TB6600 experiments

I wanted to play with the TB6600 so got some chip's.
I don't like the Chinese designs as some of you will know: Bending and stressing the pins, poor quality electrolytic capacitor,...

First attempt was a traditional design, see pic below. Advantage over the Chinese is easier and better PCB layout, Problem is size and difficult heatsink mounting for some people.

So I pondered and thought on a possible better and smaller "flat" design.
It took a while to find it and came up with this solution: Cut part of the upper pins so that they can be used as throughole, the lower pins are "SMD style" soldered to the solderside of the PCB. This doesn't stress the pins and there's no slot in the PCB, due to the lack of the slot: routing is easier and a much better design is possible: larger tracks and power planes.
Result is a very small (2x2 inch) drive.

Difficult to explain, see attached pictures for details.

What a great hack! As always, you come up with the most innovative solutions. Can wait to hear how the board works!

Nice board. I will have to start making use of the far East pcb services. I've been too impatient to wait.

The TB6600 was available online for $1.20, but someone bought the entire stock within a week. Now the price is $6, still an exceptionally good.

What is Q1 used for?

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Originally Posted by H500

Nice board. I will have to start making use of the far East pcb services. I've been too impatient to wait.

The TB6600 was available online for $1.20, but someone bought the entire stock within a week. Now the price is $6, still an exceptionally good.

What is Q1 used for?

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Thanks for the compliment on the design. The board has been cleaned and washed thoroughly after soldering, so that it's looks nice :-)
Prices at mouser and AVnet have been very low a few months ago but none had stock, to low IMHO and now both have (been forced to?) up the prices to a more reasonable level. $1 and something is not realistic compared to the compitition.
Q1 is for the standby current reduction wich the TB6600 doesn't have, it's incorporated and works better in the THB6064.

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Originally Posted by James Newton

What a great hack! As always, you come up with the most innovative solutions. Can wait to hear how the board works!

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It took a few weeks of pondering before the penny dropped, I'm pleased with the result.
Comparitive testing will have to show if it can meet the THB6064's performance and quality.
First impression is that it run's a little rougher than the THB, maybe because it doesn't have decay mode selection?

1) Are you using the TQ pin to lower current when system is idle.
2) You are using the pcb to press the TB6600 tightly against the heat sink. Over time will this heating of the pcb cause problems?
3) Can you provide your schematic and pcb layout?

Yes, the TQ pin is used. The 30% torque reduction might be to low for some applications. The THB6064 has a better implementation for the current reduction.
This mounting style wich uses the PCB is used in a lot of drives from the Chinese up to AMC, Gecko etc.. It won't create problems.
Design is not yet finalised, I might publish the schematic when it is.
The PCB design can't be used for DIY, it's double sided and some pads are unaccessible for soldering on both sides, others will interfere with the chip mounting.

The THB6064(TB6564) appears to have been discontinued, since is not on the Toshiba website. In the USA Mouser has the TB6600 in stock at $7.50. The Cinese TB6600 boards have no schematics so you do not know what your getting and there is a 4 week delivery time.

The THB6064 has been made by Toshiba for Hbbytech, it has never been on the Toshiba website as it wasn't a chip for their productline.
The TB6600 is the Toshiba version of the above with some differences in the control signals.
Pinout is almost exactly the same and so are the specs.

I recently had a conversation with my supplier of the THB6064 regarding the availability, there"s no problem they can still deliver in the future.
The chip is available on Ebay and from me or James, also as a complete kit. Hundreds have been sold without problems, they have proven their performance and reliability.

What exactly are you looking for?

The THB6064AH is still available, but not directly from Toshiba. I just ordered several hundred and will continue to have them (and my PMinMO version of Luc's driver kit) available at:
ecomorder.com/techref/ecomprice.asp?p=416073

I also have the TB6600's in stock and should have the PMinMO version of Luc's driver available soon. It's almost the same as what you see on this thread, but has the PMinMO connector, no optoisolation, and uses 2 SMT resistors. Luc does amazing PCB layouts. And is a nice guy to do business with.

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Originally Posted by lucas

I wanted to play with the TB6600 so got some chip's.
I don't like the Chinese designs as some of you will know: Bending and stressing the pins, poor quality electrolytic capacitor,...

First attempt was a traditional design, see pic below. Advantage over the Chinese is easier and better PCB layout, Problem is size and difficult heatsink mounting for some people.

So I pondered and thought on a possible better and smaller "flat" design.
It took a while to find it and came up with this solution: Cut part of the upper pins so that they can be used as throughole, the lower pins are "SMD style" soldered to the solderside of the PCB. This doesn't stress the pins and there's no slot in the PCB, due to the lack of the slot: routing is easier and a much better design is possible: larger tracks and power planes.
Result is a very small (2x2 inch) drive.

Difficult to explain, see attached pictures for details.

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Is the eagle CAD layout available for the board?

No, I don't use Eagle.
All components except for the chip are standard and are available in the Eagle package.
The big problem for a good drive is the PCB layout, routing of power tracks, shape of the ground planes etc..