Quote Originally Posted by irving2008 View Post
I am designing stepper drivers and trying to decide which chip to go for... I was thinking L297/L298 is cheap and cheerful for now.
I used the driver half of that with a 555 timer and dual comparator to chop it. Sight snag using their controller, you have to stop on the home position if you want to switch off and come back to it, you can't save the step pattern and location when you exit. It all worked okay until the mains voltage surge popped all three at once. Had to work a tad close to it's voltage limit to get any kind of speed.

I've heard glowing reports of Mach3 but I do like to be in control so I avoid commercial software as much as possible. If you write your own you can add features and fix bugs. My next software will be version 3, so I have some experience to draw on. Has to run under Windows XP and cut from an AutoCad dxf file. I want vast amounts of memory and the thought of 32 bit integers has become almost irresistable. The GUI is good to :D