Re: stepper driver help

Hi Stefan,

In my opinion, the Gecko drivers have provided the home hobbiest a
great product at a very reasonable price.

There is quite a bit more to a driver than supplying power.

the Kits-r-us units could be made to supply 10 amps, but they are no
micro-stepping units.

also, the Gecko has addressed and eliminated the mid-band problems.
things you would not find out about until you had made your second or
third version.

i think most of us who have made a machine, then upgraded it once,
then again, then again....

find we spend as much or more than buying a ready to run CNC unit. it
just takes us lots longer to spend the $$$ than an up-front purchase.

So, from my research, I think there are three major ranges.

the low power kits, either home-brew or are geared towards the low end
hobby and model areana. almost all are not microsteppers.

the middle area with microstepping, is covered by the numerous
offerings that usually are based around the Allegro chips. they are
designed for mass markets, but available to us. since the copiers,
printers and such do not need high power, allegro has limited it's
power to around 3 amps.

That leaves the over 4 amps to Gecko with no real challangers as
others who offer such a product sell for more than double.

That is how I see it. And since there is no $$ in making a board that
will have less capability and sell for more than a gecko, no one has
ventured into that area.


Dave








--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, "stefan_sharpe"
<stefan_sharpe@...> wrote:

>
> My conversion project is going pretty slow right now- I am searching
> around on the net reading everything I can, to learn about what I am
> doing. Educated types might even call what I am doing reasearch...
> not sure if it is though as it is pretty fun so far :>
>
> Anyway, I had a lot of really good advice when I first posted- I
> hope I did not offend any of you with repeditive questions!
>
> I have also been hunting high and low for a bipolar stepper driver
> circuit that will go more than 2A, but they seem to be rare devils!
>
> I have found two 2A bipolar drivers and I keep wondering what the
> restrictions will be if i use them with Nema23 size motors. I know
> this is a difficult question to answer, but can anyone give me a bit
> of insight here?
>
> Thanks,
> Stefan
>