Any USB/Ethernet controller suggestions?

[Desertboy]

By any chance is there a specific digital driver you may recommend? I just see so many options it's quite hard to know what may be reliable.

(-I'm not sure if I mentioned it before but if it's relevant, I have 3 nema 23 stepper motors running off 3 amps and I was thinking of getting a uc300eth as the interface, I didn't really put much thought into the breakout board yet because I've been told it can be quite general for the simple 3axis cnc router machine I'm looking for making.)

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You can't go wrong with AM882's
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Leadshine...n/282651392228

Or EM806 (Which seem functionally identical to AM882)
https://www.zappautomation.co.uk/ele...ion/em806.html

I have AM882's very happy with them.

I think you're better off spending the money on decent digital drivers and a cheap BOB than cheap drivers but expensive controller. It's cheaper to upgrade the BOB than the drivers and gets you working ASAP.

[A_Camera]

You can't go wrong with AM882's
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Leadshine...n/282651392228

Or EM806 (Which seem functionally identical to AM882)
https://www.zappautomation.co.uk/ele...ion/em806.html

I have AM882's very happy with them.

I think you're better off spending the money on decent digital drivers and a cheap BOB than cheap drivers but expensive controller. It's cheaper to upgrade the BOB than the drivers and gets you working ASAP.

What would be the point of buying 8A drivers to run 3A motors with? "Better" is a relative... is it 4-5 times better than the DQ542MA? It MUST be 4-5 times better to motivate the price difference, but I doubt that. Sure, with unlimited budget, no question about it, but I still doubt there is ANY benefit at all to use 8A drivers to run 3A motors. Also, the UC300ETH is not an "expensive" controller at all, quite the opposite, but again, even "expensive" is very relative.

Also, the OP asked about reliable recommendations, not just eBay guessing. It is pretty easy to list a bunch of expensive parts and claim they are "better" without describing what they are better at and why or how. Of course, very few really KNOWS because very few people actually tried many different drivers, controllers, bobs in all kind of combinations.

[magicniner]

What would be the point of buying 8A drivers to run 3A motors with?

I must have missed the actual motor spec, all I saw was that they were running off 3A, I have a set of NEMA 23 steppers that are rated 4.2A :D

[Desertboy]

What would be the point of buying 8A drivers to run 3A motors with? "Better" is a relative... is it 4-5 times better than the DQ542MA? It MUST be 4-5 times better to motivate the price difference, but I doubt that. Sure, with unlimited budget, no question about it, but I still doubt there is ANY benefit at all to use 8A drivers to run 3A motors. Also, the UC300ETH is not an "expensive" controller at all, quite the opposite, but again, even "expensive" is very relative.

Also, the OP asked about reliable recommendations, not just eBay guessing. It is pretty easy to list a bunch of expensive parts and claim they are "better" without describing what they are better at and why or how. Of course, very few really KNOWS because very few people actually tried many different drivers, controllers, bobs in all kind of combinations.

If you want to upgrade the controller and spent $5 on a BOB then you are out of pocket $5, if you want to upgrade the drivers you are out of pocket £120 for 4

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cnc-4-2A-...MAAOxyni9TFCPq

To me spend the cash on the AM882's for stall protection and use a cheap BOB then upgrade the electronics later when budget allows.

A cheap BOB is also compatible with mach 3 and linuxcnc so you can try both before locking yourself into a vendor without trying the software out.

It's basically double the cost for AM882's and then the extra cost for supplying 70v instead of 48v, you'll see most of us with 80v drivers make a PSU with transformer, rectifier and capacitors which adds another £70 making 4*AM882, PSU and BOB £320 which is to me the minimum spec for building a new router.

With a cheap PP BOB and a reasonable latency PC if you set microsteps to 8 (Or even 2 on slow PC) you'll get good enough performance to run at max speed on any home machine.

[Ger21]

You could get EM503's, which are 50V and 4.2A, but AM882's are cheaper. I've payed as little as $58 for AM882's.

[A_Camera]

If you want to upgrade the controller and spent $5 on a BOB then you are out of pocket $5, if you want to upgrade the drivers you are out of pocket £120 for 4

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cnc-4-2A-...MAAOxyni9TFCPq

To me spend the cash on the AM882's for stall protection and use a cheap BOB then upgrade the electronics later when budget allows.

