Stepper drivers and breakout board

[Desertboy]

My router is being built with arduino electronics with 24v at moment but I would like to upgrade them to get the full potential out of my router.

I'm a little confused on the electronics that I need I was thinking of buying 3 of these
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Used-AM882H-Leadshine-Stepper-Motor-Driver-80V-8-2A-with-Sensorless-Detection-/221844783674?hash=item33a6fac23a:g:rpAAAOSwe-FVAS~f

And a dirt cheap breakout board
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-Axis-CNC-Breakout-Board-W-Optical-Coupler-For-Stepper-Motor-Driver-MACH3-New-/152165749435?epid=507310688&hash=item236dc912bb:g:35EAAOSw7s5Xhe2P

Would this be enough to connect to linuxcnc/mach 3

I would run 1 driver with 2 motors (Y) and 1 driver with 1 motor (X, my gantry) at 48v with a 12amp+ power supply (My nemas are under 3amps) then the Z axis with the final driver at 24v for now.

Or the other choice buy 3 AM882's one for each motor and then run the Z axis with a TB6600.

My Z axis motor is only 2 amps.

[Clive S]

My router is being built with arduino electronics with 24v at moment but I would like to upgrade them to get the full potential out of my router.

I'm a little confused on the electronics that I need I was thinking of buying 3 of these
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Used-AM882H-Leadshine-Stepper-Motor-Driver-80V-8-2A-with-Sensorless-Detection-/221844783674?hash=item33a6fac23a:g:rpAAAOSwe-FVAS~f

And a dirt cheap breakout board
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-Axis-CNC-Breakout-Board-W-Optical-Coupler-For-Stepper-Motor-Driver-MACH3-New-/152165749435?epid=507310688&hash=item236dc912bb:g:35EAAOSw7s5Xhe2P

Would this be enough to connect to linuxcnc/mach 3

I would run 1 driver with 2 motors (Y) and 1 driver with 1 motor (X, my gantry) at 48v with a 12amp+ power supply (My nemas are under 3amps) then the Z axis with the final driver at 24v for now.

Or the other choice buy 3 AM882's one for each motor and then run the Z axis with a TB6600.

OK First a good choice on the drives but it is a bad idea to connect 2 motors to one drive. Forget the TB6600 and run all the drives from 68V power supply. The bob will limit your speed but will work.

You can buy NEW here £53 https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Leadshine-AM882-Stepper-Drive-Stepping-Motor-Driver-80V-8-2A-with-Sensorless-Detection/32326084871.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.53.1b6joj&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_3_10152_10 065_10151_10130_10068_10209_10192_10190_10307_1030 1_10137_10303_10060_10155_10154_5370011_10056_1005 5_10054_10059_100031_10099_5400020_10103_10102_541 0015_5430015_10052_10053_10142_10107_10050_10051_5 380020_5390020_10084_10083_10080_10082_10081_10110 _10111_10112_10113_10114_10179_10312_10313_10184_1 0078_10079_10210_10073_5420015,searchweb201603_1,p pcSwitch_5&btsid=cad37018-6861-419e-b175-a2bc424fc9ac&algo_expid=4150ffb4-9e5d-49b0-b691-0ba0dbf2bbff-7&algo_pvid=4150ffb4-9e5d-49b0-b691-0ba0dbf2bbff

[Desertboy]

I have the 48v and 24v power supplies already so would reuse them for now have to make budget choices lol but hear you on upgrading the power supply. Think will need to leave it a month then and buy 4 new steppers, cheap ass breakout board it's a throw away price so upgrading later won't be as painful. The router will have to slum it with the arduino for a bit will be interesting to compare the difference. Although the Arduino is not going to be as good I'm interested to see what the real world cut difference is on the same router.

Maybe I should wire them to a switch so I can flip between the 2 controllers easily that would be geekish but pointless ;)

The arduino and CNC shield can actually drive the AM882 if wired correctly.

[Clive S]

I have the 48v and 24v power supplies already so would reuse them for now have to make budget choices lol but hear you on upgrading the power supply. Think will need to leave it a month then and buy 4 new steppers, cheap ass breakout board it's a throw away price so upgrading later won't be as painful. The router will have to slum it with the arduino for a bit will be interesting to compare the difference. Although the Arduino is not going to be as good I'm interested to see what the real world cut difference is on the same router.

