[wolfbain5]

I can't seem to find decent setup paperwork for this board and the paperwork I got was in chinese unfortunately. it is similar to 3 Axis TB6560 CNC Stepper Motor Driver Board 0 5A 3 5A Peak with Aluminum Box | eBay but unfortunately I did not purchase from this person so I also did not get the cd.

problem is I cant seem to get it to "talk" to my motors. its got power, leds come on. I have the lpt plugged in, the x,y,z plugged in, and the power. nothing else, not sure what the other connections are for or if they are mandatory.

I am a little mentally challenged since my stroke, it has taken me a year to get this far, any help would be appreciated on breaking down what I need to know to use this controller with 3 bipolar nema 23's.

windows 7, 32bit
16 gigs ram
8 core proc
pci lpt port
using mach 3 demo and rhino demo

[James Newton]

Write it off as a learning experience and buy a decent driver. NOT a 6560. ANYTHING but a 6560.

[wolfbain5]

what would be a decent low cost driver for the not electrically talented? opinions vary, and this had the most hits... unfortunately

[James Newton]

That depends on the size of the load you need to move and how fast you need to move it. This page can help you figure out how many watts you need, and then convert that into volts and amps.
techref.massmind.org/techref/io/stepper/estimate.htm

Once you have that, you can pick out a power supply and drivers that are strong enough for your need and as low cost as possible.

I like the THB6064AH drivers as replacements for the TB6560's.

[wolfbain5]

well, got the lpt pci working, motors lock, cant get them to spin tho. found the pins for red board, blue board, but what about the green board? the paper that came with it isnt working.

[aarggh]

Honestly, these boards really are crap. You could spend forever trying to get it to work more than half-decently. But if your determined then the pinout should be similar to the other ones, A-/A+, B-/B+, etc. If the motors aren't spinning, then swap the stepper cables over till they do, you won't damage the steppers by having the wrong phases hooked up, but DO NOT plug/unplug under load or powered up as you'll kill the drivers.

The other issue if you can get it going, is the low power these boards supply to the steppers, and depending on the inductance of the ones you have you may struggle to get any sort of performance out it. If you can afford it then almost anything else is an improvement over these boards. And i'm not Chinese bashing, I love my cheap Chinese stuff, but these boards are just garbage as I found out the hard way.

cheers, Ian

[wolfbain5]

suggestions on an inexpensive 5 axis controller, for Nema 23's. on a fixed income, trying to do this to make a lil extra money, maybe start a small, hobby/business

[aarggh]

suggestions on an inexpensive 5 axis controller, for Nema 23's. on a fixed income, trying to do this to make a lil extra money, maybe start a small, hobby/business

An inexpensive 5 axis controller??

Firstly, I've got to ask, do you have a 5 axis machine you are just trying to hook up a controller to? Or are you planning on buying/building a 5 axis machine? I ask because if a known good quality 3 axis controller takes the price well out of range, a 5 axis one will take it well out of the stratosphere to impliment.

The links James provided below should be the first place to start from I would suggest. I'd also say if you actually hope to make any sort of money from it, let alone something to regularly suppliment your existing financial station, then these TB6560 boards (and the crappy PSU's they invariably come with) are generally the biggest waste of time and money you'll find. Invariably most people who buy these and spend months trying to get them to work, end up buying from scratch again.

But again, a 5 axis machine is what I would consider far above the usual hobbyist small business level.

cheers, Ian

[wolfbain5]

5 axis is a work up to, 3 axis is what I have built, motors connected, just the damn controller. most of what I am finding outside of 6560's are 2 or 4 axis. from what I have read 3 axis doesn't do undercuts, its all top down, and to get me started it will work fine short term. was told and read that 5 axis can do full 3d where 3 can do more like 2.5d.

I have a small niche market, and some customers lined up. I just need this damn thing working. the ones on amazon I am afraid to try, $11 for a 5 axis controller seems like a lie. I bought a separate power supply 24v 5 amp. wired and tested. it was inexpensive and if I can fill my first 2 orders I can upgrade it, then the board for something better.

