Originally Posted by
SCzEngrgGroup
Do the math. At 110 IPM, assuming 10:1 micro-stepping the pulse frequency is only 3.6kHz. The slowest Mach3 kernel speed is 25khz - almost 10X as fast as required. I've run servo machines running MUCH faster (up to 350 IPM) on very cheap, generic PCs, including an ancient 500 MHz PC using Mach3. A "specialized" computer and "modified" Mach3 are absolutely not required. Tormach chose to use a custom version of Mach3 so they don't have to deal with bugs introduced in newer versions. It saves them support calls. Of course, since their version of Mach3 is now many years old, they've also missed out on a lot of bug fixes. But the fact is, a motion controller would offer nothing in terms of performance or reliability.
Regards,
Ray L.