Hello all,

I am a longtime fan of the zone. I have slowly been putting together a barn full of machine tooling. For many years, I was employed in the semiconductor business installing, repairing, and upgrading leading edge process equipment. At the first of the year I was laid off, I have time to really devote to some cnc projects while job hunting. I have an old torchmate table that I have made some major changes to. The Microkinetics Mighty Drive driver chassis gave up the ghost. I am at a crossroads. Should I go with the same box (~$600) and the same DOS based Super Scribe software?? I have a cnc mill that runs Deskcnc through Rutex drives and servos. I am happy with this setup. Will Deskcnc work in stepper configurations?? If so, I could use the software on the plasma table by purchasing the controller card (~$175). How does Deskcnc perform with regards to plasma systems?? I do not have THC on the table. Mach software has the ability to interface with Campbell’s torch control. THC will have to wait until I am again gainfully employed but should be taken into consideration at this juncture. Mach software would run ~$175. So either option is about the same. The Mach interface is very complicated for a plasma setup. Either the Deskcnc or the Mach setup will still require stepper drivers and power supplies. I have seen nice systems on ebay for 3 axis including motors for ~$200. An enclosure would be required. So in the end it will be close to what I would spend on the Mighty Drive. Please advise! Sorry about the long message and thanks in advance.
Lou