X3 mill with rails, ATC, new motor

[Jonathan]

Looking good, it will be interesting to see it working under real load conditions

I almost forgot - I did try cutting with the DC motor and it seemed fine, but that's not a good comparison considering how much higher the torque rating of the new motor is.

i vaguely remember you mentioning mesa/pico hardware for this mill,did you bother.

For now I've decided it's too expensive for what it gains - more and faster I/O. If I need more inputs/outputs I can add a 2nd parallel port and until I use servo motors the frequency limit of the parallel port is adequate. One temptation for using a motion controller is it could fit in the back of the column, so I'd be able to get all the electronics inside the column.

will the turret be bidirectional and take the shortest route to the next tool or..not that it matters it seems quick enough

Yes - that shouldn't be a problem. I've currently tuned the carousel motor to run with quite low top speed and very low acceleration as the low stiffness of the coupling means it oscillates too much if I run it faster, so it will certainly be quick enough when that's fixed.