Hi,

I'm interested to know what your thoughts are if Geckodrive should
produce an inexpensive, board-level drive. Target specs are:

1) 3A per phase, 50VDC max. Discrete all n-channel MOSFETs.
2) 10 microsteps per step, CPLD design.
3) No midband resonance compensation, no morphing.
4) No trimpot crossover adjust.
5) Audibly silent design (not a chopper, same PWM as a G203V).
6) No plate, no can, no nice connectors. Just a board and header.
7) No opto-isolator.
8) No heatsinking needed. Everything is surface-mount.
9) No protection circuitry.
10) Target price: $29 single quantity.

This proposed drive would be a derivative of the G203V stripped of all expensive items and many features in order to fit it into a $0.99 CPLD. It would still be a dual all n-channel full-bridge design using 20A rated discrete MOSFETs. Not a fragile monolithic IC design.

The idea is to make a bottom-price yet quality and rugged step motor drive. The "bang for the buck" equation works out to:

3A times 50VDC divided by $29 equals 5.17 as the value number. Try this equation on other drives. The bigger the number, the better the value.

Mariss