Hello,

The stock driver board that I have is the Mechatronics 2.5A per channel model. The steppers are 1A NEMA 23, and I need a higher torque stepper on the X-axis, because of the mass and frictions involved in moving the 2" x 2' x 8' foam sheet.

I have a 2.3A NEMA 23 and even though it technically should have worked, I think there are inductive loads, and the fuse blew on the X-axis.

So, I need to get a higher current driver board, and I would like to hear your thoughts on this. Here are a couple of possibilities.

Here's a single channel board that is rated at 3A that might be used for the X-axis in "parallel" with the Y and Z on the Mechatronics: http://www.probotix.com/stepper_motor_drivers/ProboStep/

Here's a really high current single channel unit: http://www.probotix.com/index.php?view=product&path=15&product_id=129

And here's a 3.5A 3-channel board (that has a nice feature of connector plugs): http://www.dhgate.com/3-axis-cnc-step-motor-driver-board-controller/p-ff808081283858910128431a03206c76.html

Are there other good options? I notice that the Probotix site has several kits that include one (or two) heavy duty motor.

 

I remember the discussion we had about that board, Mark. I ended up buying the EasyCNC board after reading the bad reviews. On the CNC Zone there is a thread about making your own boards. That's where I heard about that chip first. Now that they are coming from China it's less expensive to buy them finished than to buy the parts. I may give it a second look if it's true that the problems were caused by the users not setting it up correctly.

 

Twist my arm -- okay!! That board looks to be fairly robust -- the built in fan control is good, and as I said, I really like the plugs, too.

By the way, the 10A Easy-CNC board is no longer in production, apparently.

 

I went to the probotix unipolar driver boards. You have to switch to there USB CNC board that supplies power to the chopper boards. You keep your original pin chip with the license to put in there cnc usb board. They gave me a $60 trade in on the CNC USB that came with the PP3. All together it's about $160. It was well worth it. All my problems went away. I am running the drivers at 2.0 amps driving a 24 X 48" 1" foam board with no problems. I don't doubt it would have no problems driving a 2" board. There customer support is great and they will tell you exactly what you need to get up and running.

I have tried the TB 6560. I couldn't get it to interface with the CNC USB software. I think it only works with Mach 3.

 

TB6560 works fine with Planet CNC USB Controller.
But pinout is different than EasyCNC and DB25 adapter can not be used (needs to be rewired).

 

@dhc8guru,

Are you still using the same steppers that came with your pp 3?
I would like to get a little more torque out of my x and y axis if possible.

Thanks in advance for your help.

GHB

 

thunder hawk, I use on the x and the y axis higher torque stepper. Look around. Mine is about 260oz/in and cost about $35 shipped. I bought it long time ago of ebay. MPJA.com may have some. I still use the easy cnc board with my higher torque stepper.

 

Thank you for that info. I think my x and y axis motors might be a little weak for the kind of projects
I have been working on. I work a lot with acrylic, and I think it causes the motors to stall or miss steps.
However, when I use my pp for cutting foam it runs spot on accurate.

Mark if you ever have the time to design a 2 x 4 foot flat bed CNC router I'd be glad
to buy one.

Thanks again TigerPilot for your input.
George

 

Mark & Trish,

Is there any progress on the driver board? Is it the same model mentioned by Kroko, that requires a different pinout connection on the parallel port?

 

Thanks -- I'm looking forward to trying. I am using a laptop with a parallel port -- will that work better than the CNC-USB board as the interface? I don't have either of those programs, so hopefully the CNC-USB board works.

 

Yep still using the stock PP stepper motors.

 

Mark & Trish,

I received the board yesterday, and I noticed that the DIP switches are all on. Is this set up for the same steps as the stock board? I will swap it out and put in the stronger stepper motor, soon.

 

Okay, thanks! The little CD doesn't have anything? I have to wait until Monday to be able to look at it -- all the computers in the house have slot loaded optical drives, so the mini CD's don't work...

I found a wiki page on the board:

http://reprap.org/wiki/4_Axis_TB6560_CNC_Stepper_Motor_Driver_Board_Controller

Where is a FAQ on the CNC-USB program?

 

I second that, but with a vacuum table! oke: