Best DIY Drivers

[dshowalt]

What do you think is the best driver for Diy/Home shops?

HobbyCNC
Xylotex
Keling
Other

[rustamd]

Gecko?

[OzarkCNC]

That is a trick question. It has many answers depending on the amount of money the DIY'er wants to spend. The amout of technical know-how the DIY'er has, as well as soldering skills.

HobbyCNC has to be one of the top for DIY you build it kits.

The HNCNPRO board has 3/4 AXIS on 1 single board as does the XYLOTEX.

The Kelinginc/gecko are 1 axis per driver board. So you need 3 or 4 boards. Cha-ching! $$$

The HobbyCNC board comes as a bag of parts for you to assemble. If you are comfortable with that, you can have a 4 axis controller for under $100.00. Or you can have one of HobbyCNC supporters mikebeck.org build it for you for a nominal fee.

Not only does the cost become a factor, the after the sale service is top notch with HobbyCNC. Dave and his private support group can give you some of the quickest turnaround times for answering questions. Even in the middle of the night I have had answers in minutes.

If you want turn-key out of the box, then Gecko/KelingInc is your better bet.

Lets not forget there are others too. As this technology evolves to the hobby builder level, there are others with PIC controllers that were not mentioned. I am excited to see the USB PIC controllers that are up and coming with Mach or maybe even EMC2 sometime soon.

[rustamd]

I picked Keling becouse of price. I knew I wanted separate drive for each axis, I dont like the All In One idea, but didnt have money for Gecko. I mentioned Geckos becouse they werent on the list.

[zabink]

I have used all three and others.

Gecko's are nice but its hard to beat the price of the HCNCPRO board. If you don't mind a little soldering that is lol.

Plus Dave Rigotti is extremely active and helpful in the forums.

[cncAhrens]

If your talking DIY, then PMinMO.com L297-8 or A3977 boards. I've built both and a couple of interfaces. Etched the L297-8 boards and interfaces, and then bought the A3977 boards. PMinMO is a class act, supports you if you build the boards on your own or buy some from him. Just look through his guest book!