Help choosing drivers

[sambo2]

Thanks Clive. Out of interest, what pulley ratio are you using with those steppers?

I've not decided yet. I've read PP can be better for Mach which I will be using, I'd need to get a PP card for my pc but they seem cheap enough on ebay. I'm also on 64 bit but I can load a 32 bit OS if needed. This looks the cheapest way as the PP break out boards are less than a motion controller.
On the flip side, are there any reasonably priced motion controllers? Things like the smooth stepper seem to cost a fortune.

[JAZZCNC]

I've not decided yet. I've read PP can be better for Mach which I will be using,

Well who ever wrote that is talking rubbish or more likely they never used an external motion controller. Night and Day difference between them.

If you want cheap but good External controller then Pokeys 57cnc is great little board and uses Ethernet which is much better than USB. To be fair most of the current main stream lower end motion controllers like Pokeys, UC100 or UC300, Pmdx 411 are ok and far better than PP.

Regards the drives then don't be afraid of buying AM882 from China I've bought 100's and not had one faulty or problem.

If you go with Nema 34 larger than 6Nm then go with High voltage mains drives.