In relation to the motion control equipment discussion.

Quote Originally Posted by JAZZCNC View Post
Regards the Motion control card then I'm a big fan of them and thou I haven't tried the one your using I have most others and they can make a huge difference to speed performance (which doesn't mean much to me.!) but more importantly how smooth the motors accelerate and perform.

Not all motion control cards are equal thou so anyone seeing this and thinking to buy then please checkout before doing so has while they all tend to offer smoother pulse train etc they can lack or be flaky on over features they have to take over from PP, like spindle control, Homing/limits functions, Backlash comp etc.
Yip - in single direction motion only one pulse stream is needed which is a little easier on the DSP and "fast motion" is not, as JAZZ said, is not the main advantage. Coupled to digital drives and decent steppers the motion smoothness is greatly improved. That and the fact that the controller DSP can generate the 3 and 4 axes pulse streams without windows having a say in matters enables higher feed rates in 3D cutting for example without loosing steps. In effect on the same machine a 3D toolpath that won't run and will loose steps on a LPT port will run perfect with a motion controller problem free.

We first came across the UC100 from Arturo at CNC4PC. :: CNC4PC :: iNtRo Really good guy. He stocks the kit in the US and he also stocks the Ethernet smooth stepper motion controllers. The UC100 unit sale count is in the 000's and is very popular in the states - so I'm told.
CNCdrive - motion controls

And as JAZZ has pointed out a motion controller must be able to cope with all the functionality and run bug free - very important and a common issue. Also beware of counterfeit stuff Planet CNC • View topic - BEWARE - Chinese counterfeits. We've used the UC100 with homing, limits, backlash comp, PWM spindle control, 4 axis motion and 3D cutting. It can act like a "USB to parallel port" snap on to an existing machine as its the same DB25 setup. So in effect you can swap out your LPT cable for a UC100. And yes powering the BOB is recommended. The UC100 is limited in the same manner for I/O as a single LPT port. We've used the UC100 on a few different machines and the same Mach3 XML in LPT mode, provided the drivers are installed, will run the machine with the UC100.

The UC300 overcomes this by allowing for more I/O and has the added advantage of analogue I/O. Spindle override, feed overide and a VFD output control are possible.
CNCdrive - motion controls

What do you use JAZZ out of interest? I have some experience with the smooth stepper but nothing long term?