Author Topic: Affordable Stepper Motor Driver Source?  (Read 11562 times)

Offline raynerd

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Affordable Stepper Motor Driver Source?
« on: January 02, 2012, 01:27:48 PM »
Hello
I`ve recently made another CNC rotary table divider as posted initially by Kwackers. I`ve actually made 2, one for a project I have underway and another for a local chap who has helped me with my machining. I`ve not picked the motors yet, but they will probably be something like the 180Nm bipolar.

Call me a tight arse but I was reluctant to spend the £42.50 on the Bi-polar 4.2A motors I used last time from ArcEuro but I`ve just looked and those drivers are now £62 which I just can`t afford.  I do very much appreciate the good quality of these drivers but I can`t pay that at present.

Truth is, I don`t know a great deal about stepper motors and drivers but they won`t be needing to do a great deal of milling so won`t need a lot of torque. They will mainly be being used just to drive the table in divisions. Can anyone recommend a source to purchase so reasonably priced stepper motor drivers and perhaps even the motors if you have any suggestions?

Appreciate any help.

Offline sparky961

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Re: Affordable Stepper Motor Driver Source?
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2012, 02:14:19 PM »
Chris,

I've worked extensively with the A3977 bipolar driver from Allegro.  It is an excellent option in my opinion and there are a few boards out there that use it as the base.  I got a 4-axis set from pminmo.com a few years back, but I'm not sure if he's still making them.  The addition of a small microcontroller would make for a complete setup.

I also designed some modular boards that used the same (A3977) driver chip on a daughter board piggybacked to another board with a Motorola/Freescale 68S08 microcontroller.  I'd be happy to send you schematics/board layout if you wanted to go that route.

BTW, did you get my email response via Gmail?  I never heard back so I'm thinking maybe you didn't?

-Sparky

Offline raynerd

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Re: Affordable Stepper Motor Driver Source?
« Reply #2 on: January 02, 2012, 02:32:53 PM »
Hi Sparky,  thanks for the reply. I must admit, despite making the pcb for the divider and putting together that circuit, I`m not really keen to go through the process again and was hoping to purchase something ready built to use! I`m in the UK as well so any links to a ready to a run unit based on this chip and I`d be interested!

Regarding your emails, no not got anything. I emailed you a few weeks back but didn`t get a reply so presumed you hadn`t got it or weren`t interested! I`ll pm you to clarify your email address and if you could please pm me your email so I`ll add it to my filter list - I must admit, I have my spam filter pretty tight!!

Any more suggestions welcome. I guess in total, in an ideal world I`d be paying max £30-40 for the driver. I was willing to pay the £42.50 for the arc one...so I guess that would be my max budget.

Chris

Offline kayz1

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Re: Affordable Stepper Motor Driver Source?
« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2012, 02:52:32 PM »
Hi Chris, have you seen these?
http://www.quasarelectronics.com/3179-standalone-computer-controlled-unipolar-stepper-motor-driver.htm

Not got started as yet myself as only just got a Chester 16v Mill and a 9*20 lathe, but i will be putting a motor
at least on the ( uppy downy ) be of the Mill as i have a duff right shoulder.
PS: i too will start asking very soon..
Regards. Lyn ( male ) it's Welsh....

Offline raynerd

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Re: Affordable Stepper Motor Driver Source?
« Reply #4 on: January 02, 2012, 03:00:43 PM »
Kayz1 - thanks for the suggestion but they are unipolar.  Now in all honesty I don`t know why but in my dealings with stepper motors before with my other cnc divider, mill power feed and cnc router, I`ve always been advised to use bipolar motors and drivers!  I don`t know what the difference is in terms of function but I think I`d prefer to stick to what I`ve used...

