RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] low cost stepper driver

> > has anyone used these ? are any of them any good ?
> >
> > Dave
> Yes! Stay away from the blue ones with the Toshiba chips. They are total

junk.


The Toshiba chip is the TB6560, or the older TB6550. The main problem with
those is they claim to support 36v (max 40v?), and then go bang when you try
it. Sticking to 24v seems to work.

There's a few versions of those boards, as well as the chips used. A
commenter on one of the cnczone thread found his problem was with the
optocouplers they used, a later revision didn't have this problem. It's a
real YMMV situation.

I've got a few of the single motor drivers (rated 3A). These are about $25
each on eBay, so it winds up being more expensive than a single 3 or 4 axis
board. I noticed those boards now come in an aluminium case (heatsink
replacement?), possible an new revision of the internals as well.

I figure having individual drivers is a bit more flexible, and if one axis
does goes bang I can easily swap a new (possibly better) one in. I also
only run them at 2A, for 3A I use the 4.2A version. I dislike running
things at their rated spec, mainly because that's usually the peak value.

Geckos will give better performance and be more reliable, but are also 3
times the price.

Tony