New to me 4x8 with mystery gantry

[slodat]

I picked this guy up off Craigslist yesterday.



It included a DeepGroove1 Geko G540 driver and power supply:


And an old THC300 in a hacked up computer power supply case:




I was hoping I could get the motion working and see how it moves before I spend a bunch of money on it. I have a Mach3 license on another machine (router), but it's 64 bit Windows 7. In looking around it looks like the UC100 would get the 64 bit Win 7 talking to the G540 for around $120 or a Ethernet SmoothStepper for about $200.

The PO said he bought the gantry pre-assembled. It has a ballscrew Z with a limit switch. It looks like the Z is the Velox plasma piece. The X and Y motion is rack and pinion with bearings on hardened steel plate. Everything moves around by hand nice. It obviously needs some cleanup and paint, and cable management.

Big picture if it's a good base and motion I'm going to buy the Hypertherm 45XP when I get to that point. In looking at CandCNC's offerings I'm not sure which one would best suit me. I know I want THC and I know his stuff is highly regarded. Do I keep the G540 and steppers I have and go with the MP3600? Or do I wait until I can buy a complete new system like the BladeRunner 620-4 full automation bundle?

Does anyone recognize the gantry? Am I wasting money on the UC100 (or ESS if I go that route) if I'm thinking about the CandCNC controls? Given what I've said, UC100 or ESS to check out the motion?

I appreciate any input and advice.

A few more photos of the gantry.

[tcaudle]

The Deep groove is a G540 with a 48V power supply THE 300 is a old MACH based THC that uses a parallel port and needs three inputs .
I assume it uses the G540 as the Breakout (single port). The MP3600 is a LINUX based software and hardware "Front End" that comes with a PC preloaded. Its 100% compatible with the G540 Gecko driver If you want to run with the motors and G540 you have and get an Ethernet connection and have more I/O and in integrated THC, than the MP3600 comes with a small interface card (MTA150) that has a 26 pin header and will tie directly to the parallel port on the G540 (DB25) . It does not use the ESS , MACH, Windows or any outside Breakout card. It will all depend on if the G540 is working as to which way you should go. You should be able to find an old PC with a parallel port and load MACH (even the demo version) and at least get some motion. There should be some MACH profiles around for the G540 . So if you buy an ESS and want to use MACH and win 7 64 bit that is al you will need. You can try using the THC300 with the ESS since it has THC inputs. None that will be reusable with the MP3600.

[Capstone]

Curious how much you snagged this for. Looks like you have some decent components to start building around.

[slodat]

The Deep groove is a G540 with a 48V power supply THE 300 is a old MACH based THC that uses a parallel port and needs three inputs .
I assume it uses the G540 as the Breakout (single port). The MP3600 is a LINUX based software and hardware "Front End" that comes with a PC preloaded. Its 100% compatible with the G540 Gecko driver If you want to run with the motors and G540 you have and get an Ethernet connection and have more I/O and in integrated THC, than the MP3600 comes with a small interface card (MTA150) that has a 26 pin header and will tie directly to the parallel port on the G540 (DB25) . It does not use the ESS , MACH, Windows or any outside Breakout card. It will all depend on if the G540 is working as to which way you should go. You should be able to find an old PC with a parallel port and load MACH (even the demo version) and at least get some motion. There should be some MACH profiles around for the G540 . So if you buy an ESS and want to use MACH and win 7 64 bit that is al you will need. You can try using the THC300 with the ESS since it has THC inputs. None that will be reusable with the MP3600.

I got the G540 moving jogging all three axis around with the power supply, G540 and cables that came with the table. Sounds like the MP3600 would be a good setup for this table then? I'm a little confused on the CandCNC website about what comes with the MP3600. Does it include

I'm wondering if anyone has the info on getting the THC300 up and running.. Google is showing much thus far..