Controlling 6 stepper motors and 2 spindles on a budget

[Boyan Silyavski]

Better use your chance, call Dean and dont do it the American way.

[freddi]

Thanks guys.

We have chosen the nema 34 motors and they have suitable drivers and power supplies for them in order for them to be safe and suitable. We are still questioning whether to use arduino uno, arduino mega or uno with the stacking of cnc shields.

There are 6 steppers. We want the motors in the z axis to run independently from the motors in x,y axis. We are planning on using Mach3 to do this as we are aware of this software has the ability to perform 6 axis cnc programmes.

The question now is as I have mentioned before we are on a budget, is it best to run the spindles and steppers with an arduino mega or an uno with the stacking of 3 axis cnc shields? Or are there any other micro controllers that you guys are aware of that might be cheaper or more suitable for purpose

Thank you