Need Help!- CNC Rebiuld

[smallss]

hello everyone, I am new to the forum and this is my first build so im just looking for a little feedback, and some advice of things that i should look out for and be aware of.

My plan is to take all of the old drives and everything out and replace it with a g-rex g100 controller and 3 geckodrive g212 stepper motor drives. from the motion controller I want to use the outputs to control the tool changer using a plc, i dont know what type of plc i am going to use yet, but it will most likely be an allen-bradley. one thing i havent figured out is how to control the spindle. it is a variable speed spindle, but i dont know how to get feedback from the spindle so i know how fast it will be turning, or if it will even turn without feedback. this project is starting to get over my head I feel like at times, and im just looking for any advice you guys have to offer. I am a college student with a cnc programming and injection molding major, and I want to complete this not only to have my own machine for my personal use, but to get a better understanding of how cnc machines work.

[ger21]

Are you aware that the G100 firmware for Mach3 was never finished, and most of the people using it with Mach3 have abandoned it in favor of the smooth stepper?

As for the plc, there are a lot of people using plc's on the Mach forum and Yahoo group. Best to ask you're Mach integration questions over there.

[smallss]

I didn't know that about the g-100. thanks I think im going to head over to the mach3 forum