[Mike4703]

I am using the new G251X drive. These are good low priced alternative to imported drives. They are $69 each in small quantities. They are good for steppers rated at 3.5 amps/phase or less. They are not plug and play though. They require mounting, heat sinking, and optoisolation, but that's what DIY cnc hobbyists want. I was surprised that there was not a thread already started on this drive. I am already using them in a project in a thread here titled "Interfacing MO-CON501 controller/Little blue box."

[ger21]

Everybody usually uses The G540, which has 4 of them, and additional features, for less money than they cost individually.

[Mike4703]

Definitely better to buy the G540 as long as you are going the standard route of interfacing with a parallel port but for instance I am interfacing with DSP controller with it's own interface board--maybe I will wish I just went ahead and bought separate G203V or one of the others but I'm glad Gecko made the G251X available so that the technical sophistication and quality of these drives is available for DIY projects at a price competitive with imported stuff. Anyone with experience in interfacing and protecting these drives please post, but I'm thinking that everything you need to know is here in these forums. Just need to know how to apply it. I will post a schematic when I'm done if all turns out well.