To get the mill up and running I’ve elected to start with a cheap all-in-one touchscreen PC. Basically, all it needs to do at this stage in its life is to (a) not let out the magic smoke, and (b) run the Intelitek CNCBase control software that is set up to work with the BenchMill 6000.

I suspect Mach 3 or 4 might be made to work, but the appeal of the BenchMill was that it *should* work out of the box with the Intelitek software, which is set up to control all of the bells and whistles that come with the machine like the pneumatic shield, automatic tool changer, 4th axis, and pneumatic drawbar.

To test this theory I acquired a Gateway ZX4800 touchscreen from the most reputable of internet auction sites for the exorbitant sum of $85. This is the finest of circa-2012 era all-in-one computers, and other than concerns with the integrated graphics, its Pentium dual core seems to meet the minimum requirements published to run the CNCBase software.

 

Boot up times were … deliberate … once I fired it up and reinstalled Windows, and as it will be operating in an environment with significant dust and vibration I went ahead and replaced the hard disk with a cheap 32GB SSD – more than enough space to load the control software.  In operation, Windows 10 proved too laggy for comfort, but Windows 7 on the SSD seems to run … OK …  with transparency turned off.

CNCBase installed without a hiccup. I had to run an included configuration program to let the controller software know what add-ons I have installed (pneumatic shield, jog pendant, and automatic drawbar). Firing up the machine consists of turning on the mill, connecting the ethernet cable directly to the computer, and assigning the machine IP address to one the mill expects to see with an included script.

 

Then it was just a matter of launching the CNCBase control software.  It offers what you’d expect in terms of position information, spindle control, and G-code import and execution.   It also features a FAUNC emulator.

The style hearkens back to its own era, but you can’t beat the price.  All in, we now have about $140 in the PC side of the control system, including the computer, SSD, and software. Next up, we’ll work on getting the mill to actually do something.