Old PC`s and Mach3

[cropwell]

I never trusted Dell, they were chucked together as cheaply as possible in my opinion. Most of my machines I built myself, it's not rocket surgery.

[i2i]

going back to the old days when dell first appeared they were the dogs bo**ocks, high quality intel based machines that set the standard. Nothing lasts.

[Palletlad]

Reviewing this thread I am a tad curious, would using the UC100 bypass this issue with the PC's, I know it is a more expensive option compared to simply getting a PP card but I'm seeing a lot of good reviews about having one.
I've been interested in buying a UC100 as an upgrade later on in the year and been trying to find a legit seller (as been only able to find cloned versions)

[m_c]

Reviewing this thread I am a tad curious, would using the UC100 bypass this issue with the PC's

Yes.
Any external motion controller will avoid this problem.

[Ger21]

I would highly recommend the UC400ETH over the UC100, for just a little more money. You get better noise immunity with an ethernet connection, and two ports instead of one.
You can order them direct from CNC Drive's website.

[Doddy]

I would highly recommend the UC400ETH over the UC100, for just a little more money. You get better noise immunity with an ethernet connection, and two ports instead of one.
You can order them direct from CNC Drive's website.

Gerry, genuine question - I'm in the market for a new motion controller (and I'm not going down the NVEM route again). The UC300ETH looks to be a more capable card than the UC400ETH (which confuses me because "400" is obviously better than "300") in terms of I/O (would I ever need more than a UC300?). I'm pretty certain that there's no performance difference between them, just a functional improvement of the 300 vs 400. Or have I missed something?

Price-wise?, I'll pass on two pints of ale this weekend to make up the difference.

[Ger21]

My take is that anyone looking to buy a UC400ETH should buy the UC300ETH. The price difference is fairly small, and the UC300ETH gives you a lot more I/O, plus analog inputs and outputs.
It really makes no sense to buy the UC400ETH, except as a step up from the UC100, unless you know you'll never use the extra I/O or analog I/O.
Performance between the UC300ETH and UC400ETH is the same.

If you go the UC300ETH route, I highly recommend the UB-1 breakout board from CNC Room. This breakout board eliminates the need for the 5LPT motherboard that the UC300ETH is normally mounted to, which saves about $40. You can buy the UC300ETH with the UB-1 as a package. http://www.cncroom.com/interface-cards/uc300eth-ub1

If you need all 5 ports, CNC Room just came out with a 2 port daughterboard for the UB1 as well.

[A_Camera]

Reviewing this thread I am a tad curious, would using the UC100 bypass this issue with the PC's, I know it is a more expensive option compared to simply getting a PP card but I'm seeing a lot of good reviews about having one.
I've been interested in buying a UC100 as an upgrade later on in the year and been trying to find a legit seller (as been only able to find cloned versions)

The UC100 is a USB motion controller and yes, it solves the parallel port issue, but would add a new one. USB is not the best solution, especially in a noisy environment, so if I were you, I'd buy the slightly more expensive UC400 or UC300ETH. With an Ethernet connection you will get a much better system. I have used the UC300USB for quite some time, but then I changed to UC300ETH when it got released and never been happier. I suppose the UC400 is just as good except that it has less ports and no analogue in/outputs.

As for a legit seller... why don't you buy it from the source? CNC Drive has it's own webshop and is shipping directly from Hungary, 100% genuine products.

https://www.cncdrive.com/products.html