Hi all
I am new to CNC and Mach3 and would appreciate some help if possible .
I have designed and built a 1200x1200 router and would like to use a Panasonic CF18 laptop just because they are dust proof and have a touch screen.
Does anyone have experience using a cf 18 and Mach3 .
I live in the Orkney Islands in the north of Scotland so you can imagine there is not a lot of help to be found locally.
I have had my own business engraving glass, crystal, stone and some metals for around 18 years  and wanted to try something different.
I served my time as a wood machinist more years ago then I want to admit and thought with my engraving experience mixed with a CNC router I may be able to make some interesting products.
Any help would be appreciated       
Kind regards Stuart

The only way to know for sure is to try it out. Load Mach onto the toughbook and then go to the Mach3 folder and double click on drivertest.exe and see what that looks like. If it is a nice clean smooth line then you should be fine. If it has spikes then you will likely have issues.
If you do have issues then you could use an external controller such as the SmoothStepper, ethernet one being the best option.
Hood

Many thanks for your quick reply.
I wasn’t expecting a reply so fast never mind one from Scotland.
I have done the test with the laptop on its battery  and it has a flatter line then the one demo on the Mach3 web site but when I plug in the mains adapter
I get a red bar on the screen which says pulsing to slow.
Any Ideas ?
Regards Stuart

Not really, you could try earthing the case of the computer if there is an earth point.
Other things you can try is some of the optimisation steps detailed in the doc on the downloads page however I would imagine they wouldnt help much as it seems its a power supply issue rather than a computer one.

Hood