Help With New Stepper Drive Setup

Hi guys. Been browsing around for a while trying to find some info ive been looking for. Heres my setup:

DTLLC 10A Unipolar Stepper Drive, running 12V bus voltage
3- 63KG-CM unipolar steppers, 8 wire, 6.6V, 3A/Phase
Mach 3
Fixed Gantry 3 axis mill, Live Z axis, counterweighted
Steel Frame, 1" Round Linear Slides
1.5" Ballscrews
Timing Belt Reduction Gears
24x24 working size


Finally got some answers I was looking for last night, about high bus voltage. Read that bus voltage should be 10-24x rated stepper voltage. So that puts me at about 70V minimum. I have some 60V supplies lying around, so ill probably start with them. I dont have a chopper drive board, so I need to run resistors for current limiting correct? Im sure I can find a calculator online. My DTLLC board has a huge sink and fans on the driver chips, and has ran 8A 12V for days and days before.

My original issue was with stepper speed, but running them at 12V no doubt they werent running at their full (or even close to) potential. The DTLLC chips are rated at 100V 25A.

Should I buy a set of chopper drivers? Keep the DTLLC board and run resistors? Any specific voltage I should run?

Main purpose of this machine is some aluminum milling with coolant, MDF cutting, and some engraving work in all sorts of materials.

Thanks a ton in advance. I can take some pictures if needed.

try gecko drives , you save lot of time needed to setup.

something like this? Is that power supply going to be enough amperage?

Gecko G540 Controller Current Version with 48V 7 3A Power Supply | eBay

exactly

Ill have to give it a try. I always hated having to cool limiting resistors.

The G540 is a great board. It has a maximum of 48vdc and a 3.5A per stepper. The Leadshine MX3660 allows a higher input voltage of around 52vdc but with 5A per stepper.

Not sure what you meant about cooling the resistors. However the G540 will require resistors too.

The resistors on the G540 are /sense/ resistors, not limit resistors. They shouldn't need cooling.

On the other hand, you also don't really need 60 or 70 volts. That's just crazy talk! LOL... Even really massive, fast moving, CNC machines shouldn't need more than 48 volts.

In any case, please take care to be very safe with the wiring... 60 volts will get past your skin resistance quite nicely, even without sweat, and if you manage to make a circuit across your heart, it will kill you dead right now.

Some ideas for power supplies here:
techref.massmind.org/techref/io/stepper/power.htm

Thanks for the info guys. Im trying to get the machine up and running on a tight budget, I spent all my funds on ball screws and rails. I bought a cheap 3 axis chopper driver set off ebay, and a 0-36V 0-15A power supply so I can tune for best voltage. Hopefully this gets me up and running for good. I cant believe ive been running two other machines on 12V with resistors for so long. No wonder my feed speeds had to be so low!!

James, on the cooling resistors, I was referring to the current control ones I had to use with my DTLLC board. Even running 50 Watt ones they would cook!