Not all Links and pages are functional. They are updated/repaired/installed as they are found. This is an attempt to recreate Mr. Bill's CNC site for those of us that use his hardware. Special thanks goes out to Salvador Ruano at his CNC Wood Sign Shop in Spain for supplying me with several of the pictures from the original Servolite website.

   This web site is about retrofitting or building your own affordable CNC milling machine and controlling it with low cost or free step and direction software and closed loop servo control electronics.

   Another thing I will try and share some insight on, is the process of generating the the Gcode, that controls the machine. I am relatively new to CNC programing so hopefully I can offer some unique perspectives on the subject as seen through the eyes of someone new to CNC.

   Last but not least I would like to share some of the interesting things people are doing with CNC.  

Servo Lite     Servo Motor Controller

   This is the 8 bit Servo Lite control board, it accepts step and direction input and has a PWM output of 36v to 75v at 5 amps without heatsinks. With heatsinks the current rating or the amp doubles. The bottom board is the amp the two boards that plug into it are the error generator and the PID filter. The amp has current limiting but it is to keep the motor from being demagnetized and won’t keep the electronics from overheating. A fuse is used to protect the the amp from melt down. On the encoder inputs there is a jumper for setting the resolution of the system to ether 1X or 4X the encoder resolution. With the step and direction software that is available today you can expect a maximum pulse rate of about 30,000 pulses per second which equals about 180 in. per min. Higher pulse rates are are possible from some software but the pulse spacing becomes more uneven and that makes the Motors loose position.