Starting to design out my build, looking for critique

[Chrono]

Hi chrono,

Wouldn't go with ESS as the backup is rubbish and your limited to mach3/4. The uc330eth or 400 are both much better options.

Understood. I've been scouring the forum and the web, but it seems my search-fu is a bit off, since I could not really find a conclusive answer on the differences of the UC300eth, UC400eth and AXBB-E, especially since CNCDrive's web pages are kind of scarce on the matter. As far as I am able to see, the 300 just has more IO than the 400, withe the AXBB-E has the same amount of IO as the 400, but a built in Breakout in a nicer package? Judging from this post, it seems that I can use all the IO that I can get, which would tip me in favour of the UC300eth.

Also, you mentioned being locked into Mach 3/4, as a negative. What other (better?) alternatives are there, and why is that?

I've not read all your thread but i saw you where struggling regards ballscrews and sizing them. So here's a suggestion which might help that I've built many machines using.
Use 2020 with 2:1 ratio. This gives same speed as 10mm pitch but halfs the screw speed so less chance of whipping screws. It also doubles the torque from motors.
Also very easy to increase velocity if needed by changing ratio.

I guess I just ignored the existence of 2020 Ballscrews :D I calculated it through in the motor spreadsheet, and, asuming I did all the correct modifications in terms of doubled motor RPM and doubled torque, I could actually now hit 12m/s rapids with the same motor, compared to 7.5m/s before. Thank you for the recommendation!

Next suggestion is to buy drives that accept AC then you only need to buy transformer. That said building toroidal DC psu isn't difficult and don't let anyone tell you different but they are the best type for Cnc machine that moves quickly with high speed directional changes like routers make where drives have to handle dynamo affect of steppers.

Building a PSU should be fine, for the most part, but just so I can make myself a complete picture, do you have any recommendations of AC Drivers that are worth it? I am kind of missing an equivalent to what mouser or arrow are in the electronics component space, where you have one page that you can search for all components you could ever need, all in one place. I never know where to look for the parts involved.

On a different note, I have seen Jog and MPG pendants mentioned and presented on shop pages. What do those things do exactly? What I have found repeatedly on the topic, is that they are used for manual operation of the machine, however I was under the impression that this would also be possible directly from the control software. Am I mistaken here, or is there a big advantage to using such pendants?