consider it a part of the machine and do not use it for other things. When I push in my e-stop switch power is killed to the box and the light turns green for a moment then shuts down. I also suggest dedicating an older PC to the machine just to do cnc tasks. When I turn on my control box the fault light on my g540 lights up and stays red. It is normally pretty easy with most motor controllers, but with the Gecko Drive there is a little trick. We get a lot of people asking about connecting the GeckoDrive products to our laser system. It is a significant project, but for me has been well worth it. GeckoDrive 540 Upgrade GeckoDrive 540 Upgrade Instructions. I use stepper motors that have the shaft extending from both ends, and put a manual knob on the outboard end to allow you to manually move an axis if you need to. You can always convert it back to shark controler and motors if you sell it.
That way you can take your time and in the end you will have a very good understanding of how to service your machine if some component should fail. I would suggest buying new motors and getting the drive system up and running (off of the machine) with mach 3 before taking anything on your existing machine apart. Gecko g540, smooth stepper, and motors were all sourced on line from various internet cnc part vendors. The Gecko G540 is legendary as a rock-solid multi-axis driver, so there's not a lot to add that hasn't been said before. I used comon microswitches for home and limit switches. The switches etc are all standard off the shelf items. The Gecko uses a different pin configuration for the motors. Keep the shark controller and motors together as a set. Later bought much bigger motors and went to 48 volts. I originally used shark motors with 24v power supply.