Got to agree with Ron here that the world has moved on.
We had issues looking for a system that would thread on a lathe.
Mach 3 is dead in the water as it can only use the index pulse and none of the add on controllers like CS Labs, although they can read an encoder thread correctly.
Mach 4 although it can thread needs an external board and it's not been until recently that Pokeys and PMDX have brought a working board out.
However taking lathe and doing a costing exercise.
You need a computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse, windows license, Mach license and an external breakout card and in some cases a spindle card as well.
I reckon all this lot, which you have to build yourself, no plug and play and you are then dealing with at least 2 or 3 companies will set you back in UK pounds about £690 - £700 pounds.
However you can now buy and have been able to for a while 2 to 5 axis stand alone controllers from China that don't need a computer, licenses, monitor and are all self contained and plug and play. The lathe one can even run an 8 position tool changer .
This one cost £400 landed and duty paid and is a dead ringer for a Fanuc21.
It comes with about 9 plugs on the back and they supply 9 cables to fit with plenty of length and all clearly marked in English. All you have to do is connect to drivers, limit switches, VFD, encoder etc and supply mains and you are good to go
As Ron says the world has moved on.
In November I converted 17 obsolete training machines for a college down in Oxford. They were adamant that they did not want computers and all the associated bumph and it was only the fact that these were industry standard, more so than any PC based controller and stand alone that we got the job.
