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[manofgresley]

I am new to this Forum and to CNC.

I am converting a HOBBYMAT BFE65 milling machine to CNC, i have got the gist of it now, only i am confused by the fact that you can buy 3 Stepper driver boards + a breakout board to control 3 Nema 23's , but you can also buy a All in One board to control the same.

My question is, "What are the Pro's & Con's of each system" and what do Forum members recommend.

Ray

[JAZZCNC]

Mostly the all in one's are low powered so limiting to motors sizes and limiting to speeds that can be had from motors. They also have the fact if something happens and the magic smoke appears then the whole machine stops with a big chance the complete board is scrap.

Using individual drives allows for a far more flexible set-up that you can better match to motors for best performance. It's also cheaper if something goes down.

Individual drives are far far better option IMO.

[Ricardoco]

I for one would only consider the all in one boards for lighter use on smaller projects, thats not to say they are no good, and i understand that some of the members have had good results, but driving them too hard is not good as they suffer from getting too hot,(I Know they can be modified for anyone who wishes to point this out), The cost of the all in 1 boards is the real reason they are so popular so the intended use should be the deciding factor. By all means try one but i suspect it will end up where mine has...... On the shelf in the workshop.

The seperate drivers are considerably more expensive but the extra cost is offset by the ability to drive them harder, they have better cooling (usually they have a considerable heatsink but not always) having seperate drivers and Breakout boards also means easier to diagnose and remedy hardware problems. I went down this road after trying the all in ones..

Thats my tupneys worth.. hope it helps

Rick

[manofgresley]

Hi

I will probably machining nothing tougher than Brass, and very small parts, and no production runs, purely for Hobbying.

Ray

[JAZZCNC]

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