What is the UCCNC?

The UCCNC is CNC controller software that works their own USB and Ethernet motion controllers.  This includes the following:

  • UC100

  • UC300

  • UC300ETH

  • UC400ETH

The software runs on and is fully functional on:

  • Windows XP

  • Windows 7

  • Windows 8 and 8.1

  • Windows 10

It supports both the 32bit and 64bit versions of the software.

It uses Visual C# as it macro languages and is fully modifiable.

 

UCCNC Licencing

The software is free to down load and runs in demo mode.  It is fully functional, but can not talk to your machine until its licenced.

A licence costs $60 and will only talk to one of the following motion controllers.

  • UC100 - USB based controller with a LPT compatible interface.

  • UC300 - USB based controller with multiple 6 IDC connectors (Discontinued)

  • UC300ETH - Ethernet based controller with 6 IDC connectors

  • UC400ETH - Ethernet based controller with 2 IDC connectors

You can purchase a licence here:

UCCNC Software Licence

The licence key is tied to the serial number of one of the above motion controllers which means for each controller you purchase, you will also have to purchase a separate licence key. 

So the bottom line, its going to cost you $170 for each UC100 (or other UC device) you want to use with the UCCNC software.

All that said the UCCNC and UC100 combo is still a good deal as long as you are only going to use a single computer to control a single CNC machine.  Note that you can move the laptop with the interface to another CNC.  If you have any notion about running multiple machines at once with the UNCNC, you will need both the controller and licence for each machine.

 

Licence Key Delays (update 1/11/2018)

I have had issues with the licence key arriving several days after I have received the motion controllers.  If you are doing a project and plan on using the UCCNC software to control it, keep this in mind.  Note that the UC100 and UC300 motion controllers can be used with Mach3 out of the box.  

 

Cost Comparisons

OK, here is the scenario.  You have a laptop or tablet computer and you want to control your KReduCNC.  Lets look at a few software and interface options.

  • Mach3 and Parallel Port - $159

  • Mach 3 & Smooth Stepper - $159 + $165 = $324

  • Mach 3 & UC100 - $259 (bundle price)

  • UCCNC & UC100 - $165 (bundle price)

While there are other options, I am going to be concentrating on the UCCNC software and the UC100 interface for now.

As you can see in the above scenario, the UCCNC and UC100 have the lowest price point of entry.

Second scenario. You have a laptop and a desktop, both are connected to different CNC machines.

  • Mach3 and Parallel Port - $159

  • Mach 3 and 2 Smooth Steppers - $159 + $165 + $165 = $489

  • Mach 3 and 2 UC100 - $369

  • UCCNC & 2 UC100 - $330

Third scenario. You have a laptop and two desktop computers, all three are connected to different CNC machines.

  • Mach3 and Parallel Port - $159

  • Mach 3 and 2 Smooth Steppers - $159 + $165 + $165 + $165 = $654

  • Mach 3 and 2 UC100 - $479

  • UCCNC & 2 UC100 - $495

Last Scenario. You have 9 CNC machines, all connected to different computers.  This may sound crazy, but this is my scenario.

  • Mach 3 and Parallel Port - $159

  • Mach 3 and 9 Smooth Steppers - $159 + $1485 = $1644

  • Mach 3 and 9 UC100 - $1139

  • UCCNC & 2 UC100 - $1485

As you can see as soon as you go to more than one CNC , all the costs go up except the Mach 3 and parallel port.  The cost remains constant.

Not counting the Mach3 and parallel port option, at the three machine point the UCCNC and UC100 overtake the Mach3 and UC100 option.

Keep in mind you can use a single copy of Mach3 as long as you are only running one machine at a time.  If you are running more than one machine at a time then the UCCNC and UC100 is the best price option.

Just for perspective, I have a lot of CNC machines in my shop, but I cant think back to a time when I was running more than one machine at a time. That's my environment, a machine shop with multiple operators would be a totally different scenario.

Also keep in mind that you can mix and match the above machines and controller.  All but the SmoothStepper and the UCCNC software.  Which brings up a point. The UCCNC software is only compatible with its own motion controllers.  Also the Mach 3 software is more mature so it has more third party plugins.  So that pendant you have your eye on might not work with the UCCNC software.

 

UC100 Motion Controller

I will be testing the UC100 with the UCCNC software as it looks like the simplest to use.  Later, I will look at some of the other UCxxx motion controllers.

 

Machine Configurations

As I test my various CNC machines with the UCCNC software, I will post the results.