what is the best controller setup to use excluding the gecko drives because they cost too much. I was thinking about that hobby cnc kit but do those work with mach3 and are those any good?

There are a few on the liinks page... I have not used them (I like big stuff )

I am using one of these ... http://www.dtllc.com/4xcnc10b.html  It works pretty good.  It'll do 4 Axis @ 10Amps Current.  It doesn't have micro stepping and it's definitely not a Gecko but it drives my steppers just fine.

It also has 3 onboard relays that you can use to control turning on/off other stuff (i.e. Router motor, Vacuum, Coolant, etc)

If I had to do it again, I'd probaby cough up the dough and buy Geckos or a Campbell but, for a inexpensive easy started board, it's hard to beat the bang for the buck you get in this board.

Hi

I'm running a hobbycnc 4 axis kit- works just great. have a look here for a video of my mill during testing :-

http://www.geocities.com/davidimurray/pentest.avi

That's with some 110oz/in motors - once I modify the mounting plates I will be dropping some 325oz/in motors in that arrived yesteryday!

Cheers

Dave

hey your webpage isnt working right..... id really like to se that movie though........

k... nevermind i got it

I'm trying to set up Mach 3 on a machine that allready has been retro with older version of open cnc . There are 2 dac boards in the computer that connect the switches and drives to the PC. is there a way I can use the existing boards to drive the drives with Mach 3?
ETR

nope