Archie wrote:

After all is said and done, would it not have been easier/better
to have purchased a more conventional and resellable system?
With today's economy, small shops,(as well as large) are being
auctioned off quite briskly.

A 3 axis bridgeport cnc mill, with tooling, recently went for $2900.
I just gave away a VMC (Mazak) w/30 staion tool changer, just
for the shipping.
Archie

Probably Archie but that is hindsight :)
I wanted a tool changer and I did not want to pay too much for shipping.
Also I had electrical  power limitations in the hangar so that limited
me to a medium size mill. I was also not happy with Bridgeport class mills
as being a bit on the wimpy side.

The Bandit controller was supposed to be working but when I really got
in to it I found a lot of problems. Therefore I paid too much money for the NC mill.

Rather than waste a lot of time  and money going to court over this I will spend
the same amount of time upgrading the controller that can be fixed in the
future with public domain software and standard PC hardware.

The main question is; not what it is doing now but how can it be maintained 
in the future? BTW The same consideration applies to my choice of operating
system software for all my general purpose computers. Why pay Microsoft hundreds
of dollars for software upgrades when I can upgrade Linux for nearly free?
Linux also has an open hood policy with shop manuals for the operating
system freely available.

Paul Lamar
 
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