I'm working on a CNC Conversion of a Seig X1 Mill (
http://www.carbatec.com.au/mini-milling-machine_c2430)
I'm doing the 3 axis of the mill and will add a stepper to my rotary table as well - a 4-axis controller
Motors and driver are from ebay - (
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....=STRK:MEWNX:IT) and I'm using the free version of Mach3 (
http://www.machsupport.com/) software and am really impressed.
The PC is an old Laptop I picked up at the tip a couple of years ago - way under spec but it does have a real parallel port (most USB to parallel won't work). Possibly longer term I'll pick up a desktop box and a 10" touchscreen monitor but so far so good.
Flexible couplings are from Jaycar (about $20 each).
I started out with a couple of MDF motor mounts for the X and Y axis, one is still on the machine. In hindsight it would have been simpler to go straight to a the metal mounts. I've tried to leave the drive shafts alone so it's taken a bit of fiddling to space to work around the thread that the handles are normally attached to.
At this stage I've stuck with the original drive threads but have started snooping at Ballscrew's and precision acme to explore options for reduced drag and potentially greater accuracy.
I've still not got the Z-axis working, it needs gear reduction and or a big counterweight.
There is lot's of material around of the web on converting the Seig machines to CNC. A range of different idea's. There are also a bunch of mod's available for the Seig machines such as longer bed's (
http://littlemachineshop.com/product...ry=-1196799916,
http://www.cncfusion.com/).
I've been getting some bit's and pieces (cutters, milling chucks and arbors etc) from CTC Tools (
http://www.ctctools.biz/servlet/StoreFront)
Some of the doco about the controller is confusing, the motor port settings in one document were wrong, I found the right ones in another. I'm still trying to get some comfort with the dip switch settings, two versions around but I'm less than certain that I've got them right so far. The parallel port cable supplied was not quite correct, I needed a gender changer to get it connected to the board.
Bob