My experience with stepper drivers is limited to the tiddly little Pololu single-chip low-power drivers that my 3D printer uses to drive Nema17 motors, and the M752 (to be replaced soon by EM806) drivers used on my CNC router. I'm now working with a small group on a joint project that will probably need something in the middle, maybe driving Nema17 motors but with a bit more current than needed for the 3D printer, or maybe a size up from that. The obvious choice (and keeping the costs down) seems to be a Chinese TBA6600-based or similar device. I'm guessing at the moment that something like a 24V supply would be enough but there are still a number of question marks about the hardware design. I am also a bit worried about the reputation of these eBay-sourced drivers and the poor sealing of the magic smoke containers they include.

Does anyone have any recommendations for something that is worth considering? I am looking at the software we are going to be using, probably something like Raspberry Pi driving an Arduino-based grbl controller, and I am going to need something to build a testbed for the software mods that will be required, hence need for a driver before we have all the other design details hammered out.

Thanks,