Hardware Options

[hpmax]

I have three CNC machines that have archaic controllers: a Labvolt 5600 mill, a Labvolt 5500 lathe, and a Chinesium 6040 router with a rotary accessory (still probably 3 axis). The Labvolt machines, I think are running MSDOS on a Pentium class PC104 box with G-code input via RS232 serial, while the Chinesium is parallel port drive running off LinuxCNC. I was thinking it might be worth shotgunning the controls and running a single unified system, which I think should be grblHAL.

In terms of hardware, I was thinking of going with either a SKR V2 or SKR V3 board and TMC5160 drivers. The spindles are controlled by a separate piece of hardware which I'm assuming I can retain and hoping I can just drive it with a PWM, possibly with a passive or active filter. I can also imagine the current feedback on the TMC5160 is VERY useful when controlling when the cutting implement makes contact with the workpiece, and the other axes can be handled by limit swtches.

The question is: Is the SKR V2 or V3 a good choice or are there better options available. ChatGPT had suggested both, claimig the V3 was better in everyway, but the V2 software support was more mature and I was more likely for things to go smoothly. On the otherhand, Claude while admitting that V3 support was less mature said it thought I should go with V3 because of the superior hardware. I'm not sure how up to date their info is. It appears both are supported but of course that doesnt mean they both work equally well.

Thanks!

[terjeio]

Go for a dedicated CNC controllers if you can, not 3D printer boards. E.g. PicoCNC, BTT Scylla, Sienci SLB (SuperLongBoard), FlexiHAL and Teensy 4.1 boards are top notch. List here. The SLB and Scylla has integrated stepper drivers.

[hpmax]

Wow, very glad I asked on here. Any reason not to just get the Scylla? It looks amazing, especially at the price point. All the good points of the V3 but with integrated stepper drivers and a lot better isolation...

[terjeio]

Any reason not to just get the Scylla?

Can't think of any if internal drivers is what you want.

[engigeer]

Wow, very glad I asked on here. Any reason not to just get the Scylla? It looks amazing, especially at the price point. All the good points of the V3 but with integrated stepper drivers and a lot better isolation...

May or may not influence your choice, but Scylla is not open source hardware, while some of the other listed boards are.

[hpmax]

I'm pretty confident the internal drivers are fine for the machines. My biggest concern is that if one of the drivers fails, it may be hard to replace, but otherwise... I decided to pull the trigger and bought 3 boards.