best stepper driver???????

**dudz** · 24-03-2013

Are there no reliable "all in ones" ?... It just seems alot of accessories just for one job.

I can solder and repair boards at a push, but I'd rather just plug it into my pc/cnc , turn it on, and use it without all the whistles and bells. Maybe I am just lazy ?

**John S** · 24-03-2013

Only all in 1 is the Gecko 540

G540 4-Axis Motor Control

Unfortunately what with taxes etc it doesn't come cheap
Gecko will not sell direct to you as they have a UK agent, Charter controls who's web site is down at the moment.
You can but off Ebay.com for about £190 plus £30 shipping but expect to get hit for about £40 duty on top of this.

You can connect a lot of wires for this price plus if it does go wrong you are faced with shipping it back etc.

Separate units are far better

**dudz** · 24-03-2013

The "all in one" that I had was fine for about 3 months. We have power surges here every week and I think this is what fryed it.http://www.easy-cnc.com/3axisdriver.html

The one that you mentioned.... Is it likely to go wrong if wired correctly ?

I was going to buy this one ; CNC Router DIY Kit 5 Axis Breakout Board + 3x M542H Stepper Motor Driver 1A-4.5A | eBay

If it is compatible with my motors and PSU. Seems simple enough, and in cases

**John S** · 24-03-2013

Originally Posted by dudz

I was going to buy this one ; CNC Router DIY Kit 5 Axis Breakout Board + 3x M542H Stepper Motor Driver 1A-4.5A | eBay

If it is compatible with my motors and PSU. Seems simple enough, and in cases

You are just buying what I posted to but you are prepared to pay £149.82 for it.

However if you buy three of the drivers i linked to [ which are exactly the same ] for £24.76 = £ 74.28 and this breakout board and lead

Upgraded 5 Axis CNC Breakout Board Stepper Motor Driver + 5V USB Cable + Mach3 | eBay

Look familiar ?

For £10.99 you will have spent £85.27 to get the same thing.

However if you insist on spending more then send me £140 and I'll bung 3 drivers, a lead and the breakout board in the post first thing tomorrow.

I don't mind and you get to save £9.82

**Lee Roberts** · 24-03-2013

John i have a question for you if you will.

A member who i dont think is around anymore once said to me that, if a motor is rated at 3a per phase that you only need to make an allowance for this of about 50% because the motor is unlikely to ever require its full amps rating, I think he did say its posable but you would have to be seriously working the motor for that and its just not likely.

Is that true?, also dose a motor draw more current when its doing rapids vs when the machine is cutting into stuff or dose it draw a steady amount consistently through all operations?

Thanks.

**John S** · 24-03-2013

Lee the accepted figure is 2/3 for a parallel wired motor and 1/3 for a series wired motor.
These are figures that Marriss Fremanis at gecko drive came up with and are repeated as law.

So a 3a motor in parallel take 2a and 1a in series.

However I have had clamp ammeters fitted to power supply leads and running a system under rapids and loads i have never seen these figures, they have always been far less.

In fact in many cases the figures have been very small, far smaller than I would have imagined so the 50% is a far more acceptable figure.

One machine I used to convert I used 650 VA transformers at 50 volt AC, in a cost cutting exercise, due to rising copper costs, I dropped to 500 VA and saw no difference, a drop to 400VA still didn't make a difference but going to 330 VA did,

So the drop from 650 VA to 400 VA halved the transformer cost.

**dudz** · 24-03-2013

Is there any benifit from having a USB instead of Parallel port ? ...I found this 3 Axis CNC USB Card Mach3 200KHz Breakout Board Interface Speed: 48M Win 7 | eBay
I know it is more expense, but is it better quality ? and are there benifits ?

**John S** · 24-03-2013

Originally Posted by dudz

Is there any benifit from parallel port or USB...I found this 3 Axis CNC USB Card Mach3 200KHz Breakout Board Interface Speed: 48M Win 7 | eBay
I know it is more expense, but is it better quality ? and are there benifits ?

Not a lot to choose. More expensive and no better than a decent PP card but has the option of being able to use laptops and any USB interfaced computer.

There is an argument that PP port equiped computers are dying out, it is true but there are still 1,000's about for not much money that the argument isn't valid.
I buy Dell DX260 in bulk.

No mine but this is how they are offered, cost about £20 each with an XP license on them.

However we are trialling a couple of the USB boards, first one will be later this month and I expect that the price will drop.
The one shown is from a different company that the ones that developed them,

**dudz** · 25-03-2013

Ok.... I bought 3 of these , CNC Micro-Stepping Stepper Motor Driver 2M542 Bi-polar 2phase 4.2A Switch | eBay and I bought this ; 3 axis CNC USB Card Mach3 Breakout Board Interface 200KHz windows2000/xp/vista | eBay
I could of bought the cheap one but I really like the idea of using the USB instead of the PP port. I will let you know how I get on. Thanks both of you for all of your help.

**JoeHarris** · 25-03-2013

Originally Posted by John S

Not a lot to choose. More expensive and no better than a decent PP card but has the option of being able to use laptops and any USB interfaced computer.

There is an argument that PP port equiped computers are dying out, it is true but there are still 1,000's about for not much money that the argument isn't valid.
I buy Dell DX260 in bulk.

No mine but this is how they are offered, cost about £20 each with an XP license on them.

However we are trialling a couple of the USB boards, first one will be later this month and I expect that the price will drop.
The one shown is from a different company that the ones that developed them,

John,

I have a couple of old laptops laying about is there any downside in using them? or should I be investing in a cheap old dell?!