I know that I do not sound at all that knowledgeable, but I do have the desire to go forward with it. not so sure about this green board, and am willing to blow up to 150 to get a new driver for it. I can scrape that together in a month or 2 <disabled and disability checks don't go far>. this isn't a poor me thing, this is me getting off my ass and trying to do something about it.

The router is a small thing, mdf and a dremel. cheap, but for what I am making to start with it can get the job done. will upgrade as I progress.

edit: motor specs
hold torque 1.26
amps dc 2.8
phase resist .9
v cd 2.5
inductance 2.5
rotor inertia 300gcm3

[cstmwrks]

Honestly, these boards really are crap. You could spend forever trying to get it to work more than half-decently. But if your determined then the pinout should be similar to the other ones, A-/A+, B-/B+, etc. If the motors aren't spinning, then swap the stepper cables over till they do, you won't damage the steppers by having the wrong phases hooked up, but DO NOT plug/unplug under load or powered up as you'll kill the drivers.

The other issue if you can get it going, is the low power these boards supply to the steppers, and depending on the inductance of the ones you have you may struggle to get any sort of performance out it. If you can afford it then almost anything else is an improvement over these boards. And i'm not Chinese bashing, I love my cheap Chinese stuff, but these boards are just garbage as I found out the hard way.

cheers, Ian

Have you used any of the TB6600? Better driver, or does an engineer still cry every time some one buys those as well? This past few months has been my first exposure to chinese cnc stuff. So far only issue was with one pulse controller out of 7 purchased.

[James Newton]

Have you used any of the TB6600? Better driver, or does an engineer still cry every time some one buys those as well? This past few months has been my first exposure to chinese cnc stuff. So far only issue was with one pulse controller out of 7 purchased.

The TB6600 isn't a horrible chip... but it is very sensitive to the construction of the driver around it. E.g. if the person who designed the PCB is good, and the components used to support the chip are the right value and quality, THEN it will work pretty well. On the other hand, there are a lot of really cheap implementations of the 6600 that don't work well. For that reason, I don't recommend it.

The THB6064AH is a lot harder to screw up. Internal vs external power down when resting. Better over temp and over current protection. And so on. Of course... that assumes its a real THB6064AH... they make bad knock offs of everything.

Learn to solder or invest in a gecko-drive.

[cstmwrks]

Learn to solder or invest in a gecko-drive.

How does the DM860A rate with you?

I have Gecko drives in my CNC machine, a CNCRP PRO kit. Everything works very smooth. Delving into Chinese stuff has been a case of learn the hard way on stuff that does not break the bank. Be interesting to see if I get 10000 hours from those TB6560's.

[James Newton]

How does the DM860A rate with you?

I haven't looked at those.

I have Gecko drives in my CNC machine, a CNCRP PRO kit. Everything works very smooth. Delving into Chinese stuff has been a case of learn the hard way on stuff that does not break the bank. Be interesting to see if I get 10000 hours from those TB6560's.

You might. You might not. What /kills/ me about those is that they randomly fail... usually AFTER the eBay return/comment period has expired. So from a marketing perspective, they are brilliant... for the people selling them... and PURE EVIL for us! LOL.

So... why not learn to solder? hint, hint.

[cstmwrks]

You might. You might not. What /kills/ me about those is that they randomly fail... usually AFTER the eBay return/comment period has expired. So from a marketing perspective, they are brilliant... for the people selling them... and PURE EVIL for us! LOL.

So... why not learn to solder? hint, hint.

I knew going into it that it was taking a chance. $7.00 for a driver shipped to me... I could not even return it for that price. Makes the warranty worthless. I bought spares as back up. I figure if I get a lemon now and then it is just the price you pay for going so insanely cheep. Only time will tell.

As for soldering.. I've made my own PCB's and fiddled with the odd analog project or two. What are you hinting at? Make my own driver?

