Plans for DIY 3-5 Axis Driver Board

[Moffett8]

Hi,

I'm looking for plans for a Plans / schematic for DIY 3-5 Axis Driver Board. Seems the interface boards are very inexpensive but the driver boards are just the opposite.
This is why I'm looking for Driver board plans.

Thanks,

Philip

[doorknob]

There are a number of driver schematics that have been posted to this forum, but deciding between them would require more info on the specs of the motors that you plan to use.

What size motors will you be using? What current rating and voltage do you need?

[Moffett8]

Hi,
The stepper motors are Nema 23, 3 amps of less and the stepper motors are rated at 270oz.
The interface board that will run the driver board(s)is rated up to 3 amps also

Thanks,

Philip

There are a number of driver schematics that have been posted to this forum, but deciding between them would require more info on the specs of the motors that you plan to use.

What size motors will you be using? What current rating and voltage do you need?

[doorknob]

The interface board that will run the driver board(s)is rated up to 3 amps also

I'm not sure that I understand that statement.

By "interface board", are you referring to a "breakout board" or something else?

I neglected to ask whether the motors that you intend to use have 4 wires or perhaps 6 or 8 wires. The answer to that question might have a bearing on the type of driver that would be appropriate. One other parameter of interest would be the motor's winding inductance, which would have a bearing on the drive voltage requirements.

The requirement to handle 3A probably rules out driver circuits such as the Linistepper (PIC Linear Stepper Motor Controller) or the Easy Stepper Driver (Easy Driver stepper motor driver).

There have been several schematic posted on this forum for home-made TB6560-based drivers, which should be capable of handling 3A. For example, see the following thread, starting about halfway down the page: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/diy-cn...cb_mill-2.html. Or, schematics for a Chinese TB6560-based driver are shown on the first page of this thread: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/genera...y_chinese.html

There has been discussion of drivers capable of handling up to 6A here (although the use of a CPLD makes that approach somewhat of a challenge): http://www.cnczone.com/forums/open_s...p_bipolar.html

There have been some schematics of drivers based on the L297 and L298 ICs which, IIRC, have a maximum current rating of 3A.

There have been a number of PIC-based driver circuits published, but I don't remember the current handling capabilities of those circuits.

[Moffett8]

I refer to the breakout board as an interface board. Motors are 4 wire.

Philip

I'm not sure that I understand that statement.

By "interface board", are you referring to a "breakout board" or something else?

I neglected to ask whether the motors that you intend to use have 4 wires or perhaps 6 or 8 wires. The answer to that question might have a bearing on the type of driver that would be appropriate. One other parameter of interest would be the motor's winding inductance, which would have a bearing on the drive voltage requirements.

The requirement to handle 3A probably rules out driver circuits such as the Linistepper (PIC Linear Stepper Motor Controller) or the Easy Stepper Driver (Easy Driver stepper motor driver).

There have been several schematic posted on this forum for home-made TB6560-based drivers, which should be capable of handling 3A. For example, see the following thread, starting about halfway down the page: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/diy-cn...cb_mill-2.html. Or, schematics for a Chinese TB6560-based driver are shown on the first page of this thread: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/genera...y_chinese.html

There has been discussion of drivers capable of handling up to 6A here (although the use of a CPLD makes that approach somewhat of a challenge): http://www.cnczone.com/forums/open_s...p_bipolar.html

There have been some schematics of drivers based on the L297 and L298 ICs which, IIRC, have a maximum current rating of 3A.

There have been a number of PIC-based driver circuits published, but I don't remember the current handling capabilities of those circuits.

[doorknob]

I refer to the breakout board as an interface board. Motors are 4 wire.

Philip

OK...

Normally I wouldn't expect a breakout board to be rated for 3A unless that rating were related to something such as a relay spec, or perhaps that rating might mean the suggested capacity of the power supply to the board. However there are many different varieties of breakout boards available, so it may mean something entirely different from what I thought.

Since you have 4-wire motors, you will want to look for schematics capable of driving bipolar motors (and not unipolar motors).