A cheap BOB is also compatible with mach 3 and linuxcnc so you can try both before locking yourself into a vendor without trying the software out.

It's basically double the cost for AM882's and then the extra cost for supplying 70v instead of 48v, you'll see most of us with 80v drivers make a PSU with transformer, rectifier and capacitors which adds another £70 making 4*AM882, PSU and BOB £320 which is to me the minimum spec for building a new router.

With a cheap PP BOB and a reasonable latency PC if you set microsteps to 8 (Or even 2 on slow PC) you'll get good enough performance to run at max speed on any home machine.

I still don't understand what the benefit would be in using 8A drivers with 3A motors. In my opinion that's overkill. Also, if I would spend that much on the driver I would NOT buy a cheap BOB. I understand that the AM882 has stall protection, but come on... is it really a huge issue? After all, stall is a cause of wrong use or configuration. Also, why not the DM542T? It is more of a realistic match for the 3A motors than the AM882 and is much cheaper. Yes, the AM882 is 80V while the DM542T is only 50V, but again, if a machine is well built you will hit the speed limit anyway, even with the 50V drivers.

[m_c]

I still don't understand what the benefit would be in using 8A drivers with 3A motors. In my opinion that's overkill. Also, if I would spend that much on the driver I would NOT buy a cheap BOB. I understand that the AM882 has stall protection, but come on... is it really a huge issue? After all, stall is a cause of wrong use or configuration. Also, why not the DM542T? It is more of a realistic match for the 3A motors than the AM882 and is much cheaper. Yes, the AM882 is 80V while the DM542T is only 50V, but again, if a machine is well built you will hit the speed limit anyway, even with the 50V drivers.

Current and voltage has little to do with the reason.
DM/Q drives are older technology.
AM/EM drives are the latest technology, with the benefits of auto-tuning and anti-resonance. Both of which mean the drives have much better performance for any given power supply or motor. Stall detection is just an additional feature, which on dual motor axes, can greatly limit racking damage should a stall occur, and can also stop things on single motor axes, should something go wrong. You've got to remember, it's not just over tuning that can cause stalling, crashes can as well.

[A_Camera]

Current and voltage has little to do with the reason.
DM/Q drives are older technology.
AM/EM drives are the latest technology, with the benefits of auto-tuning and anti-resonance. Both of which mean the drives have much better performance for any given power supply or motor. Stall detection is just an additional feature, which on dual motor axes, can greatly limit racking damage should a stall occur, and can also stop things on single motor axes, should something go wrong. You've got to remember, it's not just over tuning that can cause stalling, crashes can as well.

That is not entirely right. While the DM542T is not the absolutely latest and greatest, it is actually a 2017 product and is in production (by Stepperonline), while the AM882 is obsolete, but still sold, and is advised NOT to be used in new products. At least if we look at what Leadshine is saying about their products. The DM and DQ drivers are not the same, as far as I know, DM is original Leadshine, DQ is fake copy and Leadshine still makes the DM driver. The latest is the EM-S, which probably will replace the DM drivers one day. The DM542E is made by Leadshine and is from 2016 and is in production, the AM product line is no longer in production.

http://www.leadshineusa.com/product-...stepper-drives

[m_c]

That is not entirely right. While the DM542T is not the absolutely latest and greatest, it is actually a 2017 product and is in production (by Stepperonline), while the AM882 is obsolete, but still sold, and is advised NOT to be used in new products.

That just shows how little you actually understand about the drives and the technology in them.
The DM542 is using technology that must now be well over 20 year old now, just like Gecko are still using in most of their stepper drives. The only real change to the designs has been to use modern components, but the basics of operation are still the same as 20 years ago. It's just smaller components are used.

AM drives, although officially obsolete within Europe (they were superseded by the EM series), are still an active product produced by Leadshine. They use far newer technology, and monitor how the motor is reacting to the voltage/current applied to it, which is how they implement anti-resonance, auto-tuning, and stall detection. DM/DQ drives do not have that technology in them, regardless of when they were made.