Quote Originally Posted by JohnHaine View Post
And why would you need a Smoothstepper if the machine already works, could you just upgrade the controller to Mach 3? More information would help.
He'll be wanting an external motion controller to get away from the Parallel port I'd guess.? It's common for folks to think external motion controllers are called smooth steppers when it's actually a brand name.

If this machine does have Separate Parker stepper drives then it should be an easy upgrade. You'll most likely just need a breakout board and analog speed controller to provide 0-10V to Gemini.
If you do want or need an external motion controller to get away from parallel port then I'd suggest a better product than Smooth stepper which is from company called CSlabs and model number is CSMIO-IP-M.
This will be more suited to this type of upgrade due to using 24V I/O which this machine will probably use. It also provides analog speed output which could be used for the Gemini.
Another BIG plus is that it doesn't use or need a separate breakout board so very reliable. It's a very high quality product designed just for this type of retrofit.

If you post some details of the machine and if possible some high quality pics of inside the control cabinet we can see what you have or don't.