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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Posts
    6

    how do i slave motors together without mach 3

    i have a 3 axis tb6560 board and 4 nema 23 stepper motors with a 24 volt power supply, I know its not practical, but im hoping it will work. i need 2 stepper motors to run the x axis, how would i go about hooking up the a-,a+,b-,b+ of two stepper motors to one port. one of the motors have to run the oppsite direction of the other. any help would be nice

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Posts
    783

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    8082
    From a purely mechanical standpoint, if you are using ACME lead screws you can use a right hand thread on one side and a left hand thread lead screw on the other side of your machine and the steppers can run in the same rotational direction. Left and right hand thread ACME screws are available from McMaster-Carr.

    There has been discussions of how to connect two steppers to one driver on CNC Zone in the past but I don't recall seeing anyone do it successfully. Using the right search terms in the forum search box may find some useful information. It isn't as simple as paralleling the motor wires on the same terminals. Most low cost drivers would not have output circuits that can survive it. It will be best to use a 4th TB6560 driver.
    CarveOne
    http://www.carveonecncwoodcraft.com

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Posts
    108
    The only time they run in opposite directions is with a rack and pinion. I'm not sure why he would need them to run in opposite directions with screws unless it's one wacked out design...

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    8082
    Quote Originally Posted by BuckNaked31 View Post
    The only time they run in opposite directions is with a rack and pinion. I'm not sure why he would need them to run in opposite directions with screws unless it's one wacked out design...
    I have one of each type machine. You're right, I don't reverse one motor with the dual lead screw machine. That's because the two screws are directly driven from the end of the screws. They need to turn in the same direction and both screws have to be right hand, or both be left hand screws.
    CarveOne
    http://www.carveonecncwoodcraft.com

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Posts
    119
    To change direction of a bipolar motor, switch the leads of 1 of the coils

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Posts
    27
    A lot of people may not agree with this but I had a 4 axis board that I blew one of the driver chips on (my fault). My large router has 2 X axis steppers so I landed both motors on the same driver chip. Works fine, been running this way for 2 years. My board is a tb6560 base board also.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Posts
    204
    i'm not sure how doubling up the steppers on one driver is going to cause any problems so long as you don't overload the driver by requiring more current than it can provide. paralleling two steppers just reduces the input impedance by half.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Posts
    18
    I sucessfully did this by treating them as separate axis's and slaving the input (step, direction) together. Slaving the outputs to the motors together didn't work at all, they stuttered and got out of sync, skewing the axis- very messy.

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