Thanks for the suggestion though. Chris

Offline Swarfing

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Re: Affordable Stepper Motor Driver Source?
« Reply #5 on: January 02, 2012, 03:17:38 PM »
Chris

Not sure what sort of size your trying to control or how big the steppers need to be? you can get away with motors not as big as you think. For simple control of less than 2amps then this could sort you out. Big question though are going to be controling from a PC or standalone.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stepper-Motor-Adjusted-Speed-Pulse-Driver-Controller-Board-5V-2-Control-Modes-/290653133685?pt=UK_BOI_Industrial_Automation_Control_ET&hash=item43ac46db75

I have two CNC routers and walked this path many times. i do have some drivers also that may suite you but they will need some resistors and things to make them run. i also have so Alegro boards and chips.
Once in hole stop digging.

Offline sparky961

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Re: Affordable Stepper Motor Driver Source?
« Reply #6 on: January 02, 2012, 03:27:36 PM »
If your motor has one or two centre taps (usually black/white) in addition to the 4 phases, then you could drive it with a unipolar driver as well.

-Sparky

Offline raynerd

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Re: Affordable Stepper Motor Driver Source?
« Reply #7 on: January 02, 2012, 03:35:20 PM »
Hi Swarfing - I`m making another one of these. Infact, I`m making two, one for one of my projects and one for a friend who has helped me over the years.

http://www.raynerd.co.uk/?p=399

It was designed by Kwackers who is a user of these forums and it has a huge thread on the cnczone.

I`m actually only ever going to use my to turn a worm wheel to divide the head but my friend will be using his like I use mine, attached to a 6" rotary table. I guess it will be used for dividing mainly but I have occasionally used mine powered while milling which will require a little more torque I presume.

Do you think I could get away with the ebay cheapo for both of us and what motor would you go for?

For my little divider I also want to use the smallest physical stepper motor I can get away with. Basically it is going to be put on a small dividing head I`m going to make and will only be used to divide and won`t be milled on under power.

Chris

Offline philf

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Re: Affordable Stepper Motor Driver Source?
« Reply #8 on: January 02, 2012, 03:41:51 PM »
Hi Chris,

Have you seen these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CNC-Stepper-Motor-Driver-2M542-4-2A-Driver-Controller-/250880996361?pt=UK_BOI_Industrial_Automation_Control_ET&hash=item3a69ac3409

4.2A Bipolar, microstepping, very similar in appearance to the ARC ones. £35.99 inc postage from UK.

Cheers.

Phil.
Phil Fern
Location: Marple, Cheshire

Offline raynerd

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Re: Affordable Stepper Motor Driver Source?
« Reply #9 on: January 02, 2012, 03:48:56 PM »
Hi Phil
Hope all is well with you and yours and you have had a nice Christmas.

I must admit, I came across this after posting the message. It certainly seems identical to the old Arc one. I`ll keep watching though and from the messages here, I`m getting the feeling that it is still a little over spec`d for what I need and I might be able to get away with something cheaper still. Thanks for posting...I`ll go with this if everything else fails.

Chris

Offline Swarfing

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Re: Affordable Stepper Motor Driver Source?
« Reply #10 on: January 02, 2012, 06:12:48 PM »
Yes Chris i'm familiar with Kwackers build, i have the parts here to do one as soon as i can get round to it. If i can recall he uses a driver that fits inside his control unit. To drive the six inch table i'm sure you could get away with a 1.8 to 2.1 Nm motor. I drive the smaller of my routers with 1.4's bipolar and it will cut ali just fine with no more than a 2amp per phase Chinese controller. Just ensure which ever driver you choose you can get max voltage.
Once in hole stop digging.

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Re: Affordable Stepper Motor Driver Source?
« Reply #11 on: January 03, 2012, 06:09:34 AM »
These boards are used in most (all?) of the cheap Chinese 6090 CNC routers that sell on eBay.
 Not a lot of technical info available for them other than they're a 3.5A drive.
Freight cost could be an issue.

Offline Pete.

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Re: Affordable Stepper Motor Driver Source?
« Reply #12 on: January 03, 2012, 07:47:30 AM »

Offline ksor

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Re: Affordable Stepper Motor Driver Source?
« Reply #13 on: January 03, 2012, 09:54:51 AM »
I would like to do one of these "step motor driven" turn tables myself - how "small" a motor can be used ?

