Forgotten so much

[Bearwen]

Hello All,
I had a CNC router a few years ago that ran on Mach 3. Well that machine was torn apart and the drives and what not put on the shelf for future use. I never got around to building the new machine until now and have fogotten a few things.
Here is my problem I have the motors and the gecko drives I have mach 3 and the design software. What I dont have is a good BOB and I know that I will want a auto tool chnager and for the system to self zero after tool change. So my question to you guys is how many in and out ports do you want / need on a BOB for all the extra stuff like auto zero and auto toll changes and any other neat toys you guys have come up with since I have been gone. Such as I remember something about using a joystick to manually move the mill this would be cool.

So again I ask you guys for all the neat extras like Auto toll changers how many extra in and out pins do you need on a BOB to be able to use all this stuff (I just need the extra pins for the extras not all the in, out, step, direction, limits, etc pins just the pins for the extra goodies).

Thanks and I look forward to throwing chips soon.

[ostie01]

For me, more you have (input/ouput), the better.

They're some boards now that work great with Mach3.

Look at the pokey55 from polab,  http://www.poscope.com/product.php?pid=3 

55 input and output as well as analog input and output.

This is a good board but they are not the best for time critical use like limit switch but it can save valuable input and output from your parallel port

You can have 2 bob on parallel port which is normally enough for nost application.

Jeff