How to Connect the computer to the CNC controller

There are quite a few options to connect your computer whether it is a laptop or desktop to the CNC controller. The connection is also dependent on the software you intend to use. Mach3 is probably the most widely used for CNC routers and foam cutters. It was designed to use the parallel port with a DB25 (25 pins) cable. The parallel port is now obsolete and Mach3 would only run on Windows 32bit computers with the parallel port driver. This meant Windows XP was the last version you could use. But you can use it on modern computers with specialized hardware and drivers. My article here has much more detail 6 Solutions for Mach3 Obsolete Parallel Port Interface.

Don’t discount the old parallel port if you’ve got an old desktop computer laying around with a couple of gigabytes of RAM it will work just fine with Mach3 and LinuxCNC. You can usually pick them up very cheaply as well. This is a very reliable solution and I’ve used it for years on both Mach3 and LinuxCNC. You can also buy parallel port cards to add to a more modern desktop machine. This way you can dedicate the computer just to CNC. The majority of CNC controllers sold on eBay and Amazon that support Mach3 and LinuxCNC are still parallel port versions.

17HS15-1504S


If you’d prefer to go USB then you have a couple of options.

Use an Arduino based controller
Use a USB controller board or adapter for Mach3 or Mach4. LinuxCNC doesn’t support USB
Arduino based USB controllers
3d printers use Arduino based board and these are very popular. CNC routers and foam cutters can use these as well. The only downside is that you need to able to load compile and upload firmware to the board. This is fairly easy and there are many tutorials on how to do this. You won’t be able to use Mach3 or Mach4 with this setup. The Universal G-code Sender(UGS) is probably the most popular software to control the board. There are some forks of this for foam cutters as well. I’ll be doing an in-depth article on this soon.

USB for Mach3
To use USB with Mach3 you can buy a specialized controller board with drivers that support Mach3 or a USB to parallel adapter to connect to an old parallel port controller. This isn’t a generic adapter but a specialized CNC USB adapter. The best one of these is the UC100. More details here

Ethernet Controllers
These use your network port to connect to a specialized controller card or adapter that can connect to a parallel port controller, known as BOB(Break Out Boards) This works for Mach3/4 as well as LinuxCNC. (stepper motor power supply)

Suggested configurations
In these suggested configuations I’ll show what I would purchase using the following criteria. Machine intended use, budget and connection to the computer.


http://forum.reactivetrainingsystems.com/entry.php?76624-Current-and-voltage-we-need-to-supply-to-the-stepper-motors