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Hi,
My first post here
So I am building my first CNC and I understand that the G540 is one of the best driver out there but it is way over my budget
I am thinking to buy soc-robotics MK4cp, is it better then the chinese TB6560 Driver Board Controller?
Or is there any other recommendation? for under 100$ stepper drivers
Thank you!
That MK4cp board might be better but it uses the same TB6560 chip and I don't see that they use the proper powerup sequence for the chip.
I wouldn't use it.
The THB6064 is much better and has proven it's reliability: 4Amp/phase at 40V.
If you can handle a soldering iron:
http://users.skynet.be/ldt/CNC%20ele...THB6064AH.html
or
THB6064 MassMind Stepper Motor Driver Kit
Depending on the resolution that you require, that is, if you can afford half stepping at most, you can use a PC based "toy" like the one in the included image. The chips are ULN2803A for the X & Y axes and a ULN2003A for the Z axis. In my ¨toy¨ I use half of a LM358 to sync with each zero of the full wave rectifier used in the power supply. To isolate the pulsed component from the rectified and filtered D.C. voltage I use a third diode. With this signal and the 2N2222 transistor that can be seen in the image I implement a speed control to be used with either DC or universal motors.
Note: this latter control requires assembly language and knowledge of interrupt control on the PC.
Attachment 181351
The ULN chips are directly driven from the LPT port on a PC. The standard addressed are 888 for 8 bits output, 889 for 5 bits input and finally 890 for 4 bits output. Bit <5> is normally available internally only and it is used to turn port 888 into inputs but it is not needed here.
The next image shows the pin configuration of a standard LPT or parallel port.
Attachment 181352
It is possible to write a program in plain BASIC running under DOS (I recommend FreeDOS) to drive this motors.
While the shown motors might look too small, which in fact they are (salvaged from old floppy disk drives), to perform real work let me say that I have used this very configuration to drive bigger motors. The trick is to use optoisolators to driver the higher power stages.
After all this, you might reconsider the "low cost" version. The part count and direct cost is little but the effort of writing the software and building the power stages could easily discourage most people.
In any case, if you still decide on going this way, let me know. I already have some software (written in BASIC as I mentioned) including a language (a subset of the language I use for my professional retrofits) that makes programming toolpaths a lot easier.
The next image shows the screen of that program adapted for a small mill.
Attachment 181358
I hope this can help you.