Tb6600?

[jtar40]

Hello!
I've had some discussion on what kind of a driver to get and I've been recommended several. It was the debate between the dq542ma, and digital drivers such as the am882 and EM806.
I must say, I've become a lot more educated on the analog and digital driver's. But I'm a highschool student and I can't spend much on a hobby (not yet at least). I hate to sound cheap but is there anything less expensive, and relatively good (meaning it works) for hobby purposes?
I've been looking at tb6600 drivers on eBay and they can get pretty cheap. I've even seen quite consistent good reviews on some.
I'd love to advance to try out the previously mentioned drivers in the future, but they are a bit expensive for me currently. I'm always open to suggestions though too.

( I'm using a 3 axis cnc router with 3amp nema 23's and I was going to buy a uc300eth with some breakout boards) let me know if there's any other info necessary and relevant.

Thanks so much!!!

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[Doddy]

So, it's a hobby. Why not buy a single driver and have a play on one axis on the machine - get to understand the driver and realise if it's suited to your needs. The benefit of the TB6600 (and similar) can only be price - so other replies will extoll the virtues of other drives, but you've listed cost as a key discriminator here. I have TB6600s, and I've modified them to make them work reliably. They do work, for me, for a hobby machine. I will replace them on my next machine as I update the PSU, but that's a different story.

Beware of misrepresentation - I've bought drivers claiming to be TB6600s (identified as 42V, 4A drivers) which were actually based on a Toshiba TB67S109AFTG chip - similar, but lower spec to the TB6600 - I had these working briefly but never reliably (lost steps, etc) - but I never investigated why.

You already have a machine?, so what are your replacing with the TB6600?

[jtar40]

So, it's a hobby. Why not buy a single driver and have a play on one axis on the machine - get to understand the driver and realise if it's suited to your needs. The benefit of the TB6600 (and similar) can only be price - so other replies will extoll the virtues of other drives, but you've listed cost as a key discriminator here. I have TB6600s, and I've modified them to make them work reliably. They do work, for me, for a hobby machine. I will replace them on my next machine as I update the PSU, but that's a different story.

Beware of misrepresentation - I've bought drivers claiming to be TB6600s (identified as 42V, 4A drivers) which were actually based on a Toshiba TB67S109AFTG chip - similar, but lower spec to the TB6600 - I had these working briefly but never reliably (lost steps, etc) - but I never investigated why.

You already have a machine?, so what are your replacing with the TB6600?

Yeah I already have a machine, my dad built it a while ago and it was working off a tb6560 but that got fried and our desktop computer doesn't work anymore for it's parallel port so now I'm going to be shifting to a uc300eth.

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[m_c]

The TB6600 chip is far superior to the older TB6560 chip, and addressed a lot of the problems that caused the 6560's to regularly die.

It is by no means a high performance stepper driver, but is more than adequate provided you're not chasing the ultimate performance.

[jtar40]

Huh, not a bad idea at all thanks!
May be a dumb question but, what really makes a cnc controller extra good/ " a good quality controller"? I know that many controllers have better microstep settings, ie) 1, 1/2, 1/8, 1/16 etc. But what else makes a controller superior to a simple cheap tb6560 or tb6600?


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[Ger21]

It's a drive, not a controller.

What makes a drive good?
Smoothness.
Anti Resonance.
Motor heating.
Stall detection.
Software configurable.

[routercnc]

Other features of better drives are the ability to run at higher voltage. The 542 is about 50V, tb6600 is 42V I believe, whereas the other drives you mention in post 1 are rated at 80V. This means more stepper torque and ability to run at a higher speed. So a much faster machine.

Also, and sort of related is the tendency to miss steps on the cheaper drivers because you are trying to get the most out of them. By way of example I had an all-in-one board (system3?) which was rated at 24V to 30V. I was advised by the supplier that it could be ran it 32V to squeeze more performance out. I had lots of missed steps and it took me a while (as I was just starting out) to realise why and dropping to less than 30V sorted it out. Of course I was then stuck with the performance it could offer.

I ran with this board for a few years and it did actually work and I could make parts. Would I buy another - not a chance. So you pays your money and takes your choice.

[m_c]

One thing I didn't mention in my previous post, was get individual drives. That way should one die, you only need to replace the one. Plus it means if you do decide to upgrade in future, you could do it one driver at a time as funds allow.


As Gerry says, there are a few things that make drivers better. Some of them more so than others.
The TBxxxx chips output is directly proportional to the settings and input pulses. Up to it's maximum speed, it's still outputting in microsteps, which although makes slow speed movement smoother, it reduces performance as speed increases due to the slower nature of the microstepping output.

Geckos/M542 type drivers introduced microstep morphing. What that means, is as speed increases, the output gradually changes from microstepping to full steps. This allows for smooth low speed operation, but high speed performance is improved. I know Geckos have a trim pot for adjusting the speed at which the morphing occurs, but I'm not sure if others do.

Then digital drives brought in things like anti-resonance and stall detection. Anti-resonance is essentially morphing but done dynamically by monitoring the current/voltage being applied to the motor. Stall detection is just an extension of that monitoring system.

[jtar40]

For anyone who has, had or knows anything about it, is there any specific break out board I should be getting with this uc300eth? I don't know much about them, I think they're generally the same but I'm not sure. How does it work with the software, interface and Bob? Are you able to set up individual pins on uccnc? Or do you need a specific break out board that is set up for the uccnc software outputs?

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[driftspin]

For anyone who has, had or knows anything about it, is there any specific break out board I should be getting with this uc300eth? I don't know much about them, I think they're generally the same but I'm not sure. How does it work with the software, interface and Bob? Are you able to set up individual pins on uccnc? Or do you need a specific break out board that is set up for the uccnc software outputs?

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Hi Jtar40,

the uc300eth is mach compatible and uccnc software key is available for a lot less.
Also checkout the bob UB1 from cncroom.com

Grtz Bert.



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