I left the handles on my Bridgeport mill when I converted to CNC, and left the 2 axis DRO as well. I am using Mach3, and find that if I just click RESET, I can manually turn the handles just fine. I am running DC stepper motors, which do produce a bit of drag that has to be overcome in manual mode, but as a side benefit, the DRO in Mach3 also changes when turning manually, so I have a second DRO. My Z-axis on the quill does not work as well in manual mode, since there is too much drag produced by the motor/ballscrew combination. I can force it, but it feels wrong to do that. So, I devised a locking mechanism that allows me to disconnect the ball nut from the quill and use the manual handle for drilling, etc.
One problem I have discovered is when making rapid moves in CNC the glass slides and my ancient Accurite DRO cannot keep up with the pulse rate at anything above about 80 in/min, and I get a drift in the DRO reading. The Mach3 DRO saves the day here since I can reset my manual DRO as needed. Be advised though that the handles can really be dangerous if you get tangled up in them while running CNC.
Bob
