budget diy cnc controller question

[irving2008]

hi , i would like to build a cnc in the future but before i do i would prefer to gain some experience using mach 3 so i am building a cnc using floppy and c.d motors.the motors are 5 v . i don't know what type of hardware i need so if anybody has any suggestions or previous experiences i would like to hear from you . do i need a break out board ? what type ? any info would be greatly appreciated.

thanks in advance,

PaulRo.

You would do well to start your own thread, it would get more attention.

But to answer your question, floppy and CD steppers are often odd types, like 5-phase, rather than the standard 2-phase used in most cnc work. Also they have very little torque so unless your machine is just a toy don't expect to be doing much cnc'ing. Short answer is, without knowing what steppers you have its impossible to say what drivers would suit, but most off-the-shelf drivers would be expensive overkill. You will need some form of breakout board, suggest you look at a cheap one for now, e.g Upgraded 5 Axis Cnc Breakout Board For Microstep Controller + Cables + Software | eBay which includes the parallel cable...