I went ahead and dropped $138 on a motor controller for the CNC project. I needed a 3-axis controller, since I need it to travel across a horizontal plane, as well as move vertically. If I use the CNC machine with a plasma cutter, I'll need it to be able to drop the plasma torch on the metal to do the actual cutting.



The eBay ad was really quite impressive. It even came with a video that shows the controller in action with a set of three stepper motors. Very nice.

Here are some more details on the controller:

FEATURES:

* Two phases bipolar (PWM Technology)

* Resolution: Full step, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, selectable via dip switch for each axis you can obtain resolution until of 1600 steps per 360º revolution with a conventional motor of 200 steps, imagines the fine movement that you will have.

* 2.5AMP@24VDC 60 watts outpower per axis

* Individual axis enable/disable, via opto-coupler input terminal (can be used as limit axis switch)

* Full Ajustable stepper motor current via pot on-board

* PC parallel port DB25 connector on-board

* All inputs signals are optical-coupled for protection of the PC Parallel port

* Full access to all unused DB25 port pins via terminal block for easy connection of accessories and prototyping work.

* 24 vdc & 2-to-6 amp power supply required, minimum 12vdc

* Individual Heatsink per axis

* 4 Wire, 6 Wire and 8 Wire (NEMA 17, NEMA 23 and NEMA 34) Bipolar or Unipolar stepper motors can be used with 3 axis drive.

* Fuse integrated for protection

At this moment, I've bid on a set of motors and will find out in about 10 hours if I've won the bid. I'll post on them once I win them.

($174)