Xylotex or Gecko step driver for my Mill/Drill?

[pfeist]

Sitting here with no money to continue BUYING parts to retrofit my Mill/Drill... plotting and scheming WHAT to buy when I DO have money...

I have 3 stepper motors (courtesy Dan Mauch at Camtronics). I bought the "H34011__Step motor 680 oz in 2A 3.4. ohms" motors.

NOW I'm looking at driver boards...
My top three contenders were;
Stepperworld.com's FET-3 board, but I ruled that one out because it's a unipolar only board.

Gecko 201/210;
They certainly have a good following!
Reading the specs, I don't know which would be "better" for my setup, the 201 or the 210.
What's the practical difference?

The Other leading contender is the Xylotex 3 axis board..
Again, good following. Considerably cheaper than buying 3 Gecko's.

Keeping in mind;
1) I'm an electrical idiot... hookup instructions with nice clear pictures and using small words are preferred, and
2) This Mill Drill will be used for steel and aluminum parts, but I'm happy to be patient and take LIGHT cuts if necessary.

Which of the two (Gecko201/210 or Xylotex) would be "better"? Or in this case, should I let price decide? I admit, I would PREFER to NOT spend the extra on the Gecko's... but if that's what it takes to build a decent system, I WILL.

Thanks in advance!
Paul F.

[Stevie]

go to eBay

Buy Compumotor Zeta4 drives; you just can't beat them; they have so much protection built in already you just wont blow them up
As for resonaces; there are settings with dips; 4 wave forms; and even pots to tune the motor; up to 50,800 steps
I have 1 Zeta on my Z axis of the lathe and an AL drive on my X; the AL has a max of 3 amps; the Zeta has 4
You could try to snag a S6 with 6amps; I have 1 now and another on the way; these have unbelieveable settings for resonaces 6 diff waveforms; there are even S8 drives out there too
These puppies cost from $1078 (Zeta4) to $1500 (S6)
You can pick them up for under $100 maybe a bit more for new unused surplus

If you need help with the wiring I'm pretty good with these now; just ask

[DDM]

If I were in your shoes I would go with the geckos. I don't think that xylotex board will be able to supply the power that those larger steepers need in order to perform. You're looking at around 350 for the geckos and they are more than capable for that kind of setup. If you did go with the xlylotex you'd probably be switching to geckos in less than a year because that board is only limited to 2.5 amps per channel (I think, correct me if I'm wrong) Thats fine for steppers up to 200oz/in but you've got some beasts you're wanting to run. Plus from what I've heard the customer support for geckos is A+.

These are just my 2 cents.

Carl

[Sanghera1]

His motors are only 2a at 680 oz/in aren't they? The Xylotex should be able to handle that can't it?

[DDM]

well it appears that they are 2amp motors and should in fact work on the xylotex board but it just doesn't seem right. Sure they are 680 oz/in but is that because they are geared down and what voltage do they run at. This kind of set up seems too good to be true unless they are geared down to get that kind of torque. Does anyone know anything about these stepper motors?

Carl

[pfeist]

DDM;
Thanks for the opinion!
I probably will go with the Gecko's... the maker of the Xylotex board even recommended them for my setup.. he said his boards tended to be in the "zone" and run best with about a 200 Oz-in/1.5 amp motors.

All I really know about my motors are what the seller (Dan Mauch of Camtronics) listed them to be;

(Quote from his web page, my motors marked with **)
ALL NEW ITEMS ALL RECENTLY MANUFACTURED
Motor 200 Steps pre rev. 8 wires, dual shafts, motor values below are for motors wired in bipolar series. Motors can be wired unipolar or bipolar but the values change. Add $9 per motor for S/H. All motors are standard nema34 frame Standard motors
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dual Shafts Motors
The below motors are the same as above but have hybrid magnets___
H34009___ Step motor 397 oz in 3A 1.1 ohm____ $105 ____ 2
**H34011___ Step motor 680 oz in 2A 3.4. ohms___ $105 ____ 86**
H34012___ Step motor 680 oz in 3A 3.5 ohms___ $105 ____ 34
H34014___ Step motor 1076 oz in 4.5A 1. ohms___ $125 ____ 20

(End Quote)

I'd bet that the quantities he has listed are out of date.. he may be out of some of them. But if you need steppers, he's a good guy to deal with.


Paul F.

[Cold Fusion]

I bought the same motors are you Paul. If you happen to find a wiring pattern, please send it over.

[pfeist]

Originally posted by Cold Fusion
I bought the same motors are you Paul. If you happen to find a wiring pattern, please send it over.

All I have is the info sheet Dan Mauch sent with 'em... I'll be needing one too (since I'm a grade A electrical idiot!).

Paul F.

[tekno]

ok my question is do you know who made the motors?

[pfeist]

Techno;
Yup..
"MCG" in Eden Prarie, MN.

My project is a bit stalled for lack of funds.. but I'm slowly collecting parts...

And I've decided to wait on drivers... Gecko says that they will have a new driver board the "Vampire Gecko"... More idiot proof than the G210!! And if there's anything *I* need a driver to be, it's IDIOT PROOF!

They couldn't be specific on the time-line.. but the did intimate that it would be "Pretty Soon Now"...

Anyway, I'll worry about wiring when I can afford the mechanical parts and the drivers.

Paul F.

[RotarySMP]

These are quite high inductance motors. You want to run them at rated current (2A), but at 5 to 25 nameplate voltage from a PWM "chopping" driver, which both Geckos and Xylotex are. The reason for this voltage is explained here:

http://geckodrive.com/ycom/documents...hite_paper.pdf

Because the Xylotex driver is limited to 30V, whereas you can supply the Gecko's with 70V, you could get more than twice the rpm out of the geckos, and thus faster rapids. These motors will really need the higher voltage to perform, so plan on a power supply with a 48 VAC transformer.