[Zepiros]

hello everyone,
new in this forum and new to build my own cnc.
i own one router table machine ( actually this is my second one, my first was a Chinese 6040 to learn )and i am searching to convert my mill ( pm30 style ) to cnc. if i am in the wrong section please forgive me and i will move the post to a different thread.
So as i say before i am searching to convert my mill to a cnc and i am researching for motors drivers etc etc, i have some limitations as it comes to were i am ( greece ) and as it comes to European shops. my current machine runs with a g540 board and i dont have any problems at all. it runs daily from 5 to 8 uhrs with no problem at all for like 2 years. i have come across some close loop steppers ( china ) with the drivers nemma 34, and the price was is tempting , but if i go this way i am missing a board and i dont have a clue what board to search for. i forgot to mention that i run mach 3 and i will like to continue do so cuz i like it and i dont want to learn a new one.
Thank you all in advance.

[travis_farmer]

Just wanted to welcome you to the forum! there are a lot of knowledgeable people here, though be aware that many of them work, so replies may be delayed. But the help you will receive is worth it. i know i have received tons of help here.

i am more familiar with LinuxCNC, so i may not be of much help on your question.

so again, Welcome!

~Travis

[wizard]

First; let me say that Mach 3 is on life support. That is the vendor no longer supports it so it can easily end up not working requiring a computer or application upgrade. Lots of people like Mach 3 so you aren’t alone, I just wanted to highlight that the software is unsupported.

Second; this section is focused on routers not mills. So we can answer router and General CNC questions here. If you want to pursue specific issues with respect to Mini Mill conversions you should head over to those forums. The most obvious reason todo so is the large number of people doing conversions there.

Third; I never grasped the desire to try to turn steppers into servos. If you are going to the expense of an optical encoder you might as well buy modern servo technology. There are so many options that I’m not even sure where to begin. However there are some rather cheap Chinese solutions out there. So if a standard stepper drive doesn’t do it or you I’d suggest a jump to a brushless servo drive / motor combo. You would need one driveable by “step and direction” to keep the rest of the electronics reasonable.

Fourth; if you are not using a G540 you likely need a interface module to connect to a parallel port (assuming step and direction). If not that something like a Smooth Stepper over Ethernet. Not that some combinations of parallel ports, operating systems and whAtever are not reliable for CNC control. This is why Smooth Stepper type boards came into existence. So you need to look into what is available to support old Mach 3 installations. This is perhaps the best reason to leave Mach 3 behind as you can get modern hardware and software support with alternative systems. There has been an explosion in low cost CNC solutions so you actually have lots of choices here. I’m not trying to push you away from Mach3 here but you really need to put some thought into staying in the “unsupported world”.