Dear Jess,
I am Vasantha from Sri Lanka, an Island below the map of India. I have bought three systems from Ajax, Two for a Mill and one for a lathe. I have also bought some other controllers etc from some other US Companies. One has several web pages and boast of Windows based controller etc. Believe me, those are all useless. Go for Centroid Systems marketed by Ajax.
It is very simple and costs very low. I recommend that you buy the DC310 drive + PCI card, inclusive of the software for mill or lathe controller(whole package costs less than 3K), and the hand held Pendant.
To set it up you will have to get three servo motors (80 to 120 V DC) with differential encoders for each axis. If you buy an old mill with DC servos fitted it is easy. You may have to buy ajax differential encoders if the ones you have are just quadrature type only. You can also go for ajax pack with servos.
Then to start set up, buy an old P111 pc 700Mhz plus, with a color card like SIS , and remove the hard disk and fit the ajax hard disk.
Wire up every thing as per the Ajax Circuit provided. Pay attention to the limits switches, ploarity of supplies and insulate all wires. Use screened data cables of 8 wires for the encoders. You must have a DC power supply of 120V max for the three axes supply. You will not regret the buy.
I have used an extra axis for my Dividing Head and I cut gears, splines etc. I also surface harden steel pins by Oxy Flame with water spraying on this mill. I also bought a probing system at 6000K from Ajax to probe and copy molds. Let me have a week or more to put on some pictures. I will try to make a video soon and you can have it. Dont worry, go for it. If you need any assistance please e mail me.
regards Vasantha
vasanthtime@yahoo.com
Sri Lanka
14.10.2007