[Willyb]

Hello Guys

Who makes the best Stepper Motor Controller for a Bench size Mill? I am in the market for a Stepper Controller and Motors for an upcoming Mill project and would like to hear your experiences with the various systems that are available. My system will consist of 3 – 250 oz.in. Nema 23 Stepper Motors and a Controller Board. Which is the easiest to setup? Which runs the smoothest? Fastest Rapids? Fastest machining? Coolest running? This should get some good feedback. Thanks for your thoughts.

Willy

[Greolt]

Wow best is a big ask. Lots of dollars.

However in the hobby price range Gecko's are hard to beat.

With the size motors you are looking at, perhaps look at Xylotex.

[jl123]

I would have to say Gecko.



Video...42MB

I had the Z tuned way down...don't remember why.

Can I ever run a tool that fast? Not with a 2krpm spindle...

[phantomcow2]

For hobbyists, Gecko is tough to beat. For motors of that size, there are some good drivers available. There are several good options below the 3amp mark. Past that, Gecko is really #1.

Best overall? Unconditional of price? you will need to look at some of these professional companies. Pasci stuff will not do you wrong

[Willyb]

Thanks Guys

I agree that Gecko's are the way to good for a Hobby Mill. They make nice stuff.

Jl23
(1) What is the biggest advantage of the GRex over using a Breakout Board?
(2) Is that a X3 Mill?
(3) What are your Rapids set at?

Looks good.

Thanks for the help.

Willy

[jl123]

1. Well I'd say you don't have to worry about a breakout board and any other problems that the parallel port can give you. The G100 does all the pulsing and handles all the I/O stuff. It is supposedly faster as well(better performance over parallel port). I've never played with using the parallel port as this is my first cnc conversion. Seems fast to me.

2. Yeah it's an X3 from grizzly.

3. The rapids were 100ipm I believe. The default roadrunner tool path in mach was ran at 200%. To give you an idea how fast the system is capable of. I was able to run a 300ipm rapid on the Z...not that I'd actually run that fast in a run but the hardware is capable of it.

[Greolt]

Just to follow on from what jl123 said about the Grex, look out for the ncPod.

It is just about to burst onto the scene. Fits in between LPT and Grex desirability wise.

Not much if any dearer than a BoB. Runs from USB and generates the pulses using Mach.

You will be hearing a bit about this in the next few weeks.

[BobWarfield]

I would have to say Gecko.



Video...42MB

I had the Z tuned way down...don't remember why.

Can I ever run a tool that fast? Not with a 2krpm spindle...

JL, your box looks strangely familiar to me:



Cheers!

BW

[jl123]

Yep looks like the same case. I got it off that guy on ebay that sells the transformers and prebuilt power supplies.

[dropride]

Do you have a link to that guys auctions?

[jl123]

http://stores.ebay.com/Antek-inc

There he is. Good guy.