Taig Micro Mill CNC Computer

A Computer for Mach3 & the Taig Mill / Lathe CNC Conversions
Last updated on Monday, May 01, 2023 06:31:28 AM Mountain US Time Zone

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Mother Board, SSD, Network, Enclosure, Display Brackets,
USB Hub, Cables, UPS, MediaServer 2, MediaServer, A Micro-PC,
EVGA GeForce 1060, mSATA Slot, Mass Storage, Flight Simulation

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Assembled a low-cost computer to handle the
Mach3 Mill & Mach3 Turn software, a 4-axes
LPT1 interfaced stepper controller, an LPT2-
interfaced manual pulse generator (MPG) pendant,
relay control box, & the Internet. A more modern
approach to CNC uses an ethernet-controlled interface.

Mother Board

The Asus low-profile ENGT520 GPU's massive
heat sink covers the adjacent unused PCIe (x1) slot.

Low-profile LPT2 PCI card.

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Second LPT2 card (right) for the MPG pendant.

Start, Control Panel, Device Manager, Ports, LPT

In the BIOS, I turned-off the two RS232 serial
ports & configured the two LPT ports to EPP+ECP.
LPT1 is on the motherboard (0378) &
LPT2 is a PCI card (DF00). The Port #1 address
is standard but the Port #2 address can vary
so examine the computer's devices menu.

Solid State Drive (SSD)

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In read performance:
SSD is 5x faster than HDD.
M.2 is 5x faster than SSD.
M.2 is >25x faster than HDD.

Enclosure

Mach3 Mill depicting the tool path for cutting a circular pocket.

This enclosure has a door to reduce swarf infiltration; it is effective.
The low-profile μATX case was selected to optimize placement under the bench.

Display Brackets

Wall-mounted bracket for the computer's 19" LCD monitor.
The bracket allows the display to move vertically, pivot, rotate, & tilt.

The 4.75" x 4.75" x 1/4" plate attaches to the 4,
pre-existing M4-0.7 threaded mounting holes.

Top monitor bracket pivot with locking 1/4-20 knob.

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A wall bracket holds the 19" monitor completely off the bench.

The monitor bracket was lowered for improved viewing.

Upgraded to a 24" 16:9 LG 24EN31 HD LED monitor.

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Bluetooth transmitter.

Upgraded to a Logitech M510 mouse with a USB
micro-receiver. This mouse has superior ergonomics
with comfortable overall shape & slightly protruding
forward/backward switches that have tactile feedback.
A shallow indent in the area in-between the side switches
locates the thumb. The bottom LED emits invisible
infrared light. It uses two AA batteries that last well over a
year. It works on one battery if a lighter weight is desired.
Only one Logitech micro-receiver is needed to interface
up to seven coupled Logitech devices e.g., keyboard.
The wireless Logitech keyboard is excellent; long lasting,
USB rechargeable batteries, tactile backlit keys, sleek.

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3Dconnexion 3DX-700066 Spacemouse Wireless
with Carry Case & Universal Receiver)

USB Hub

StarTech 7-port USB 3 power hub.

4, 7, & 10-port USB 3.0 powered hubs
with individual port power switches.

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The Netgear A7000 has excellent
WiFi throughput using USB3 & 5 GHz.

Cables

The CPU, LCD, opto-isolation, safety charge pump, &
pendant interfaces are protected by a computer monitored
uninterruptable power supply while the stepper motor
control circuit is protected by an APC surge protector.

UPS

Uninterruptible Power System (UPS).
As an upgrade, Back-UPS ES 550 which has APC
computer monitoring software connected via a USB.
APC Back-UPS ES 550G Manual
CyberPower LE1000DG 1000VA AVR Manual

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MediaServer 2

I built this server to hold my music, hi-res photos,
home videos, data, & games. iTunes acts as the media serve
The ATVs are then connected via HDMI to 60" & 75" Samsung QLED 4k TVs.
There are two, 6TB WD Black HDDs for redundancy. It is hard-wired (1Gbit)
to a Linksys WRT3200 ACM dual-band router. Both ATV 4k units
are hard-wired via ethernet to the router.

First GPU was an EVGA Geforce RTX 2060 Graphics Card.

