Quote Originally Posted by universally View Post
hi all im back again, might seem a bit dumb of me but what would be the best way to get the 5v supply to the breakout board and drivers, i currently have a 5v supply from usb split to 1 b/board and 3 stepper drivers, would this be ok or can u recommend a better way. also i have done a basic mach setup and trial and all i can get the motors to do is turn about half a turn a min evan if i turn up all the velocity etc, im guessing i have done something wrong, please help
Whilst I think that splitting the USB output to the BOB and drivers should be OK, when I did that on my machine I measured around 4V out of the USB which seemed a bit low. So to give it all the best chance of working I found a 5V supply on one of the cables in the PC (check some of the spare white molex plugs coming out of the power supply with a voltmeter to find one) and made up a lead to the BoB and drivers.

The other way to do it if you don't mind a bit of mains wiring is to use a switched mode power supply like this inside your control box:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mean-Well-...#ht_5621wt_986

As for the speed post a picture of the stepper and driver wiring - sounds like something is not right there. Unless you are in 'step mode' in Mach3? Press the tab key and look at the settings for the MPG -should be 'constant'. For reasons I have never got to the bottom of my Mach3 always starts in 'step' mode and I have to change it to 'constant'.