[SeaEnSea]

Hi everyone,

I'm relatively new to cnc machines. I've built one (larger) functional machine previously but decided I wanted to try build my own from old dvd/floppy drives, using a different cheaper controller board. I'm having trouble wiring up the drivers to the controller board. If anyone could help me I'd really appreciate it. Here's where I'm at:



I've bought a very cheap 5 axis controller board (shown in pic below) and want to connect up some L298N drivers to it. I cannot get the stepper motors to work at all even though I know they are functional. I'm sure I'm just overlooking something really simple but just can't work out what.

I want to use mach3 ultimately. I have already set-up mach3 according to the manual for my board, so I'm pretty sure it's just a wiring I have an issue with. My parallel port is working fine and it's set to the right port setting.

I've searched the web many times but come up empty. Is there something wrong with using L298N drivers for running small 5v stepper motors in this way? The specs show they should be fine for such a small cnc machine.

These are the things I'm trying to connect:

5 axis cnc mach 3 board
L298N driver board
5v 4-wire stepper motor

These are the boards and various connections (click for larger image):



I've wired it up differently so many times with no success I'm very frustrated. I'm sure I've connected the actual stepper to the L298N driver correctly and have supplied the board with 5v. However I don't know how the In1, In2, In3, In4 connections connect to the 5 axis controller board. I believe two of the signal wires need 5v but I've no idea if something else needs enabling. I'm at a total loss.

If more details are needed just let me know.

Can anyone please help me with the wiring?

[SeaEnSea]

Seems I made a mistake with the wiring for power to the stepper motor. Have now attached to 12v on the driver like the pic shows below:



So the stepper motor gets power and has holding torque as it should when powered up, but I still can't get any movement from it. Any ideas please folks?

[ger21]

Do you have the right port address in Mach3? Are you using a PC with a 32bit OS?

[SeaEnSea]

Thanks for the reply. Yes I have the right address and yes I'm running 32bit so Mach3 can work.

[SeaEnSea]

Have changed it back to 5v as 12v was too much for such a little motor. I still can't figure out the L298N wiring to the controller board though. Maybe I've posted this in the wrong section on here.

To sum up... I've got power to the stepper motor which gives it holding torque, it just won't move at all with any step commands. I still don't know how to connect the 5v pin, CLK pin, CW pin and EN pin to the L298N In1, In2, In3 and In4 pins.

Someone must have used these common boards together in the past surely, they're some of the most common ones sold on ebay.

[Toinvd]

This can't work.
The output of your breakout board gives for each axis two signals. 1st Step 2nd Direction
Direction can be High or Low and changes the direction of the motor
Step gives one puls for each step of the motor. The driver board should accept these signals.
The L298 board wants In1, In2, In3 and In4 and each of these inputs will drive the corresponding output high or low.
so you need 4 signals to drive this in the good order. That needs some more logic
Have a look at a DRV8825, or the older A4988 that will accept input from your breakout board ( do a search and you will find these rather cheap )
Read the available documentation from the internet to understand how they work
Good luck Toin.

[SeaEnSea]

Thank you Toin, I will look for more info on those devices.

[helpmeout]

Have a look at your board that has ENABLE on it should it be at either 5volts or grounded,check that out if I remember if that is not Enabled you could have every thing else hooked up correctly but with ENABLED not grounded or at the correct voltage there aint nothing moving...