Yes another one. When I was looking I could only find Paul's and he was just starting so the more the merrier.
I was waffling between the three boards and going DIY. I love electronics (I should as a EE) and building my own stuff. As I read more and more about these drivers I realized it was very close to some robotics projects I did back in college. Namely PWM H-bridge driver chips from Allegromicro. Long storey short, it was cheaper to buy a kit that order all the individual parts. So now it was down to HobbyCNC or Xylotex.
I went with HobbyCNC based on threads I read on eZone, here, and other threads. It would have been easier if I could have browsed the support forum first, and been able to guage the support after the sale, which by my account is superb. Dave answers every question with a straight forward, no-BS response. I like that.
Ok, I ordered my board and a stepper motor on Sunday and it arrived Wednesday. I recieved two emails from HobbyCNC, one saying it would go out on Sunday, and another telling me it shipped. When it got here, my wife "hid" it from me as we had errands to run and she knew I'd want to jump into building it. I started at 10:45PM
but had read the instruction sheets prior to that while babysitting my boy.
First thing I did was seperate the parts into piles of same parts. Then step by step I stuffed and soldered the components as instructed. All you have to do is pay attention to the silkscreen numbers and stuff the very well documented part where it belongs. I have designed PCB's so the numbering and layout are very familar to me. I took my time because there was no rush and if you don't you make mistakes
The only issue I have is that I'm missing a resistor for the 5-volt regulator circuit for the logic. I wasn't thinking of all my options, except I did go through my personal inventory of resistors to find it, and I fired an email to Dave for a replacement. I went to bed, but Dave must be a night owl as I had an email the next morning at 4AM! Does he ever sleep! I plan to go by the local Shack to see if they have the one I need, but just to let you know Dave is sending a replacement anyway.
Stay tuned for the rest of the build and some tips. One comment I have about my order is the 80oz-in stepper I bought too. The thing is much bigger than I had imagined. Thank goodness I only ordered 80oz-in, the 200oz-in must be huge. I'll use this one to power the lead screw I'm adding to my lathe (Taig) and a smaller surplus one I already have for the cross slide (and mabe the milling attachment).
Jay