Controlling the motor (spindle) with Mach3

[JAZZCNC]

In all honesty, I would probably say get one of the cheap 5-axis BOBs off ebay.

Yep agree with M/C 100%, by far the easiest solution. Can forget messing around with that PWM board and using an external relay then.

[northwest]

Well I have ordered a Break Out Board, an enclosure and a power supply for the +5v. More questions when it finally arrives.

While I am at it, I was thinking about adding a handwheel to the setup to control the stepper motors as and when. Is it simply a matter of plugging this into a USB port on the computer? Or does this require me to start another thread? Better still, is there a thread already?

Thanks everyone for your help so far.

[m_c]

Well I have ordered a Break Out Board, an enclosure and a power supply for the +5v. More questions when it finally arrives.

While I am at it, I was thinking about adding a handwheel to the setup to control the stepper motors as and when. Is it simply a matter of plugging this into a USB port on the computer? Or does this require me to start another thread? Better still, is there a thread already?

Thanks everyone for your help so far.

There are various pendants available for Mach3, most of which work via USB.
Easiest option is to do a search on eBay for "Mach3 pendant", and you'll get a few different options.

The cheap option is just to use a basic joystick/controller (xbox controllers are cheap, and IIRC there is a Mach3 plugin for using one). It all depends on how much money you want to spend.