Maybe I should wire them to a switch so I can flip between the 2 controllers easily that would be geekish but pointless ;)

The arduino and CNC shield can actually drive the AM882 if wired correctly.

If you use linuxcnc or Mach3 you won't need the arduino

[Desertboy]

If you use linuxcnc or Mach3 you won't need the arduino

Hi yeah I know it needs a pc with a parallel port (Or Ethernet with correct controller), I mean I need to wait a month to afford the drivers if I buy 4 new ones so until I get them which will be 6 weeks I guess so I'll to use the arduino Uno and cncshield when It's assembled. I'm hoping we will be seeing movement in the next week or so. Might as well play with it and make some simple stuff whilst waiting for the better electronics.

When I get the AM882's going to cram them into my mini tower case with my old motherboard will be loads of room not actually tried it but the power supplies look like they were made to fit into the drive cadle. If I wanted to be snazzy I could solder the parallel ports pins internally to a connector to keep everything internal but not going to happen ha ha ha.

[Desertboy]

Hi quick question if I wanted to use Ethernet instead of parallel would this replace the breakout board?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-4-Aixs-200KHz-Ethernet-Mach3-Card-NVEM-Motion-Interface-Controller-for-CNC-/282018702228?hash=item41a99fe394:g:ko8AAOSwgZ1XvEF Y

[Neale]

I'm a bit confused about whether you are going to drive the machine from Arduino or a PC. Is the plan to start with Arduino and move to PC (Mach3 or LinuxCNC) later?

Anyway, if you are using the Arduino, you don't need a breakout board. The Arduino output pins will drive the stepper drivers (AM882 or whatever) directly. I've used an Arduino with a terminal strip "shield" running grbl with a TB6600 with just wires between them. Driving an AM882 is just the same.

With a PC, you need a breakout board. The simplest ones are little more than terminal blocks which split the set of connections in the parallel connector to separate terminals for easier connecting. There will probably be some simple electronics (opto-isolators) as well to provide a bit of protection between the PC and the stepper drivers but in essence, the BOB is a fancy terminal block.

If you use Ethernet, this device will only work with (probably) Mach3 and needs driver software added to mach3 to take the signals that would have gone to the parallel port and convert them into Ethernet data in some proprietary format for that specific Ethernet "BOB". Even if you have an Ethernet shield for your Arduino, it will not talk to that Ethernet BOB - but there's no particular reason to use it as you can connect directly (as above) and the reasons why you might go to Ethernet using Mach3/PC don't really apply.

[Desertboy]

I'm a bit confused about whether you are going to drive the machine from Arduino or a PC. Is the plan to start with Arduino and move to PC (Mach3 or LinuxCNC) later?

Anyway, if you are using the Arduino, you don't need a breakout board. The Arduino output pins will drive the stepper drivers (AM882 or whatever) directly. I've used an Arduino with a terminal strip "shield" running grbl with a TB6600 with just wires between them. Driving an AM882 is just the same.

With a PC, you need a breakout board. The simplest ones are little more than terminal blocks which split the set of connections in the parallel connector to separate terminals for easier connecting. There will probably be some simple electronics (opto-isolators) as well to provide a bit of protection between the PC and the stepper drivers but in essence, the BOB is a fancy terminal block.

If you use Ethernet, this device will only work with (probably) Mach3 and needs driver software added to mach3 to take the signals that would have gone to the parallel port and convert them into Ethernet data in some proprietary format for that specific Ethernet "BOB". Even if you have an Ethernet shield for your Arduino, it will not talk to that Ethernet BOB - but there's no particular reason to use it as you can connect directly (as above) and the reasons why you might go to Ethernet using Mach3/PC don't really apply.


Hi I want to drive this from Linuxcnc or Mach 3 eventually but I can't quite afford the steppers this month to finish this but I do have an arduino, cnc shield, Poulou drivers & 24v power supply so I can make it move for now.

Just not to it's true potential.

Thanks for explaining the BOB sort of like an arduino sheild