Thanks for the help with soft limits JA. I now have soft limits on and they are sorta working. In the y axis it is stopping short of what appears to be full travel by about 2 inches. maybe there is another limit switch im not seeing? there is a double limit on x. there is a limit switch that has 2 actuators, but they have added a second limit switch. Is mach 3 ok with using the same limit switch for both ends of the travel?
  When I was fixing the computer, i came across what appears to be the d sub terminals from the resolvers attached to the motors... not connected to anything.
   I hope youre not gonna be too disappointed but I'm going to go with mach3 for at least a while to get this up a  nd running. When do I want to get the license? should i get it now before i get it fully functional or after? am i gonna risk losing my setup info transitioning?