Have existing stepper motors but want to replace control board with integral drivers.

[Gerald_D]

Hi Guys

Total first time poster here..........

We have a mechanically solid 3 axis router out here in Cape Town, South Africa, with 2 motors on the x-axis, one on each end of the gantry. The motors are Oriental Motor Vexta Step type PK299-01AA frame size 3.35" or 85mm with 2 Amp rated current and they are good. The DC power supply, a Mean Well SP-300-48 +48V/6.25A is also good.

However, the router manufacturer supplied their own proprietary soft(firm)ware and control board with integral drivers. We are blowing a driver every few months or so (not due to operating errors - vague reasons given) and paying $200 a time (with shipping) with a week's loss of production is not funny anymore. Being far away from sophisticated suppliers, we need to dump that control board and look at a new set of electrics that is known to be very reliable.

From reading around the web, it looks as if 4x Gecko's are the way to go. Would you guys agree? If so, which Gecko will match my existing motors and power supply? (I could increase the power supply size/voltage if necessary).

And I suppose that Mach2/3 is the other obvious thing to do?

[Gerald_D]

My thread title is a bit confusing I think now - sorry, but English is not my first language. My current control board has integral drivers type IM481H and I would prefer to dump that board (with its proprietary firmware) and go for discrete drivers (with Mach2/3).

Would a Gecko 201 be more reliable than the IM481H? Is my thinking correct for having a system that I can self-maintain here at the end of Africa?

[ger21]

If you can wait a month or so, get the G204, which should be just about bulletproof.

[Gerald_D]

Thanks for the post Gerry. Have looked for info about the G204 and found almost nothing - was there a press release somewhere?

Something just struck me; is my assumption correct that the Geckodrives are repairable? I mean, my impression was that I could change individual components on those driver modules, or send them back to the company for repair. But, it would appear that nobody is talking about repair on any forum. If they going to cost $120 per "pop", then I might as well stay with the IM driver situation.

My own soldering skills are not bad, and there certainly are guys in Cape Town who can professionally replace components on all styles of boards. Maybe I would be better off using a system based around standard Allegro, SGS-Thomson, etc. chips?