stepper motor driver

Has anyone got experience of these

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121364943800?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

seems remarkably cheap for a 5 Amp driver

Edited By John Stevenson on 20/06/2015 01:19:43

They are based on the Toshiba TB6600 chip which is a good chip but it's not implemented correctly in this design.

If you need the nearly 5 amp power than use the M542 drivers which are far superior although more expensive.

If you can get away with 3 amps then this board is a decent cheap board but do not go above 24V DC no matter what the spec sheet says.

John,

That's a very useful reply ... sounds like the voice of experiece !

Noted for future reference, thanks.

MichaelG.

Thanks John, one of the 3A boards is now winging its way from the far east. Arduino driven dividing head is next project. I'll have to find a transformer somewhere as well, presumably I look for 18v and rectify and smooth it?

Duncan.

I've built a couple of stepper motor driven rotary table indexers and a milling table drive using these boards (3a) In each case I've used lap top power supplies picked up for a few pounds from car boot sales etc.

They work ok for me.

Ian

Edited By ian j on 20/06/2015 20:35:59

Edited By ian j on 20/06/2015 20:36:58

Right, I'll give it a go with a computer power supply, #2 son has several of them. Brilliant forum this, It will be a few weeks before the bits arrive from China then it will no doubt be sidelined by domestic trivia, but I'll post when I've got it going.

Thanks to all for advice

Hello,

I have just completed an Arduino driven RT indexer and am currently writing it up for inclusion in MEW. If you need any assistance give me a shout.

Carl.

Does this have a proper keyboard fitted Carl or just use the 5 or 6 keys on the shield ?

Hello John,

It has larger, more user friendly buttons piggy backed onto those on the LCD shield.

I'd be interested to hear what they have done wrong in the design. Is it fixable?

Russell.

There's also Gary Liming's rotary indexer - he put it on a web page, and wrote it up for Digital Machinist, with the Arduino source code available for a free download.

Gary was at the CNC Workshop in Dearborn, MI, USA last week, and presented his work. His web site is: **LINK** for anyone interested in how he got an Arduino with LCD shield and larger buttons for his bigger fingers to work!

Lots of Arduino stuff at this CNC Workshop, by the way. Overall, it was well worth attending, if I do say so myself! (presented 2 seminars, so I'm not unbiased...)

John.

This is the one which got me interested, also with free code

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/arduino/215402-cnc.html

Clickable link added.

Edited By John Stevenson on 22/06/2015 14:34:30

Yup, I sure was there, and a good time had by all!

The TB6600 based driver mentioned by John Stevenson's post above wouldn't be a good choice for an application where speed or power (torque) is needed, but it fits the bill pretty well for a 12v no-load positioning system.

I think if I had it to do over again I might be tempted to use an IR remote for the command inputs, rather than the buttons. The nicer buttons get expensive after a while, and the IR remote is very inexpensive although it does take a battery.

Gary