Hello

ME (consider skipping to next bold face header): I am new to CNC and I'm a 50+ yr old that after 30+ yrs in IT has decided to change careers and become a Machinist. I am currently getting the third degree (literally) in Machining Technology at the local Community College.

My Mission: In order to get more practice I want to have a CNC Mill at home. I am currently considering getting and converting a Grizzly G0720R. I think I have what I'm going to do with the mechanicals (X,Y, and Z axes) figured out and I'm now working on the electronics. The Z axis ball screw will be driven by a NEMA 34 motor (w/gas spring to help support head) and NEMA 23 motors for X and Y ball screws. I'm looking at 5mm ball screws (5.08tpi).

My initial questions:

  1. Are there any Must Have books on CNC I should be looking at?
  2. Is there a White Paper out there somewhere on selecting stepper motors?
  3. Which stepper motors to put on the X & Y axes?
  4. Which stepper motor to put on the Z axis?
  5. Are parallel ports (archaic technology) adequate w/modern operating systems to run CNC real-time operations?
  6. Recommendations on drivers
  7. I suspect this one is a religious question, but here goes, Mach3 or LinuxCNC and why?



That's probably as much as I can absorb to begin with, though as soon as I get the mill I'll also have to deal w/initial tooling.... Thank you in advance for you suggestions and insights.