[ramchip0007]

I just got an old xenetech xot engraver machine from 1992 and wanted to update it as a light duty cnc mill. I was told the controller /driver was bad . the steppers are slosyn m063-fd09 2.25v 4.6 amp hold 150 0z 200 sep nema 23 6 wire. I was looking at the china boards on ebay are these ok? I would like to use mach3, my computer is win7 64bit, but I could build a xp machine if 7 is not supported. I don't get the amp rating, motor is 4.6 is that per phase and does 6 wires make it 4 phase ? What amp driver do I need ? Should I get a driver that is unipolar or just use 4 wires and go bipolar or should I think about getting new 4 wire steppers? Thanks in advanced!

[awerby]

This should work with the motors you've got. The six wires aren't a problem; you can connect some of the leads together to run them with 4 wires in series or parallel. There's a diagram on this page that shows how: http://www.loreti.it/Download/PDF/Sc...30THManual.pdf As for your other questions:

No, those Chinese boards on ebay are junk - half the posts here on CNC zone are from people having trouble with them. People buy them to save money, but then often have to buy something else, so any savings are questionable.

Mach3 does support Windows 7, but make sure your computer has a parallel port that runs in EPP mode.

Yes, the amp rating is per phase. Each phase activates 3 of those wires, so your motors are 2-phase. Here's some good information on stepper motors in general: Jones on Stepping Motor Types

I'm not sure what you mean by an "amp driver". If you're looking for good drivers to run your machine, I'd recommend the Gecko 540; it has the breakout board and 4 stepper drivers included, is well supported (by people who speak English) and has a very good reputation for reliability. Run it with a 48v supply, and it will get good performance out of your motors.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com