[James Newton]

:cough: I sell THB6064AH driver kits.

techref.piclist.com/techref/ecomprice.asp?p=416074

Very well designed, very good components, very repairable ($10 chip replacement). Half the price of a Geckodrive. However, they are more expensive (by far) than anything from China, and do require that you solder the kit together.

And I know that destroys my credibility in recommending the THB6064AH drivers in general, but I really do think it's a great chip, no matter where you get the driver. Some of the THB6064AH drivers from China use poor quality support components and may use knock off chips, but the design is far better than the TB6560 or 6600 in any case.

[cstmwrks]

Well if my cheapo chinese 6560's start dropping like flies I'll give yours a try.

[aarggh]

Have you used any of the TB6600? Better driver, or does an engineer still cry every time some one buys those as well? This past few months has been my first exposure to chinese cnc stuff. So far only issue was with one pulse controller out of 7 purchased.

No I haven't, the TB 6560 crap I got and battled with for three months to try and just get working reliably put me off once I started really analysing the circuit to figure out why it was so bad, and then when I hit the forums and found hundreds of people with the same bunch of issues, I went straight to a G540, what a difference! Life is too short to spend on TB6560 crap I reckon. If I didn't go with a G540, I would have looked at the 6064 stuff from James, he really knows his stuff. Good luck to anyone who can get it going after a fashion, but they are still a crap chip, and I haven't seen a single board design using them yet that wasn't deficient in the earthing, or noise and/or voltage isolation.

And that's apart from the fact you're generally stuck with a much lower PSU voltage than what is optimal for the steppers supplied with these machines. At 45-48VDC your much closer to getting the full torque and performance out of the steppers, at 24VDC as most of these boards are, nowhere near it, especially under load.

I like to think of TB6560 boards as "kinda work boards", in the same way a dead watch is still correct twice a day.

cheers, Ian

[cstmwrks]

No I haven't, the TB 6560 crap I got and battled with for three months to try and just get working reliably

Well there was no way I was down for so much as a 3 day fight let alone 3 months. Just from what little I could glean from the eBay ads I had what I wanted to do pretty well mapped out.

And that's apart from the fact you're generally stuck with a much lower PSU voltage than what is optimal for the steppers supplied with these machines. At 45-48VDC your much closer to getting the full torque and performance out of the steppers, at 24VDC as most of these boards are, nowhere near it, especially under load.

For my application I guess it was not an issue. My NEMA 23's were 3 volt, 2amp 125 in oz motors. Everything runs from a 12 volt supply. They don't do CNC work. They run at a low RPM with a need for a very small window of RPM adjustment.
This was a first test with a pololu A4988 driver. Works way better than the AC gear motor it replaced.

I like to think of TB6560 boards as "kinda work boards", in the same way a dead watch is still correct twice a day.

cheers, Ian

OK.. that was good for a chuckle.. I was thinking of making a little CNC laser with the 6560's just to see how well it would work. Don't know how long ago you messed with them but either they have gotten a little better or I just got lucky ( so far ) !

[wolfbain5]

as to the learn to solder jibe, can't, I shake too much with my epilepsy.

and I think I phrased pin set up wrong. In mach 3 there is a pin/ports. I mean the pin set up there. which is x, y, or z. the motor lay out I know.

[cstmwrks]

as to the learn to solder jibe, can't, I shake too much with my epilepsy.

and I think I phrased pin set up wrong. In mach 3 there is a pin/ports. I mean the pin set up there. which is x, y, or z. the motor lay out I know.

I've never done the MACH3 set up from scratch as most everything on mine was pre set in a file for the machine I had. Still, from what I gather the pin / ports are not pre set. YOU assign them.
Go to the CNCRP web site and look at there documentation on there NEMA 23 / 34 electronics kit and you may get a better understanding. You might even get away with downloading one of there set up files. It wont be 100% correct as you will have to change gear drive values, but you will be tweaking a set up rather than totally starting from scratch. Just a thought.

As for the soldering, you may be able to find a high school electronics kid that could put them together for pocket change.