I have a 10' Chicago brake press with an older gantry type back gauge. Unfortunatly the control is damaged beyond repair. I have an interest in learning about motion control and would welcome any suggestions that would help me get the back gauge working again. The cross bar is desigend in such a way to allow for some "angle" operation. There is a servo motor and encoder on each side that more or less operate in unison. The motors are electrohome 12v which drive screws through a 2:1 (or so) gear belt. The separate encoders are coupled to the (driven) screws. The screws move the carriages .200 per revolution. Basically I need to have the motors move all the way out to 36" to initialize (find "zero") then move in to say 4" then I want to make an adjustment to one side to get paralell. Then I need to be able to key in a certain dimension and have the back gauge to move to that point. It would really be great to be able to program in a few different bends - ie: go to 2" then 3" then 5" then repeat. That would be triggered by a switch on the ram. In my search to find a solution, I found a copany called Galil in California. They say I need a pci card, cable, amplifier, power supply, and they say the lowest voltage the amp can work with is 18 volt so I even need motor/encoders. All this ends up to be over 3,000 plus I have to learn "Galilian". There must be an easier way. This is just a simple gantry type application with two axis and some kind of simple pc graphic interface to show position and allow simple comands. No contouring or anything fancy. Any suggestions on a good cost effective solution?