542 Vs Geckodrive boards?

Splitting from another thread hijack...

Beginning to realise should have taken up powerboat racing as a cheaper hobby, is it just me or is CNC like a real ife game of snakes and ladders ;-)

After having eaten second TB6560 driver in less than month, on order from China anyone got another spare they`d be prepared to sell , paypal awaits?

Looking at medium term wedging doors open with these drivers and upgrading to something with longer life than a fire fly....

Remembering Jazzcnc`s wise words about drivers that are too small for the motors, the next set will only be driving the motors on a 3040 so litlle drives will do whilst credit card gets some breathing space, and the meglomaniac plans for larger unit to accomodate a larger machine bubble away in the background.

Choice of upgrade appears to between Chinese 542 drives and at marginally extra cost, Gecko drive 251, the 250 looks more of a pain to mount than the cost saving covers:

http://www.charter-controls.com/inde...b_y=0&offset=5

The advice of the panel would be gratefully recieved.

Thanks!

Cheers
Adam

What I'm about to propose may not be suitable for many, but for those with modest requirements & small(ish) machines, I'd say it's a much better alternative to the awful TB6560s.

i have an easy cnc 3 axis board....which is based on Allegro A3977 ICs (quite a decent IC) & it performs well - that said it's not particularly cheap. I recently needed a couple of axises (for a pickup winder), and noticed a bare bones A3977 driver boards can be bought for a good price...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/M100-singl...item35baa0386b (bearing in mind the A3977 itself costs about £6. That seller did me two boards for $32 delivered

Yes, if you're a mach3 user, you'll need a breakout board, but I'd imagine the results with these boards will be far better than a Tb6560 - also, A3977s are far easier obtainable than a 3 week wait from china.

If you've the dosh I'd say just go for any of the the 542 drivers that abound everywhere (eg http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/H-bridge-C...item4600f68e0f ), but if youre a bit strapped than my proposal above is a decent option.

I'd go for m542 or m752. Various sources show that the gecko's perform very well, however the 251 only accepts up to 3.5A and 50V, yet costs about 25% more than an m752, or equivalent which accepts 70V and 5.2A. Running the motors on 70V as opposed to 50V is likely to make a greater difference to torque than a better control algorithm (if indeed that is the case) in the gecko, plus both the m542 and m752 are rated for sufficient current to run 3nm motors in bipolar parallel. That makes it nice and future proof as it's very likely you'll use 3nm motors on the next bigger machine.

Adam

Before you run out and buy sherman tanks to drive what i expect to be adequate motors for your machine. Can you give us the details of your motors and table size, what screws you have etc? It will be better to give you an informed opinion against what you have rather than guessing? It is very easy to get carried away spending lots of money on things that are way over the top.

Adam has already said it's a CNC3040 machine, so yes m752 drivers would be excessive but since he's planning to make a bigger machine I think it's sensible to get the good drivers now instead of buying something mediocre now and spending more later. Unless of course the next machine is huge and needs something more than an m752 driver.

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Originally Posted by Jonathan

Adam has already said it's a CNC3040 machine,

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I'm currently playing with one of these 3040 machines and the back EMF from my nema34 could run these motors. . :rofl:

To be honest I'm quite surprised how strong these little machines are, Note I didn't say well built.!! Thou the electronics look barbage and the spindle is joke.!!


Epoz and Jonathan are both right really IMO. If you just want to get this machine running well then look at getting the cheapist but stable drives you can.! . . .OR . . . Look to the future like Jonathan suggest's. . . . Me I always look to the future and think spend a little more today and save lots down the line.

Oh and Gecko's rock in my world and the cheap chinese drives can't hold a candle to them. Fry one of them and see if the chinese vendor will replace free of charge.? even if it's your own fault.!!!

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Originally Posted by JAZZCNC

Fry one of them and see if the chinese vendor will replace free of charge.? even if it's your own fault.!!!

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I fried 12 of Marriss's 210's. Only to be told it was my motors, wiring, position of the moon etc.
Even though when it fried one an APC drive I had as a back up [ but was sloooow ] would go straight in and run ?

What really pissed me off was 2 years down the line, after switching to Leadshine's with absolutely no problems, Marriss posted on CNCZone " Does anyone remember the 210's that used to blow up on start up ?"

Oh how we laughed [ NOT ]

Christ knows how many Leadshines I have fitted, got to be in the high hundreds, and so far I'm 3 down, That looks good odds to me.

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Originally Posted by John S

I fried 12 of Marriss's 210's. Only to be told it was my motors, wiring, position of the moon etc.

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Well that was abit careless of you wasn't it John.!! . . . Should have been obvious you dropped crumbs into the pins of the first drive shorting the buggers which sent the moon into reverse so reversed the polarity and fried the rest. . :joker:


Yes I know you had your nose bent with these John but in the main you must admit Gecko's service on the whole is top notch and the drives are very good.

I got the first two or three replaced free but after that it was £125 a pop once duty was taking into account, so it cost me serious coin plus loads of down time on a commercial machine. So I cannot agree that their service is top notch.

I wouldn't piss on a Gecko if it was on fire, just not got enough piss :rofl:

The first Leadshines cost about £72 inc duty etc and these three are still on the machine from when I fitted them back in '05 or '06

I agree to this, i have sold over 8K M542 and must have had about 10-15 back, and i cant say they were manufactures defect either.
The M542 is a very robust little bugger.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by John S

I fried 12 of Marriss's 210's. Only to be told it was my motors, wiring, position of the moon etc.
Even though when it fried one an APC drive I had as a back up [ but was sloooow ] would go straight in and run ?

What really pissed me off was 2 years down the line, after switching to Leadshine's with absolutely no problems, Marriss posted on CNCZone " Does anyone remember the 210's that used to blow up on start up ?"

Oh how we laughed [ NOT ]

Christ knows how many Leadshines I have fitted, got to be in the high hundreds, and so far I'm 3 down, That looks good odds to me.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gary

I agree to this, i have sold over 8K M542 and must have had about 10-15 back, and i cant say they were manufactures defect either.
The M542 is a very robust little bugger.

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So when you having another discount weekend Gary I need some stuff soon.!!

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Originally Posted by John S

So I cannot agree that their service is top notch.

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OK well have to agree to disagree John.!

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Originally Posted by JAZZCNC

So when you having another discount weekend Gary I need some stuff soon.!!

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The 3nm stepper motors will have to be discounted a lot now they've increased in price to make them competitive. CNC4You is currently much cheaper.

Yes but once CNC4You gets new stock in then his will go up.
Believe me steppers are set for a BIG hike in price so buy now.

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Originally Posted by John S

Yes but once CNC4You gets new stock in then his will go up.
Believe me steppers are set for a BIG hike in price so buy now.

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Yep, that's why I just bought 4.

Only 4 ? :whistling:

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Originally Posted by John S

Only 4 ? :whistling:

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I just emailed them to change the order to 8! Reckon that's enough to breeding them?

Much appreciate the input guys, at moment have just got a few spare TBs and will solder them in as required...

As funds permit will move over to 542 drives, whatever the 3040 is likely to stay a self contained unit, a larger machine will have to get larger everything ;-)

Probably build cost as neodymium is guess why price of steppers is on the rise...

hi nooby here, still fummbleing with cam software etc.. i was also looking at going cheap. with the tb drives. was a full kit motors drives n psu for £135... but was told to stay clear and go with the 542s. and they arrived today.. they feel really solid with a bit of weight.. hope ive made the right descision..

To bring this subject back up... Di you think its worthed to buy M542 from ebay for some 38 usd?? Is there anythimg better in that price range?