[gort]

I designed a STAND alone CNC DRIVER Test board.
No need for PC, Software, etc. Does BASIC checkout
of Driver electronics, stepper motor, etc.

I am using SOC-Robotics Bipolar driver cards (4) that plug into
an interface card that then connect to PC and Power supply.

I occasionally have to repair the driver card (replace the big
Motor Drive IC) and wanted an easy way to test the driver card/stepper motor
before risking the interface card/PC.

What I came up with is a small PC board with a 555 timer used as an astable vibrator
to generate the pulses, a regulator to drop the Motor voltage down to needed logic
voltage, plus can vary speed, Direction, test Reset and Enable, etc. Just the basics,
but quickly tells if driver card is doing the basic functions. I use a dedicated
24V supply (BIG) I had on my pile. WORKS GREAT.

Power switches allow logic power to be on before motor voltage is turned on.
Quick plug in of driver cards. Should work with many brands of drivers.

Schematic and photos attached.

GORT

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P.S. POWER TURN ON SEQUENCE
The Toshiba Driver ICs on the SOC-ROBOTICS Driver cards
require a specific sequence of power up of the logic supply and
stepper motor supply voltages.

Power-on Sequence
=================
Hold the control input pins Low (push down both RSTS and ENABLE)
while turning on VDD and VMA/B.
Turn on 5V VDD FIRST. Then, when the VDD voltage has stabilized,
turn on VMA/B (24V) (Stepper motor power switch). Once both
power voltage are on, release the RSTS and ENABLE buttons.

Reverse procedure to power down (that is, hold down buttons
while turning first 24V off then 5V off)

GORT

[gort]

IMPROVED Driver Board Test Circuit
=======================
When designing original, I did not realize that in SHERLINE mode,
Mach3 OVERRIDES the config setting for step pulse width (1 to 5 uSec)
with a 40 uSec pulse. I added a second 555 timer, and now The
TB6560 IC is now much happier.

See attached circuit. WORKS VERY WELL.

[gort]

IMPROVED again. Driver Board Test Circuit.
===================

Added LEDs to motor side of Driver card to monitor motor pulses.
Very useful for verifying all signals are being generated by driver.