Frage Before buying - Interface

Hi,

I'm going to buy a Stepcraft 2/840 for making mostly milling but also some engraving, vinyl cutting and hopefully laser cutting when it arrives.


I cant understand the diffenrence between the interface options in the shop.

Whats the Pro and Cons with the different options?

There are nor pros and cons. U just buy what you need - what fits your CNC control. Mach3 und UCCNC Users buy parallel und WinPC-CNC buy USB. Some say the USB interface is the dongle for WinPC-CNC

Thanks!

If I order full USB-version together with my Stepcraft, do I get WinPC-CNC in the delivery?
Sorry for the stupid questions...

Yes, you do. But u only get the "starter" edition that is OK for milling simple 2D objects in HPGL. But no GCode and no 3D objects and no 3D printing. SO expect to upgrade to full version, soon.
If u ask me, WinPC-CNC is OK for users who do not want to step too deep into it. In case you plan more in future, go with UCCNC or Mach3. Mach3 is king solution but learing curve is quite steep.
There are USB-to-parallel interfaces for both king size solutions in case the control PC has more tasks beside CNC.

The big plus for UCCNC as far as I was concerned was the USB to parallel port "dongle". This does all the high speed stuff as far as controlling the steppers is concerned (and much more as well), so that a low spec PC or laptop is all that is required to complete the setup. I'm using Win XP on an old refurbished Dell 610 - works great.

I'm not sure about the latest incarnation of Mach3, but I think the earlier revisions generated all the critical timings within the PC. This made the choice of PC and OS quite critical.

Personally I found UCCNC very easy to use and configure (profiles are available for any Stepcraft machine).

You're right, Mach3 is critical about the parallel port and it only runs on a 32bit system with parallel port connected (WinXP-Win7). But chosen the right PC and OS it is very stable. However there is the same alternative like it is for UCCNC: The UC100 motion controller - it makes Mach3 independent about OS and is multitasking proof.
But if the control PC is a dedicated CNC controller an old PC with WinXP/7 is first (and cheap) choice.

Thanks for all answers!

If I got this right:

I certainly want to go all in and not be limited because of any "economic" decision.

To get this working I need:

Stepcraft 2/840
USB to parallel converter
Cut3D
Mach3

Did I forgot something?

Tally schrieb: ...
USB to parallel converter
...

You mean motion controller right? If I understand correctly then USB to parallel converter is just a cable.

You finger my weak point. I really dont know what I mean...

From the beginning I was convinced that the full USB version would be my choice.
After the answers in this topic and also reading more information at the internet I found out that I need to go for Mach3.

But then I'm lost about the setup...

Please help me, what to I need to run a Stepcraft 2 together with Mach3 ?

You need Stepcraft with a parallel port and if you want to control the machine via computer USB port then you need a motion controller like UC100 for example. Motion controller`s USB port goes to your computer and a parallel cable connects the UC100 to Stepcraft. Regular converters do not work for controlling a CNC machine.

Stepcraft with a parallel port is a must for Mach3. Then you have options how to connect your computer to the machine. MikeRD03 and peterg1000 wrote it all I think, so I advise to read their posts again. Mach3 needs some care when installing so please follow their installation guides. The amount of information may seem overwhelming at first but as always more homework means less money spent on something you actually don`t need.