What control software ???????

[GermanKiwi]

Hi there,

I'm new to the forum as well as to cnc technology in general. I just bought myself a little router kit set from Openbuilds and some Watai Nema 23 Stepper motor 57BYGH115. So far in my build everything looks good and solid enough for what I'm planning to do. As to the software what is a good choice. I don't mind to pay for a license but it needs to be affordable. It also needs to be semi easy to work with as I do understand that some learning needs doing regardless.

Could do with some help here as there are lots of choices out there.

Thanks sandro

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[davidmb]

Hi,

A lot of it depends on how involved you want to be with the control software or do you want more of a turnkey system, I assume you have the physical machine, steppers and stepper drivers, a lot of users either use Mach3 ( MS Windows based ) or LinuxCNC linux based, both systems use a parallel port to interface to the stepper drivers, I have been using LinuxCNC now for a number of years without any real issues.

You could try LinuxCNC for free ( it is open source and very flexible - but you do need to put some effort in, take a look at LinuxCNC.org), There may also be evaluation versions of Mach3 available also, perhaps others can add more.

[GermanKiwi]

Hi david

Thanks for the reply. I will have to go windows based as that is my computer system. I had a play around with mach 3 in demo mode and liked it up to that point. I mean no machine was connected yet. I thought I'm going more with mach 4 as that is there new baby. Any thoughts on mach 4 or is there any other windows software out there I know nothing about?

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[ger21]

Imo, (and most others), Mach4 is really not ready yet.

Take a look at UCCNC (cncdrive.com), PlanetCNC, and EdingCNC. All require additional hardware.

[GermanKiwi]

Right. That's interesting ger21 as I thought that mach 3/4 is used a lot by diy'ers. Just to understand that right, you are saying that mach 3/4 are rubbish compared to the software you mentioned? Or do you mean that it is a good software with some minor bugs?

I just don't wanna invest into more hardware because the things I've got should get that machine up and running. The only thing I don't have is the software.

Thanks for your reply
Sandro

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[ger21]

I didn't say rubbish, and I meant to say that Mach4 isn't ready yet.

Yes, Mach3 is by far the most popular. But Mach3 is very old, and the other options I mentioned may have an edge. Note that I've only personally used Mach3.

If you want to use the parallel port, than your only options are Mach3 or 4, and LinuxCNC.
If not using the parallel port, than you'll need additional hardware regardless of which software you choose.