Hi all,

I have been researching in preparation for building my first DIY CNC router for the last couple of months. I have pretty much made the decision to start by buying the UIM2901-5A MACH3 breakout board from Zapp Automation, however I was just wondering if any of you have any experiences of this board? It would be useful to know if any of you can help with this should I get stuck.

Also, while browsing the various CNC part suppliers on the net I noticed that it is possible to get breakout boards that use a USB interface instead of the LPT parellel port. Would any of you recommend using these from the start or would it be better to stick with LPT for my first machine? The USB boards seem to be a bit more expensive, however is this worth it for the added inputs/outputs? Also how compatible are these boards with Mach 3?

Any advise you can give will be gratefully received, especially before I part with any of my hard earned cash!

Rob