Connecting BL30 to computer

[Meduza]

Hello

I Bought a Harrison TU150 Lathe a while ago, and is planning on retrofitting it with Mach3 on a new computer, i am also about to fit a 17" inch touchscreen and propably a stainless steel keyboard with trackball.

The Servo drivers in it are Parker Digiplan BL30 and i wonder what i need to connect it to a computer paralell port, i have read the manual but i have only worked with Stepper systems before, so a little help to enter the servo world is needed

The Manual for BL30:
http://www.compumotor.com/manuals/BL/BL.pdf

A Picture of my lathe is attatched

[vger]

If you have the positioner board option with the drives as shown in Figure 2-3 of the manual, then your task may be fairly easy as the positioner board has clock and direction inputs. If not, then you will need an interface board to convert the digital step and direction outputs from Mach to the required analog signals for the drives.

Steve

[Meduza]

No i do not have the BLX Positioner, what is mounted in my Lathe is two BL30L from 1993 and a 386SX based control system

Is there any ready-made step/dir to analog boards avalible to a ok price?

[Meduza]

I have looked into the Mesa 5i20 and 7i33 boards and EMC2, is this the best way to do it?

I am on quite a strict budget, but want the best results possible...