[bubblefrog]

Hello, I'm thinking of building a "mini" and budget cnc router. I will route mostly pcbs and mabey some MDF or wood.

So i looked at ebay for steppers and drives, and a found a stepper motor that looks good (i don't know if it is) NEMA 23 Stepper Motor 12.6Kgcm 1.8Degre 4Leads 56mm 57BYGH56-401A | eBay


What should i use to drive these steppers or should i change steppers?

EDIT: I looked at this to drive the steppers http://www.ebay.com/itm/3A-TB6560-3-...ht_2324wt_1402

//Anton

[doorknob]

Some people have had success with those Chinese TB6560-based drivers, while others have had problems.

You might want to read the following thread to get some background that may help you to make a decision:

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/genera...y_chinese.html

The motor is probably OK for a small machine.

[ger21]

You can get a similar motor here for $10 less.
High-Torque Stepper Motor, Stepper Motor, Driver, Stepper Motor kit, DC Servo Motor, DC Servo Motor kit, Stepper Motor Power Supply, CNC Router, Spindle, and other Components. Automation Technology Inc

[aarggh]

If you value your sanity, for the love of God don't buy a TB6560 based board, based on the experience of many, many suckers here, me included, you will lose countless days in the vain hope of getting it working properly. And still end up buying a real controller, like a Gecko, Lini, etc.

I would probably liken real working TB6560's to winning the lottery! Although i'm not entirely sure one has ever been spotted in the wild.

A good controller is really an investment when you boild it down, it's the difference between having trouble achieving a decent basic job, and doing the same job easily, every time, exactly the same.

cheers,
Ian

[bubblefrog]

Thanks for the responses, i will not buy the TB6560

Is Automation Technology Inc. | Stepper Motors, Servo Motors, CNC Stepper Motors, Stepper Drivers, CNC Kits, Stepper Kits Automation Technology Inc a trusted website?

I think i will go for something like this driver New NEMA23 Stepper Motor CNC Driver 2M542 4.2A Controller | eBay

Does that driver look good?

[109jb]

Hi there. I see that you said you aren't going to use the TB6560 drivers, but I thought I would give you my experience and observations on them. I have them on my mill drill and they are working perfectly. I too read many of the posts about the problems people were having but I also noticed that all of theose problem reports were related to the multi-axis boards that have the integrated parallel port breakout board. I didn't go with that style board. I instead am using the single axis TB6560 based boards and a separate breakout board. My reasoning for going that direction was two-fold. First, I like having separate components because if one goes bad I can simply replace that one component instead on the whole thing being junk. Second, as I said, all of the problems I read about were with the multi-axis boards, so I figured maybe the single axis boards would have a different design that works better.

When I got my 3 boards I carefully examined them to see if they matched up with the datasheet specs for the TB6560 chip. They do, with one exception that I easily modified in about 5 minutes for each board. That problem concerns the power-up/power-down sequence. Like the multi-axis boards, the single axis boards use an on-board 5v regualtor to provide logic power, but that regulator gets power from the same power supply that provides power for the motor. So, as built, you can't control the power-up/power-down sequence. My easy fix was to simply clip the leads on the regualtor and provide the logic power separately form a 5V wall wart. Works like a charm. I did this to 2 of my 3 boards. I left the third one alone as an experiment. So far, all three are still working perfectly fine. I'll see if the un-modified board lasts longer or not.

The other problem that I read about related to the opto-couplers used on the multi-axis boards being slow and resulting in missed steps. The single axis boards use high speed opto-couplers that have better ratings than the ones used on the multi-axis boards. I didn't make any modifications to my single axis boards.

So far I have had the machine running for a few months now and I have hundreds of hours on the system since I have left it on overnight many times so I wouldn't lose position. I would also estimate that I have about 100 to 150 power-up/power-down cycles on it in that time period. No problems so far.

