Controller, Good or Bad

[thuffner3]

http://www.stepper3.com/98.htm

I'm looking at this controller for my next machine.
Is it worth purchasing?

TIA
Neil

[balsaman]

Nice, but for that money you can get 3 gecko 201's, which are good for up to 80 volts. This board is good for up to 30 volts.

Gecko's don't have the inputs and outputs this board has mind you.

E

[ger21]

Actually Eric, if you read the manual it will handle up to 60V for the motors. The 30V is to power the board (18V to 30V). The problem with this board (besides the price) is that it doesn't microstep. Anyone who switches from unipolar full/half step drivers to bipolar microstepping drivers will tell you how much smoother your motors will run. Just look around here Virtually all the larger homebuilt machines you see here use Gecko's. There must be a reason for that. If it's a smaller machine, than you can maybe get away with the Xylotex. There are large numbers of both Gecko and Xylotex users here who love them. I don't see anywhere near the same number of people touting the virtues of their unipolar drivers here. If you're handy with soldering, you might also want to check out the drivers here:

http://www.embeddedtronics.com/

If you read enough CNC message boards long enough, this is the information you'll see over and over.

Gerry