Hey All, I was looking for some pointers on my proposed upgrade. I have disassembled my larger cnc router and I am currently rebuilding it in a smaller foot print. One day hoping to get to 5 axis but concentrating on 3 axis. for the moment. My current electronics/motor setup is a standard BOB and Nema 23 4Nm Steppers and Mach 3. The new machine will run 16/5 ball screws as they are what I have to hand.

I want to upgrade the motors to closed loop (Well impressed by a demo video Jazzcnc done a while back)and run a half decent controller, preferably Ethernet. I was also looking into offline cnc controllers from china but I'm not too sure they would be the way to go.

Can anyone give some recommendations on the following?

Ethernet controller that works well with Mach 3.

Closed loop steppers and drivers (Aiming for 8nm as a minimum and up to 12Nm as max) I would consider servos but I would prefer to keep it simple! ( going for bigger than what I need for the moment as no doupt I will build a bigger/heavier machine down the road.

Power supplies for steppers.

Where to source the above from Europe. I really dont want to buy direct from china as It's pig in a poke what you get sometimes. Besides I don't fancy the Import duty surprises which are typically unknown until your parts arrive after several weeks and sometimes months!!!!!

I just seem to be bamboozled by the overall choices out there at the moment.

Cheers....