EVGA Geforce RTX 2070 Ultra gaming 3-slots wide GPU.
8GB GDDR6 RAM. Fast, super-smooth 4k sim. 8+6 pin power.
This GPU has an important guard plate on the back to protect
the surface-mounted micro-circuitry.

G.Skill Ripjaws V 64GB (16x4) DDR4 3200MHz RAM.

Everything was running smoothly so next,
the OEM cooler needed to be replaced.

Inland M.2 2280 1TB

Preparing the i7-9700 CPU for a new cooler.
Paste goes on next.

Rear MOBO bracket for an Intel form
factor CPU cooler install. I like that it
adds physical micro-circuit protection.

Cooler Master Hyper 212 RGB
Black Edition installed onto CPU.
Air flows into fan front then exhausts
towards the back of the case.
It pulls air over the 64GB of RAM.

The Hyper 212 cooler is so quiet & efficient.
Better CPU heat control/dissipation
allows the i7-9700 to over-clock itself
(auto-OC) up to 4.7GHz. Asus Aura Sync
program controls the MOBO's RGB LEDs.
The 2070 RGB LEDs are controlled by
the EVGA GPU's Precision X1 software.

Corsair ML120 Pro Magnetic Levitation Fan.
Specifications: 0.225A, 4-pin, 16-37 dBA,
12-75 CFM, 0.2-4.2 mm-H2O. An excellent
PWM fan with magnetic bearings. A very
efficient & quiet 120mm fan. LED colors,
available. It has nice, built-in rubber
spacers. In the Asus MB BIOS, I set all
QFan Control profiles to "silent" running.

From the Asus Prime Z390-A MB manual.

Current configuration:
Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64-bit OS
Intel i7 9700 3GHz 12MB Cache LGA1151 CPU
Cooler Master Hyper 212 RGB Black Edition
Asus Prime Z390-A ATX Motherboard
Asus Trusted Platform Module TPM-M R2.0, 14.1 Socket
G.Skill 64GB (16GB x 4) DDR4 3200MHz Ripjaws V Memory
Inland M.2 2280 1TB x 2; 3100MB/s read/1900MB/s write speeds
Digital Combat Simulation on one M.2 card; games on the second.
WD Black 6TB HDD x 2; SATA6 7200 RPM, 256MB cache
Samsung 840 EVO 500GB SSD; Seagate 1TB HDD
EVGA Geforce RTX XC Ultra Gaming 2070 8GB GDDR6 GPU
Corsair TX650M 650W Modular ATX 80 Plus Gold PSU
Asus DRW-20B1LT DVD+/-RW (+/-R DL) / DVD-RAM Drive
Corsair Carbide Series 200R Compact ATX Case
Corsair ML120 Pro Magnetic Levitation Fans x 4
LG-27UL600-W 27" IPS LED 4K UHD FreeSync Monitor with HDR
Logitech's MX Keys BT keyboard & M510 mouse

Asus Trusted Platform Module
TPM-M R2.0, 14.1 socket. Plugs
into the Asus Prime Z390-A mobo.
The i7 CPU also has TPM built-in.

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The Logitech M510 mouse, which has excellent ergonomics, is RF.
The Logitech MX Keys illuminated wireless keyboard is Bluetooth.
The MX Keys Unifying USB Receiver, can
control both units via OEM software pairing.

MX Keys & M510 mouse.

BT wireless, compact, heavy, back-illuminated, nicely sculpted keys,
programmable plus it can switch to & control three different devices.
Layout for Windows or Mac. Win Keys can be locked out for a Mac.
After setup (software install, pairing), turn the MX keyboard
OFF then ON to make the backlighting fully automatic.

On the right, three (sealed) dummy
RJ-45 plugs keep machining swarf out.

Linksys SE3005 5-port gigabit switch.

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MediaServer (Archived)

An example of a small form factor (mini-ITX) build
based on the Shuttle SZ77R5 barebones box.

Shuttle SZ77R5 Brochure L = 332mm (13")
x W = 216mm (8.5") x H = 198mm (7.8").

It has a sturdy yet light-weight all aluminum chassis.
Shuttle SZ77R5 Quick Guide

A Micro PC System

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Front panel header.

500W PSU.