The motors I am running are NEMA 23 570 oz-in motors on X and Y that I am running at 24V, 3A, and an older round can 150 oz-in motor on the Z (soon to be replaced with another 570 oz-in). The motors run smooth and cool and I haven't detected any missed steps once getting thing tuned in. The X and Y motors really want to have about 50V and 5A, but the drivers are limiting. Even so, I can run the X and Y at 80 IPM rapids, but I have the whole system slowed down to 50 IPM max because of the little Z motor doesn't like to go faster than that.

Now before anyone starts blasting away, I am only reporting my experience and so far I have had good success with the single axis TB6560 drivers and for the price I'd do it again. I'm not saying they are the right choice for everyone, or that they are the best. There are certainly better drivers out there and the cost/risk assessment is up to you. For me it was worth the risk and the cost was unbeatable. My drivers were $15 each and the Chinese BOB I used was $12, my 24V switching power supply was $30, for a total of $87 for the control electronics. Those prices included shipping to my house.

My current mill is a round column and I recently bought a dovetail column mill that I am working on now when i can stand the heat we have been having in Illinois. I will initially have the TB6560's on that mill to, although I will probably end up with the Kelling drives on it at some point. For low-cost drivers they have worked so well that I will also use them when I convert my lathe. Sure they may fail, but if they do I won;t be out much money and I can always replace them with better quality drivers later if I want to.

Below are a tidbits. The picture shows one of my driver boards and the simple mod to use a separate 5V power supply for the logic power. The video is my mill running on the setup I described. This is just a demo on a scrap piece of aluminum showing a bearing pocket I milled.

CNC Harbor Freight Mill Drill milling a bearing pocket - YouTube

[109jb]

I forgot to add this. You asked if Automation Technologies was a reputable company. My answer is yes. I have only placed 2 orders with them, but in both cases the products were shipped out very quickly. Both times, I received my order in 2 business days from the time I placed the orders. I am only about 50 miles from them, so that has to be taken into account, but it still indicates that it took only one day for them to package and get the products shipped. One order was for 2 stepper motors, and the other order was for one stepper motor and some wire. Prices were very good compared to other places i checked. The only contact I have had with them was through their online order system, but I haven't had any problems. As for direct help or support I can't answer since I haven't needed this type of service, but I have read that they are good in that regard too.

[ger21]

Is Automation Technology Inc. | Stepper Motors, Servo Motors, CNC Stepper Motors, Stepper Drivers, CNC Kits, Stepper Kits Automation Technology Inc a trusted website?

Yes, a huge number of members here buy from them.

[aarggh]

Hi 109jb,

Everyones experience will be different no doubt, but quite a large percentage i've seen have had the standard kit you mentioned, which is the three (or four) individual drivers with the separate bob in the blue metal case, complete with the sort-of functioning E-stop that you probably hope you never need to really use.

Mine was this as well. The bob is powered by the USB cable, the supplied parallel cable is shielded at both ends (!), the mains earth lug is actually cut off, and the tabs of the driver chips are at case potential, so you have no proper mains earth input, with multiple earth paths to the PC, and digital and analog ground/earth connected to the case, and no noise immunity for the spindle or the PC. So apart from the use of an almost up to the task IC, the shoddy board design, lack of signal conditioning and isolation, and noise susceptibility, the controllers have the worst of almost every possible bad scenario!

I just gave up as I decided that even if I had finally got it working, I just couldn't trust it at all, and then there were the things I would deem absolutely required now such as the reasonance dampening and good idle current support the Gecko has, so at the end of the day, I decided it just wasn't worth me spending another minute or cent on it.

That's not to say it would be impossible to get working, but on the whole everything about it just stunk to me, and as per Murphy's Law, I'd always be worried sick it'd stuff up or miss steps at some critical point, that will ensure maximum possible damage to a part that would be the most dificult to repair.

With the Gecko, I don't even have that concern at all, and the motors run so much smoother, cooler, and more powerful than I could get to with the TB6560.

I'm glad you got yours working, maybe there's some truth to the post by Yoocnc that there are fakes? And you maybe have one of the better ones, although they all do look the same to me so I don't really know on that count?

cheers,
Ian

[bubblefrog]

Thanks for all the responses

I think I increse my budget a bit and buy real drivers, to be on the safe side