Thanks for the info!
As far as learning curves, I hope I'm not at the bottom of all the curves. I've had the router since '95. I used En Route and it had 1 of the 2 MC3V controllers that came to the USA on the Mayflower. That thing never worked right. I just didn't know there were any options. I haven't decided if I should try to sell it for parts, or take it to the shooting range... ever heard of Tannerite?
I don't know what Lazy Cam is. I am using Vecrtic's VCarve Pro for the tool paths. I export from VCarve Pro to Mach3. I then burned the job to a CD (my network cable isn't plugged in to the Mach3 computer, yet). I noticed that the exported file, G-Code I presume, was saved as a .txt file. I got brave and ran it on Mach3, and the router actually moved! Yea! I had soft limit warnings, I ignored them for this test, and the job made it almost 500 lines until it quit. I don't know why it quit, though. I'm sure it had everything to do with me not having my Z-axis set up correctly, and me not knowing how to set a soft 0 for it.
I don't know what my next step should be, so I have more questions.
How specifically do I set up my Z axis "stuff"? Right now X, Y, & Z all reference to 0, 0, 0, just where I want them. When I jog Z with the Z+ key, it moves down, and the DRO goes from reading 0, to reading a positive value. Should the Z axis start at 0, and go negative on the DRO as it moves from home?
How do I get the spindle where I want it instead of Machine 0, 0, 0? I want the Z axis to stay at 0 (all the way up off the router bed) until I jog it down to the material top, minus the thickness of the feeler gauge. Where do I tell Mach3 the thickness of the feeler gauge?
Do I have to use Lazy Cam for tool offsets and speeds and the like, or can all of the offsets and tool dimensions be set in Mach3?
Wow, I have so many questions and all I can offer in return right now is that I will help others' as best I can when I get all of these learning curves under me.