I received my UC100 Motion  Controller from CNC4PC. That's where I ordered it  Actually it is produced by a company called CNC Drive, Motion Controls. The supplied instructions are a little vague because they are not supplied. There were NO instructions with the control. However, they are quickly downloadable from both CNC4PC and CNC Drive.

I had MACH3 running fine with the parallel port setup and almost no changes are required to get the USB controller to start working.

I did have a problem with my Windows XP Pro software though. I had optimized it for running MACH3. There are some instructions on how to do that on the http://www.machsuppport.com website. MACH3 started crashing to a dead stop with the UC100 USB controller running. Something about an ART code 9991 error. It can be googled but it seems Art has never defined or admitted what that error means. I read it was a private error code just for him. I am not the first person trying to solve that mystery.

My cure was to totally re-install Windows XP-Pro to eliminate all the patches from the optimization I had done. It did fix the problem and the UC100 is now loving the XP operating system as well as MACH3. So start with a clean, standard version of XP with no hacks.

I ran and tested the UC100 on two computers and two separate controllers. It ran perfectly on both the new Taig mill and my HB2 gantry machine. I am saving my pennies so I can get another UC100. It's running the new Taig mill right now as that was the intended target machine.

For your information, external pulse generation is the way to run CNC these days. The new MACH4 is intended for external pulse generation although you can purchase a patch to allow the computer to generate the pulse train. It's not the recommended practice though.

I haven't re-run the performance test, but the TAIG and the HB2 both SEEMED to run and sound smoother and perhaps a tad faster with the UC100. The UC100 operates with a continuous full buffer, so the WIN XP OS and MACH3 have no problem feeding it step/direction instructions.

Here is the good news. MACH3 is not broke. Old computers now have a new life. It works and it works well. There is no need for constant updates and upgrades. MACH4 is not going to make my machines run any better than they do now with MACH3 and an external pulse generator.

An Aside

I also experimented with Linuxcnc which uses a real time kernel in the OS. It runs my machines as good as MACH3. (with no external pulse generator.) I have decided I can certainly move to that system if I ever need to, but that is the point. I don't need to… yet. SO it is there and I feel good that there is always an alternative to which I can move.