I had a wild idea about upgrading the controls and adding a 4th axis, but Milltronics says they have no such upgrades for this machine. At that point I was hoping to at least upgrade to a larger memory so I wouldn't always need to drip feed it from the laptop, but even that upgrade is not available. Hmmm, what to do, what to do ..... replace the whole control box with a Centroid system? The mill works fine at the moment, so there's no rush to do anything, but I can see the day when the antique electronics will need replacement, and I'm wondering what options I have? That said, I would like to revisit the possibility of going all the way to a 4th axis. I like this little workhorse mill and would prefer to keep it than replace it.
Is there a book somewhere like "Practical CNC Control Systems for Dummies"? There appears to be an overwhelming mountain of memory boards, motherboards, limit switch schemes, servos, servo amps, axis amps, etc., and a good book on the subject would be a tremendous help.
I'm sure everything I want to do is probably already available as a kit, just waiting to be bolted on and powered up, but which kits would plug & play with the existing servos? I'm afraid I know just enough to be dangerous to myself :)
Is there a book somewhere like "Practical CNC Control Systems for Dummies"? There appears to be an overwhelming mountain of memory boards, motherboards, limit switch schemes, servos, servo amps, axis amps, etc., and a good book on the subject would be a tremendous help.
I'm sure everything I want to do is probably already available as a kit, just waiting to be bolted on and powered up, but which kits would plug & play with the existing servos? I'm afraid I know just enough to be dangerous to myself :)