[mud99]

So I decided to take the plunge, and purchase a Novakon Torus.

This will be my first CNC mill, my current mill is an X2 clone, which I have definitely outgrown.

Does anyone have any recommendations for the PC side of things? I know I need a built in parallel port, preferably on a desktop pc. Any particular hardware to recommend or avoid?

As far as software, I absolutely hate windows, and would prefer a Linux based solution. I know Mach 3 is very good, but has anyone used LinuxCNC?

[samco]

I use linuxcnc. I would recommenced it. very happy with it.

Large Kearney & Trecker HMC conversion. - CNCzone.com-The Largest Machinist Community on the net!

we have a stepper based gantry that works wonderfully also.

People have been using the atom based intel boards with good results. (you want good latency)

LinuxCNC Documentation Wiki: Latency-Test
there is also inexpensive interface hardware that move the things like stepgen, pwm and encoder counting outside of linuxcnc. (like the mesa 5i25)

LinuxCNC Documentation Wiki: LinuxCNC Supported Hardware


(I don't know anything about novakon)

[mud99]

So I picked up a nice little Foxconn Atom barebones system for $120, installed LinuxCNC, the UI seems to work well, jitter is less than 6000 most of the time, peak I got was arount 12000 when doing other stuff.

Need to learn a bit more about the different config options, their were quite a few things that had me scratching my head.

Also debating whether to go with a touchscreen display and keyboard on an arm to keep things tidy when I get the mill, or maybe use remote desktop on my laptop.

[samco]

You could look at 'touchy'... Technically would not need a keyboard if you don't need to do much editing on the control...

Touchy GUI

sam

[mud99]

That's cool! I'm going to do that.

If I need a keyboard i'll just use remote desktop.

[JohnToner]

Mud, congrats on your purchase, it looks like a great machine. Just a few questions. What is the estimated delivery time? How much were the import duties? Finally, does the machine support rigid tapping? I looked at their website and it indicates tapping ability but seemed to dance around the issue of whether it is true rigid tapping or just some sort of kludge.

Thanks,
John

[samco]

linuxcnc has the ability to rigid tap as long as there is an encoder mounted on the spindle. linuxcnc 'gears' the spindle to the axis.

sam

[my-cnc]

Does anyone have any recommendations for the PC side of things? I know I need a built in parallel port, preferably on a desktop pc. Any particular hardware to recommend or avoid?

As far as software, I absolutely hate windows, and would prefer a Linux based solution. I know Mach 3 is very good, but has anyone used LinuxCNC?

LinuxCNC is very good, but probably you could have a look at myCNC software and myCNC Ethernet or USB controllers?
The software is available for Linux, Mac(beta-testing) and Windows, so you may choose what you like.