Investigating 5 axis CNC milling

Motivation

Since I have a 4 axis CNC machine and already converted the electronics to USB and am working on a 4/5/6 axis CAM program, let's investigate what would be involved to upgrade to 5 axis machining!

• my 4/5 axis CAM on Google Code
• Remember: If you have to ask for prices, you probably can't afford it.

Current setup

I have a YOOCNC CNC6040 from carving-cnc.com with the 4th axis option.
The 4th axis is very weak and nearly unusable.

I have lisended MACH3 as  control software and am very happy with it.

• next generation of my machine
• MACH3
• my current USB board 

 Mechanics

• here (you can get it slightly cheaper too) 
• and another one
• cnczone thread 

Electronics

Antonio Eduardo Martins Palmeira pointed me at the PLCM-E3P CNC Controller (For use with Mach3).

• CNCZone thread 
• British shop (£130.00 tax excl > 150eur)
• Russian homepage (sold there for 500 rubel = 12.32eur)
• user manual (english)
• software
• listed on the official MACH3 plugin page

Let's see...

5V DC via XP9 or
5V from USB or
48V via Ethernet (PoE)

Maximum frequency of STEP signals 100 kHz (my current board does 200KHz pulses)
15 buffered CMOS(5V) inputs
36 buffered CMOS(5V, 10mA) outputs
6 axis
extra status LED connectors (connect, estop, power, traffic)
max 2500ms buffer on card in addition to max 5000ms buffer in MACH3
logging can be enabled for debugging
The controller does the actual step generation using it's own clock and the acceleration profile provided by MACH3.
It also does probing and limit switches by it's own (no software=no delay)

Stepper driver

TODO