chinese 3040 cnc usb upgrade needed

[Teajunkie]

Hey guys and girls.

Been a member here fora bit now but not used my cnc for a long time as my pc died and the replacement doesn't have a parallel port.
The problem is my Chinese 3040 cnc only has a parallel connection

Can i just replace the control board with a usb model?
I have seen them on ebay for about £15 but don't want to waste money if its not going to work or at worst damage my machine.

Now my machine came with all the settings for motor setup etc would this be different also or would mach 3 be fine as it is if i replaced it with a £15 usb board.

Thanks for any help or advice.

TJ

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[KH0UJ]

On my opinion, why change it while you can still adopt to it? even the latest i9 processors still has the support of the LPT1 port on their motherboard, because automation and robotics industry use them a lot, they know how stable it is compared to the USB version, it can still last 10 years on you, its that stable and durable USB Versions? I had 2-3 USB BOB`s in the shop dead, not to mention the headaches of the instabilities I encountered with them, I converted the units to LPT1 ports now it`s been 2 years running 6 days a week no trouble at all. headaches disappeared when I switched to LPT1 port

[Teajunkie]

The problem I have now though my pic doesn't have space for a lpt board.

[KH0UJ]

Then I guess you can change the breakout board to USB and face the unpredictable instabilities on it or assemble a new or old PC unit dedicated just for your unit, a used intel atom setup is a good choice on my opinion, it`s a dual core and very small and still has an LPT1 port in it

[Teajunkie]

Ok thanks for the help I think I'll go with the old dedicated pc build.

[microcnc]

Hello Teajunkie, I created a whole series of tutorials for the absolute beginner to use the chinese 3040 with LinuxCNC. I just bought a HP Compaq DX2000 desktop off ebay for $45. I try and use old refurbished PC's on ebay for smaller hobby machines, it's cheaper than buying a parallel port card many times, and cheaper than USB. I've used Mach3 for 6 years but found LinuxCNC more stable. Take a look, I have a PDF file with the setup of my machine on this page as well. Pinewood CNC Tutorials I've built new PC's for larger machines but cheap ebay PC's are great for smaller machines, I don't care if I blow them up.