNC as well so don't dismiss that idea. Hope this helps! Good luck!
Mike