32 GB G.Skill DDR3 1600 XMP 1.5v 10-10-10-30 RAM.
This amount of memory requires Windows 7 64bit Pro.
XMP enabled allows the i7 CPU to OC the RAM.
If needed first, update the BIOS then enable an XMP profile.

The socket's clear plastic protective shield is still in-place.

i7-3770 3.4 GHz (3.9 GHz Turbo) 1155 Ivy Bridge CPU.

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Liquid-cooled radiator-type heat pipe.

Fan & shroud attached with (backside)
thumbscrews covering the cooler.

The 1st 500 GB SSD is for the OS & data.

The 2nd 500 GB SSD is for data.

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Replaced the ODD with an Asus.

The front has been removed via four plastic snap tabs.

The mechanization of the Shuttle's DVD open/close button.

The detented square button (the white arrow points to it)
moves to align with the DVD open/close button center.

With the ODD in place.

XFX R7950 GPU (Archived)

Prepared the chassis to install a dual-slot GPU.

XFX R7950, Double Dissipation, 3 GB GDDR5,
PCI Express 3.0 (32 GB/s),1250 MHz (5.0 Gbps),
384-bit memory, 9th generation tessellation, 28nm
technology, 2 x 6-pin power, 10.5" x 4.4" x 1.5".

Two, 92mm fans.

Top to bottom: 2 x Mini DisplayPort (DP), 1 x HDMI, 2 x DVI.

EVGA GeForce 1060

EVGA GeForce 1060 6GB nvidia graphics card.

This system was upgraded to an EVGA 1060 GeForce 6GB DDR5
graphics card & an LG 27UK600 4k DP/HDMI 27" monitor.
EVGA 1060 Specs - Base clock: 1607 MHZ, Boost clock:
1835 MHz, Memory clock: 8008 MHz (effective),
CUDA cores: 1280, Bus type: PCI-E 3.0,
Memory detail: 6144MB GDDR5,
Memory bit width: 192 bit, Memory speed:
0.25ns, Memory bandwidth: 192.2 GB/s.

mSATA

Samsung 860 EVO V-NAND 1TB mSATA SSD.

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Mass Storage

Mediasonic 4-bay Probox HF2-SU3S2; low-cost,
compact, fast (non-RAID) external storage solution.

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WD 6TB HDD, Black Performance Model, 3.5",
7200 RPM, SATA 6Gb/s, 256MB cache.

Each drive has an attached handle that acts as a spacer
to hold it in & when pivoted down, as an extractor.

This metal retainer plate snaps into place to
securely hold all four drives in their slots.

Mediasonic HDB-G1 2.5" to 3.5" adapter bracket used
to mount an SSD into the Mediasonic HF-2 Probox.
The bracket also allows proper mounting of the
Probox pivoting, extraction handle, same as an HDD.
The Probox can hold 3.5" HDD or 2.5" SSD drives.

An HP Pavilion 25bw 25" 16:9
LED monitor, shown, upgraded to
LG-27UL600-W 27" IPS LED 4K UHD
FreeSync monitor with HDR. FSX shown
on the screen. The full-sized keyboard is a
Logitech Wireless K800 with laser-etched back-lighted keys.
The Logitech keyboard & mouse use a single,
micro-sized, unifying USB receiver module.
The Thrustmaster T.Flight Hotas X USB Flight
Stick & matching throttle can be bolted together.

Flight Simulation

F/A-18E Super Hornet SuperbugX with TacPack
by Vertical Reality Simulations (VRS Wiki).
It runs as a module within Microsoft FSX
with full weapons, as intended by God.
A nice F/A-18E program but DCS World is by
far, the overall superior combat simulation.

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Vertical Reality Simulations F-18E Superbug software.

Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog
stick & throttle hardware combo.

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VRS F-18E Superbug simulation.

Digital Combat Simulator (DCS World
2.5) A-10C Warthog simulation.

Thrustmaster (TM) Hands On Throttle And Stick
(HOTAS) Warthog replica for aircraft simulation.
An accurate, weighted, & stable design that incorporates
extensive metal construction, throughout.

Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt replica joystick.

Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt replica
throttles. Variable, green LED backlighting.
The two throttles can be locked together or unlocked
for independent control. Excellent switches.
A stack of metal plates inside add weight/stability.