Hi All, I am helping my Father convert a Boxford VMC 190 to use with Mach3.

I am wondering if anyone can help with a few questions I have about this as I am fairly new to the world of CNC.

So far we have replaced most of the electronics with a Pokeys USB, CNC addon and their 2.5A driver boards. We have kept the standard power supply, spindle controller etc. We can now get all
axis moving using the jog functions in mach3 etc. Spindle control is currently using a 10K pot but will convert this to mach control at some point.

Does anyone know how we should be setting up the following?

1 - Steps per mm? - Currently we have the default of 2000 but havent tried to measure this yet. Does anyone know the correct value for this mill based on the pitch of the leadscrews?

2 - Microstepping? - The drivers support all kinds of microstepping but is there a recommended setting to start with?

3 - Motor velocity - Some of the forums say you should hear when this is right but is there a good place to start when using this mill with the standard steppers?

4 - Limit/Home switches - The Boxford has what appear to be inductive sensors on each axis. Are these suitable for use as home/limti sensors and does anyone have any experience with them?

For info CNC control is done using the Pokeys56U with their CNC Addon and drivers. This has a plugin to work in mach3 but seems to work well.

Any info or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Martin