[nelZ]

I have a laptop connected to this TB6560 Chinese stepper driver board and a NEMA 17 both of which I got off Ebay.

When I power everything up, the LED's all light. I tried to move a motor but nothing happens. I'm pretty sure I have the motor wired right.

After 10 or 15 minutes the motor gets rather warm.

Any ideas as far as a quick start? Does this sound like something's bad?

Thanks !

[nelZ]

A little research and perhaps the steppers I have draw too few amps for the driver...sound correct? anyone? anyone?


Thanks!

[awerby]

I doubt that "too few amps" is really your problem. Is your board hooked up to something that's giving the motors a signal to move? Mach3 or something else? Does this laptop have a parallel port that runs in EPP mode?

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[nelZ]

It's really weird. I got it into EPP as you said but keep getting strange things like a motor will only run occasionally and only in one direction...the Z I mean. I have another motor on the X and it doesn't do anything at all.

[awerby]

It could be the laptop. Many of them, even if they have parallel ports, don't give enough voltage to the port to reliably operate a CNC machine under Mach3. Laptops in general aren't recommended for running Mach. See if you can scrounge up an old desktop computer with a parallel port and try that. If it still doesn't work, it's probably just another example of a bad TB6560 board - there's no shortage of people who have bought them and been disappointed, as you can see by entering it into this forum's search box.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[nelZ]

Thanks Andrew,

For S&%#'s and Giggles I'll try the other 6560 I have and compare the crap.

Nelson

[awerby]

The other one? I never heard of anybody who'd tried one of those things actually going out and buying another one...

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[nelZ]

So Andrew,

I looked at Gecko's website for a 3 axis board with a printer port interface (standard connector) and didn't see one.

Is there something similar to the 6560 but better out there?

Thanks,
Nelson

[awerby]

Get the g-540: G540 4-Axis Motor Control It has 4 axes, but you don't have to use all 4. You can use it for a rotary table when you get one, or keep it as a spare axis for troubleshooting. Most people who replace their TB6560s with this can't believe they're running the same machine.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[nelZ]

I did find Probotix who have 3's Have you heard of them, are they crap?

Nelson

[awerby]

I haven't tried them myself, but looking at their 3-axis kits, everything but the most expensive one ($600+) was limited to 24 volts. That's not going to drive most 23-frame steppers at their full potential speed. The G-540 includes a built-in breakout board, and is good to 50v.

Andrew Werby
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