[aarongough]

Hey everyone!
I've been lurking around CNCZone for a long time, but I finally have a mill and posts/questions to go along with it!

I bought a HobbyCNC Pro driver board a few years ago that I was planning on using with my conversion.

My question is about power supplies: If I am driving 4 axes with this board to it's full capability of 3A per axis, that should mean a total maximum current draw of 12A, is this correct?

Given this, is a [email protected] power supply enough to meet the requirements of the driver board?

I know it's a silly question, I'm not new to electronics... But I want to make sure that I am understanding the power requirements of the driver board and stepper motors correctly. All the documentation I see for the board shows that it can draw 3A per *phase*, which leaves me a little stumped as to what the maximum overall current draw actually is...

Thanks for your help!

[Jeff Davis]

Hiya,

There are a couple thoughts on this subject. But most tend to stick with the numbers you have or smaller since you will almost never have all 4 axis running at the same time.

Now as far as voltage is concerned.. This is really a factor of which motors you choose. Inductance plays a huge roll in the choice and is why most people take the voltage to the motors maximum to get more torque at speed.

I do not know of anyone who has used that controller for an X3 so I can't really say if it is a good choice or not.

HTH

Jeff

[aarongough]

Hey Jeff!
Thanks for the response. Nice to know that I'm at least barking up the same tree as everyone else...

The mains source of confusion for me was simply that the current ratings were supplied *per phase* instead of per-axis. Nice to see that cleared up.

I went with 24V for the moment as supplies at that voltage were economical and plentiful. I over-rated the supply (I have actually already bought the 15.2A supply!) hoping that it will last me basically forever. I sprung a bit extra and bought a commercial grade supply as well.

As far as whether the controller was a good choice for the X3, well I am getting the feeling that it may be a little underpowered, but that is not something I will know for sure until I start making chips. At least the power supply I bought should be good for 3 axes if I have to upgrade the controller...

Thanks for your input!

[MrWild]

Actually your PS is way over rated. You only need to multiply the 12A by ,66 due to the way drives chop the power. The supply you need is 12A x .66 = 7.922. Say 8 amps.

[aarongough]

Hey MrWild,
Well I would definitely rather it be over-rated than under I guess.

The PS only cost me $175 so I think I got a pretty good deal. Hopefully it will leave me some head-room for later upgrades!

Thanks for the info!