[gobstopper]

Hi all

I am working on a pcb cnc mill. I am getting to the point in the next couple weeks that I will be ordering electronics. I plan on eventually building a much larger and more robust cnc mill that I will use gecko drivers on (appear to be the best). Here in lies my question. For a light use machine (a dozen runs a year max) what should I be looking for as far as electronics. I am aiming for something that is cheap and designed for light use. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[wizard]

Have you not looked at: G540 4-Axis Motor Control. This G540 is for the most part an all in one solution.

There are other drive manufactures of course with varing reputations. Shop around a bit to find the best deal. When cost is the primary factor it pays to look for deals. However searching for "the deal" will result in drawing out your build cycle.

Another alternative is to build your own drives. It is a possibility though I'm not a strong fan of such approaches.

Hi all

I am working on a pcb cnc mill. I am getting to the point in the next couple weeks that I will be ordering electronics. I plan on eventually building a much larger and more robust cnc mill that I will use gecko drivers on (appear to be the best). Here in lies my question. For a light use machine (a dozen runs a year max) what should I be looking for as far as electronics. I am aiming for something that is cheap and designed for light use. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

As a side note don't get too hung up on what appears to be the best. There are a lot of drives out there that are perfectly suitable for your application. If your only goal is a low cost PCB machine settle for what you can get cheap.

[gobstopper]

I had looked at the SainSmart TB6560. It looks like it may be closer to what I wanted. I have read a bit about it. The board sounds like its not the greatest in the world. However the same place I get my advice had the fixes to get it working Here. I am looking for something more along this line. Ideally the under $100 would be a great range.

[wizard]

On top of that the last message posted (2/11/2013) was less than exciting. As far as I'm concerned it isn't worth my time to pursue a board that hasn't been fixed by the manufacture even after a 57 page thread describing how to fix the board has been posted publicly. Frankly I wouldn't touch the board with a ten foot pole because I'm not willing to support a manufacture that doesn't give a damn about his product!!!

Now that being said I have nothing against single chip stepper motor controllers. In fact last month I spent a lot of time looking at various chips available on the market. As such I'd recommend looking else where for well supported boards that use this chip or similar chips. I see no reason to support a manufacture that can't improve or correct his product while others do. Low cost isn't a good reason to go this route.

Beyond that I have mixed feelings about having all of my drivers on one board. It can be cheaper but then you need to swap every axis whenever one axis driver fails. It is a personal preference to see drivers on individual boards. If you go the multiple axis per board route just make sure the vendor has a design that works off the shelf.

As far as these single chip drivers go you cold look for development boards if you can't find a mass producer of such boards. Or you could look at boards from: Pololu - Stepper Motor Drivers. Or: DAISY-2 - Stepper motor driver board

There are a number of projects online solving stepper driver issues. Here is one example: Easy Driver stepper motor driver which can be had pre assembled from SparkFun.com. The thing here is this, if you are willing to mess around with a crap product from China why not instead look at something open source? Or at least well documented. Here is another open look at stepper control: http://reprap.org/wiki/Stepper_Motor_Driver_1.1. A more retro solution is here: Creator of the Linistepper stepper motor driver. More info here: MOTORS PART 2 - DRIVING STEPPER MOTORS WITH THE L293D.

I had looked at the SainSmart TB6560. It looks like it may be closer to what I wanted. I have read a bit about it. The board sounds like its not the greatest in the world. However the same place I get my advice had the fixes to get it working

Respectfully I think you would be nuts to buy such a board. I'm not trying to be argumentive just that I'm not sure why you would buy into a piece of crap that the manufacture seems to not give a damn about. Especially when you have an almost unlimited selection of open source or commercial hardware that is well supported! Believe me the links offered above only touch upon what is available.

Here. I am looking for something more along this line. Ideally the under $100 would be a great range.

I can understand the need to control costs. In that regard you ought to look for the lowest power solution that will give you acceptable PCB routing performance. As you can see from the links it is possible to get close to your budget using commercial or open hardware, especially if you can keep motor currents under two amps. This really shouldn't be a problem as this isn't an extremely demanding machining job, just make sure the mechanical design isn't suffering from lots of friction.

You might want to search the net for links to home brew PCB routers for inspiration. Going dirt cheap does mean a bit more work on your part assembling the controls but you should be able to produce an interesting solution fairly cheap. The gotcha may be in the extras to make your complete controls solution. The powersupply, connectors and so forth can add up. Your three axis drivers may come in under $100 but the rest of the stuff is likely to blow your budget.

In any event I hope this helps or atleast gives you more things to think about.

[gobstopper]

Wizard thank you so much for your help. I think you are right the SainSmart is not the way to go. I will take a closer look at the items you recommended. Thanks again for all the help.

[wizard]

The only recommendation I'm making is to stay away from manufactures who don't care to update or improve their product when needed. Ultimately you need to choose one or more of the possible suppliers out there.

Wizard thank you so much for your help. I think you are right the SainSmart is not the way to go. I will take a closer look at the items you recommended. Thanks again for all the help.

[gobstopper]

I agree. I did some more research and it looks like the SainSmart isnt worth the effort. I am still exploring other manufacturers but right now the Daisy-2 is winning. I will let you know what I decide and how well it works in the end.