Over the years the parallel port has been harder to find on new computers. MACH3 originally used the DB25 PC parallel port for the step, direction and other signals to control a CNC. I still use the program on 4 different CNC machines. MACH3 is still very popular and there is a huge following of ad hoc support users in various newsgroups and Facebook. No new version of MACH3 has been released in many years. They decided to write a entirely new CNC controller called MACH4 instead and put MACH3 in support mode. The original author sold the program to Newfangled Solutions.

For the ones that do posses the required knowledge, Mach3 can prove to be quite helpful.Mach3 is CNC controller software that I have been using since the very first version was released some 15+ years ago. The plethora of options, functions and settings can really be overwhelming if you have no idea about this type of software. To sum it all up, Mach3 is a professional application for professionals working with CNC machinery. Do not hope for any eye-candy upon starting it as its over-crowded sections simply makes anyone that does not have a clue about what it is supposed to do immediately close it.

Mach3 finds itself in this particular category and what it does is turn your schematics that you import in various formats such as BMP, JPEG, DXF or G-code into real-life components of all shapes and sizes.īeing a program especially designed for a bunch of people, Mach3 is all about functionality and little if anything at all towards looks and other non important aspects in this domain of activity. You can now try to acknowledge the importance of such machinery alongside the software used to program it. If you never have heard about a plotter or you just can’t picture one although you have heard of this term, a plotter is actually a high-precision printer that is used in various engineering domains such as CAD (computer-aided design).ĬNC machines are widely used in more fields that you can think of and to give you just a few examples, these comprise drills, EDMs (electrical discharge machine), embroidery machines, milling machines, wood routers, plasma / hot-wire / laser / water-jet cutters, surface / cylindrical grinders, 3D printers or knife / glass cutters. Mach3 addresses a strict crowd of engineers working with a special equipment called CNC (computer numerical control) machines that operate more or less like plotters do.

Mach3 cnc on windows 10