I have lots of different motors from printers and old 8" flex disk drives - are they "strong" enough for this ?

Any experience ?
Best regards
KSor, Denmark
Skype name: keldsor

Offline kayz1

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Re: Affordable Stepper Motor Driver Source?
« Reply #14 on: January 03, 2012, 04:42:36 PM »
Have you seen the prices of the driver boards? :bugeye:

http://www.carving-cnc.com/cnc-accessories/cnc-stepping-drive.html

 Lyn.

Offline raynerd

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Re: Affordable Stepper Motor Driver Source?
« Reply #15 on: January 03, 2012, 04:51:33 PM »
Pete, I can`t believe those...you know what I`m trying to make and they would be near perfect! Just a pitty the postage is another $65 on top....

$230 in total.... I don`t know, by the time I`ve purchased materials, spindle, collets.... I`m not going to be far off!

Chris

tumutbound

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Re: Affordable Stepper Motor Driver Source?
« Reply #16 on: January 03, 2012, 10:10:07 PM »
I sent an email to Sun-Carving a while back asking about alternative (postal) shipping e.g. EMS.
The reply I got gave comparison figures for EMS vs DHL and for a 500gm package, EMS was slightly cheaper but for 1Kg, it was about the same as DHL/UPS. Once the weight goes up, DHL/UPS work out cheaper compared to EMS.

I need a replacement driver card but for the cost of shipping, I could just buy a Gecko G250 drive. I'm going to order the 4th axis rotary that includes a driver card to replace the one that died. THis will just be a spare as I've already switched over to using a Gecko G540 (or in the process of switching, once I get the shed finished so I can set up the mill to cut out the case ...)

Offline Weston Bye

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Re: Affordable Stepper Motor Driver Source?
« Reply #17 on: January 04, 2012, 10:24:47 AM »
Go back and review this thread:

http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=1443.msg13136#msg13136

It's a cheap solution that *might* be useful to some of you.
Weston Bye
Practitioner of the Electromechanical Arts.
author of The Mechatronist column
Digital Machinist magazine

Offline joegib

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Re: Affordable Stepper Motor Driver Source?
« Reply #18 on: January 05, 2012, 12:00:03 PM »
Re a couple of the stepper drivers mentioned in this thread as possible options:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stepper-Motor-Adjusted-Speed-Pulse-Driver-Controller-Board-5V-2-Control-Modes-/290653133685?pt=UK_BOI_Industrial_Automation_Control_ET&hash=item43ac46db75

This cheapo was briefly discussed in the Kwackers thread on CNCZone and one of the gurus there was pretty scathing about its design. Apart from that, its control features only allow single-stepping whereas the Kwackers project requires half-stepping at least. (I have one which I use for motor testing but it's no good for this project).

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CNC-Stepper-Motor-Driver-2M542-4-2A-Driver-Controller-/250880996361?pt=UK_BOI_Industrial_Automation_Control_ET&hash=item3a69ac3409

Decent price but I'm dubious about the seller. Although this business appears to have a UK base, looking at the buyers' feedback suggests it's a front for a Chinese emporium-style outfit. Many of their buyers report that goods are actually despatched from Hong Kong. That's not a problem (except possible delay) for sub-£15 items but at least one buyer complains about being charged duty on arrival of goods. Bearing in mind that the VAT-free limit is now £15, you might end up with a VAT addition plus Royal Mail surcharge on this one!

Sorry, not a very constructive post but I thought people should be wary of some of the items put forward.

Joe

Offline picclock

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Re: Affordable Stepper Motor Driver Source?
« Reply #19 on: January 06, 2012, 07:21:08 AM »
Hi Craynerd

I've built stepper drivers using an Allegro A3982 (about £4 from RS). Its 35V 2A max bipolar driver with thermal shutdown and current limits. I have a single sided board layout if your interested (pm me for a hi res copy). I would think total cost <£10 (which is likely cheaper than anything else). Snag is you have to make the pcb and load it with various components. My experience with this chip is that its reliability under conditions of extreme abuse (unintended) is remarkable.

Best Regards

picclock
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