[crimar]

Hello!

GOnna build my first CNC but wich kit should i choose? Nema23 with DM542A or TB6560.

TB6560 seems more simple, but does it come with a cost?

[jckstrthmghty]

Neither. Save yourself a world of fustration and pickup a gecko g540. Might seem expensive at first but if you want a reliable well working control system for the years to come this is the cheapest route.

[crimar]

Neither. Save yourself a world of fustration and pickup a gecko g540. Might seem expensive at first but if you want a reliable well working control system for the years to come this is the cheapest route.

That wasent realy my question :/ As a poor student you have to work with what you have, and thats my situation right now

One of my sugestions must be decent and can be swapped with a Gecko later

[nlancaster]

Save a little longer and get the gecko now.

Seriously those things are bullet proof, and the support is first rate.

And with no links, how expensive are those kits?

[rpe]

I bought one of the TB6560 boards and I never could get it to work they are junk. My second board was a Hobbycnc board kit that I had to solder together It worked like a charm. Now I have a G540 that I haven't hooked up yet. I also had Shapoko cnc machine witch used a UNO board (cheap but it does work. Special software is required will not work with mach3).

My advice is stay away from TB6560 board. If you think you must spend your money on a controller right now try a Hobbycnc board. But my vote is for the G540.

[dmalicky]

Anything but a TB6560. I don't know the DM542A.
If you don't mind soldering: the THB6064 kit designed by Lucas. http://www.cnczone.com/forums/open_s..._design-2.html
For pre-built, the Haoyu TB6600 is far better than a TB6560. http://www.cnczone.com/forums/steppe...yu_tb6600.html

[wizard]

That wasent realy my question :/ As a poor student you have to work with what you have, and thats my situation right now

Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet!! For the little extra the Gecko costs you could find a job for the holidays. Beyond that there are all sorts of other low cost boards out there that are likely less problems than that TB6560. The TB6560 is well known for its issues.

One of my sugestions must be decent and can be swapped with a Gecko later

I'm not going to dismiss the issue of money so you might look at what Pololu has, or SparkFun. These and others have single chip "driver" for smaller motors. I can't say for sure if any of them are suitable for CNC work as I've never used any of them. You also would need a parallel port of some type. The low cost would come with the expectation that you would be doing a considerable amount of engineering yourself. Further depending on what you want to build they may not have the power capability that you needs. So to put it simply shop around.

[louieatienza]

The DM542 is an excellent stepper drive; I've used it myself and am very impressed with its features and performance. The G540 is also a great drive, as well as being self-contained 4-axis, with its own breakout board. The DM542 however allows microstepping, use of higher-current steppers, has an integrated heatsink, and in my unscientific tests actually outperformed the G540. The G540 however is proven, rock-solid reliability, and excellent customer support.

There are many threads here where folks have run in to problems with the TB6560. That's not to say the chips themselves are bad; they are not. They're usually just not implemented well by some of the "fly-by-night" CNC vendors. There are some good TB6560 based drives out there however.

[dmalicky]

Louie, Great info, thanks. Do you have the Leadshine DM542? I see the DM542A is made by Longs Motor... a bit less $ but not sure how it compares. 3Axis NEMA 23 Stepper Motor Driver DM542A 4 2A 18 50VDC 128MICSTEPS CNC New | eBay

[louieatienza]

Louie, Great info, thanks. Do you have the Leadshine DM542? I see the DM542A is made by Longs Motor... a bit less $ but not sure how it compares. 3Axis NEMA 23 Stepper Motor Driver DM542A 4 2A 18 50VDC 128MICSTEPS CNC New | eBay

Welcome. I believe the Longs Motor drives are re-branded Leadshine drives, like the Kelings. The casing and screw terminals look identical, though who knows what's under the hood? I can't prove that for sure, and for peace-of-mind, I bought the Leadshine branded drives as they're only a couple dollars more.

[kmyerslp]

I have the DM542A'S for my diy mdf build and they have been great.

Sent from my HTCONE

[elfrench]

I got a kit similar to this ( ?US Free SHIP?4Axis NEMA 23 Stepper Motor 425oz 3 0A Length Driver CNC Router | eBay) but only 3 axis and dual shafts. No problems so far.

[r00t4rd3d]

For all the crap the TB6560 gets, Ive had mine since day one. Its paid for itself, my machine, has never had one issue and has made me a small pile of cash. I was running it the other day and it was -9F outside and 17F in my garage. If I could go back in time and redo my CNC world, the TB6560 would be one of the very few original parts I ordered that would be purchased again.