TB6560 vs 5 axis BOB with CW-5045

I have read all the horror stories regarding mysterious smoke generators and understand people do not like the all in one boards, but I have used many without any problem.

This morning talking to a colleague about the weekend I told him about my CNC mill conversion and he produced a 5 axis BOB and 3 x CW-5045 Drivers from his desk that had been taking up space for some time, price FREE. So my question is, are there any advantages to swapping my TB6560 that is working perfectly for the BOB and seperate drivers not including the fact that people do not like them, I mean any genuine gain or improvement to be gained from doing so?

From my investigations after hearing the horror stories on the forums I only came up with the circuit protection on the seperate drivers, for any one connecting stepper motors incorrectly would save them from taking out an onboard driver and scrapping the board if they were not able to remove and fit a new chip. Probably why these boards have such a bad press around the forums quite easy for the unsuspecting to do when starting out without RTFI.

If your board is working and you're happy with the speed/acceleration you're getting then there is no real reason to do so. However the CW-5045 can be driven with twice the voltage (less some for back EMF from the steppers) and therefore you'll get much better speed out of them (plus they'll run the stepper smoother) meaning faster machining times etc. etc...

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
If you ever do have an axis driver or BOB problem though that's the time to swap over, if you have some spare time it might be worth creating a new profile in your control software for the new kit and getting it configured and working, there's nothing like having backup,

- Nick

Impossible question to answer because what you think is fine performance could be complete rubbish to others.? How do we know how well your machine performs.?

I've seen this many many times when I've helped people. I'll go to help with some completely unrelated issue and the minute I see or hear the machine work I know it has problems but the users are blissfully unaware and think it's working perfectly fine.

knowing the TB based stuff I suspect you'll see large improvement if run correctly.