Jim,
You really should start by going to
www.cnczone.com and looking through the forums there. There is a ton of information available.
I can break things down into some simple categories:
Machine operating software
This software is what lets your PC tell your machine what to do. I recommend Mach software. Go to
www.machsupport.com
Electronics
There are a couple of ways to go here.
I use drives from
www.xylotex.com. They are small, inexpensive and work very well. You can get complete packages that are very reliable and give excellent performance for their size and cost. They are not powerful enough to operate large machines or heavy movements.
The second option is to use Gecko Drives,
www.geckodrive.com. Geckos are more complicated because the drives are individual and you have to use a breakout board to connect them together. You also need a much larger power supply. (Power supplies can be very dangerous if you do not know how to work with them.!)
Machine
Lastly, you have to have a machine that is controlled all the stuff above. Your pantograph is an excellent machine, but the large heavy movements of the knee would probably require you to go with the Gecko Drives, which makes things a little more complicated.
I am not sure what your budget is, but if you can swing buying a turn key machine like the cuemonster you will save yourself allot of headaches.
Probably the best advice I can give is to READ, READ, and READ!
I hope that helps!
Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
