Interface PCB / Stepper Drivers Survey

[bdring]

I am running low on interface PCBs. With the Pololu version coming soon, I am trying to get a feel for how many more boards (current style) I should get. The old board was based on the Keling style controller which has the advantage of super fine step rates that support the Mach3 plugin. The Pololu has the advantage of low cost and less wiring, but lighter duty drivers. Neither directly support the Gecko G540 without a special cable. It is possible that a daughter card could be made to plug into the Pololu board where the drivers go to support other drivers. Below is a survey to help me move forward. If you have already purchased everything, vote as if you were building a new machine.

[Enraged]

I'm looking at build a 2.x soon, and support for the Polulu drivers would be great.

I'm still a bit confused on the control of the laser though. With your new pcb that you showed in the blog, would I still need a laser driver board to control the laser power supply, or would I use Mach or EMC to control everything?

[bdring]

Pololu is directly compatible with Mach3 , EMC and the Retina Engrave controller. It will do up to 2000 dpi, so the Mach3 plugin will not have too much power.

[twehr]

Even though I use a DSP controller, which already handles much of what the interface board does, I am attracted to the idea of integrated drives on the interface board. When the new board is done, and I find a bit of time to play, I plan to implement a cable or optional interface board between my controller and the BuildLog controller. Doing this has some distinct advantages, I believe.

1. Eliminates separate drives (3 @ $13 vs 3 @ $50, saves space in the box, really clean wire management).
2. Ease of swapping controllers if I ever choose to - new controllers' physical connections are reduced to plug-n-play.
3. The new interface board (currently in development) handles easy switching between PWM and direct-control power levels.
4. With schematic in hand (and Bart waiting in the wings), tracking down and resolving problems will be much easier that the marriage of separate boards/drives.
5. Generally speaking, the motors we are using for the 2.x really don't need any extras that may come with other, more expensive drives.
6. For new laser builders/users, it provides a simplified approach to meeting the electronic requirements of a laser.

All in all, I really like the all-in-one interface approach.

[soehler]

Hi

I also like the idea of eliminating external drivers, easy and cheap swaping and also simplified connections.

I think Pololu board is a good choice

Sergio

[Knack]

I did select Option 4 above but I am going to try using some items that I have one hand.

For drivers I have a HobbyCNC Pro Chopper board kit good for 4 axis:
http://www.hobbycnc.com/products/hobbyc ... oard-kits/

And I also have a CNC4PC breakout board:
http://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/product ... cts_id=161

The original plans were to use these to upgrade my EMCO Compact 5 CNC lathe but it looks like I can migrate this hardware over to the V2 cutter.

[J45on]

I am collecting parts for the 2.x laser
And I shall want one of the new Pololu versions when ready

[Knack]

I did select Option 4 above but I am going to try using some items that I have one hand.

For drivers I have a HobbyCNC Pro Chopper board kit good for 4 axis:
http://www.hobbycnc.com/products/hobbyc ... oard-kits/

And I also have a CNC4PC breakout board:
http://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/product ... cts_id=161

The original plans were to use these to upgrade my EMCO Compact 5 CNC lathe but it looks like I can migrate this hardware over to the V2 cutter.

For those in the know, has anyone used either of these 2 boards with the laser cutter and Mach?

[edmond22]

I will use one of the intergrated interface/driver board with the polulu drivers in my 1.0 build as soon as they are available, and the polulu drivers seem perfect for the small Nema 17 steppers most of us use.

[cpdude]

Is Tim a marketing genius or what! Bart put me on the list for one when/if they become available.

Brian