A Computer for Mach3 & the Taig Mill CNC Conversion
Last updated on Thursday, October 21, 2010 06:30:44 PM Eastern US Time Zone

Mother Board, Enclosure, Display Brackets, Cables

First, assembled a computer to handle the Mach3 Mill software, a 4-axes LPT1 interfaced stepper controller,
an LPT2 interfaced manual pulse generator (MPG) pendant, relay control box, CAD/CAM, & the Internet.

Mother Board

Intel 775 socket Asus μATX MB with LPT1 I/O, Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.2 GHz E4500 CPU & 2GB RAM.
This low-cost Asus P5VD2-VM SE motherboard has integrated graphics & high-fidelity audio.
The CPU is pin-less. Running XP Pro SP3 OS & attached to a wired LAN on a high-speed cable WAN.

The supplied Intel CPU fan has plenty of reserve cooling capacity for this application.
The magenta colored connector is LPT1.

Pre-graphics card configuration with 2GB RAM, a 320 GB WDC SATA 3 Mb/s, 16 MB cache, 7200 RPM HDD,
 Apacer AE101 embedded card reader & a Viewsonic Optiquest Q91b, 19" LCD monitor.

Asus DRW-20B1LT LightScribe DVD R-W upgrade. SATA cables opened the area for better ventilation.
This deck has built-in auto-vibration reduction, optimal tuning strategy & an energy green engine.
This Jaton Video Card PX 8000 v2 was replaced by a Sapphire graphics card.

Upgraded to a Sapphire graphics card with ATI Raedon HD 5570 graphics engine, PCIe (16x) & 1GB DDR3
memory. Added 2GB RAM. With four fans (CPU, graphics card, power supply, & chassis) this system runs
cool & quiet. Power meter measurements: 80W at idle (65W without the graphics card) & 110W peak on boot;
300W power supply. This computer was built specifically for & is dedicated to controlling the CNC Taig mill in
4 axes using Mach3 Mill & the CNC Lathe using Mach3 Turn. It also has plenty of power for other applications.

Back panel of the computer. LPT1 (left) is on the motherboard & LPT2 (far right) is a Lava PCI card.

The computer was upgraded. The configuration is: a Gigabyte G41M-ES2L motherboard with LPT1 I/O,
Intel Core 2 Extreme x6800 2.93 GHz 1066 FSB CPU with Rosewill cooler, 4GB G.Skill 4-4-4-12 DDR2-800
RAM with heat sinks, & a Sapphire Raedon HD5570 PCIe (16x) video card with 1GB DDR3 onboard RAM.

In the BIOS, I turned-off the two RS232 serial ports & configured the two LPT ports to EPP+ECP.
LPT1 is on the motherboard (Hex 0378) & LPT2 is a PCI card (Hex d000). The Port #1 address
is standard but the Port #2 address can vary so examine the computer's devices menu.

Enclosure

This photo shows Mach3 Mill depicting the tool path for cutting a circular pocket.
This Core 2 Extreme x6800 (Conroe) CPU-based system easily generates 100K pulses/sec &
higher in Mach3. 25,000 pulses/s is fine for this application & does not burden either of the two CPUs.

This enclosure has a door in an extra effort to reduce swarf infiltration; it is effective.
The low-profile μATX case was selected to optimize placement under the bench.

Added an LPT2 PCI card to interface the manual pulse generator (MPG) pendant remote control. 

Display Brackets

Wall-mounted bracket for the computer's 19" LCD monitor. The bracket allows  the display to move vertically, pivot, rotate, & tilt.
Removing 4 small screws allows the OEM base to be completely removed.

The 4.75" x 4.75" x ¼" plate attaches to the 4, pre-existing M4-0.7 threaded mounting holes.

Top monitor bracket pivot with locking ¼-20 knob.

Wall bracket holds the monitor completely off the bench.

I use a Microsoft wireless mouse as I like the backward/forward page buttons, wide tilt scroll wheel & ergonomic shape.
Added a programmable HP wireless keyboard to further reduce clutter & it allows me to completely remove them from the work area.
I have the two USB receivers located above the bench top as they were having difficulty working through the 3" thick granite surface plate.

Upgraded to Logitech Z-4 speakers which included a subwoofer. The Z-4 has a decent price to performance ratio.
As with the monitor, keyboard & mouse, the install emphasized lowered bench clutter & the mitigation of swarf effects.

Cables

The CPU, LCD, opto-isolation, safety charge pump, & pendant interfaces are protected by a computer monitored (RS232)
APC uninterruptable power supply while the stepper motor control circuit is protected by a standard APC surge protector.

An upgraded APC Back-UPS ES 550 having computer monitoring software connected via an USB.

Mother Board, Enclosure, Display Brackets, Cables