Quote Originally Posted by JW1977 View Post
So, to get back on track... There´s either the IP-M or the PoKeys57CNC right now.

Jazz had me pretty convinced about the IP-M until i read Boyans comments about the PoKeys57CNC...
There is nothing wrong with the Ethernet Smoothstepper if you are going to buying a breakout board. The support is fine now, even though in the past it was sketchy. I know Jazz has his opinion on the generic breakout boards and he is justified. To be fair, we have seen countless conversions and builds use the standard 5 axis BOB's and work just fine. The latest incarnations of them will run on 12-24Vdc and even modulate 0-10V for combination with VFD's while being fully optoisolated. You do need to be careful with your cabling and grounding whatever controller/BOB you go for so it is all up to you which one you prefer.

Backlash compensation has been painted as a hack, however even the big boys do it (even when they use ground screws). That is the only way you can use C7 cheap ballscrews and not chase your tail wondering why your circles are not round. If you can afford the C5 with preload or zero backlash then yes you can forego backlash compensation.