Although I bought most of the parts for my build from the OpenBuilds store I left one thing out, and that was the controller board. Partly because the board which Mark used in his video coupled with an Arduino Uno which I didn't have at the time. So in a mad panic I went on ebay and bought one Upgraded 5 Axis CNC Breakout Board for Stepper Motor Driver Mach3 + USB Cable UK for £15. Now I'm not a skinflint, I just didn't know which one to buy. In a way it was a good choice as I already had the Mach3 software on my desktop computer so one complements the other. Now the problem is I don't know how to wire the stepper motors up to the board as there wasn't a diagram sheet with it. I've since found a graphic of the wiring but it doesn't line up with the 4 wires on the motors. If anyone else has used the same board and got it to work could you tell me how you wired it up. I attatched a photo of the board to this mail. Thanks a lot. Michael.
Thanks Larry Unfortunately this board and mine are different makes and therefore differently configured wire setups. Thanks for your time. Michael.
Are you trying to wire the motors directly to the board? You need motor driver modules between the board and the motors as shown in Larry's graphic.
If that's the case, then why didn't mark have motor driver modules installed on his OX in his second video. Also there was no mention of 'Motor Driver Modules' in Mark's 'Build List' else they would be siting in the parts box on my work bench along with the other stuff I purchased. I was wondering what that black box was for. Michael.
Mark is using an entirely different type of controller. Mark is using a Seeeduino/gShield combination where the gShield portion of the assembly contains the motor drivers. The part you have is called a break-out board (BOB) and all it really does it provide an interface between the computer and the driver modules. You will either need to get an all-in-one board or add driver modules to the one you have. In the OX build that Robert Hummel is doing, he is using a similar break-out board and he included a photo of his driver array.
OK Rick I appreciate your time. So I have to get 4 of those 'Driver Modules' from eBay to sit in between the Breakout Board and the Stepper motors. Its just that after seeing Larry's board above I went and bought that, one as the wiring is much more straight forward than the one I've got already. Do you think those 'Driver Modules' That Robert had will be OK attached to this board. I'll hold off on their purchase until I hear back from you. Many thanks. Michael.
It should be okay but it might be best to ask @Robert Hummel as there are several different manufacturers of the TB6600 drivers and some are more reliable than others. He can probably point you in the direction of the more reliable ones.
These are the drivers I'm using and I'm happy so far, grounding must be done properly or you will have jittery movement and skipped steps Also don't push them past 30vdc http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=251768835869
Hi Robert Thanks for dropping by. I thought I had everything sorted, how wrong I was. Should be OK to go and order 4 x TB6600's then. I look forward to seeing your layout as this CNC Routing thing is new to me and wouldn't have started this project if Mark hadn't made those video's. Thanks a lot. Michael.
Now have 4 TB6600's and the breakout board from Savebase. But would appreciate a look at your layout Robert as I'm not sure if I can set the electronics up properly without damaging them.
I'm wiring mine tonight and will upload some photos I'm out right now picking up parts for my custom i3 build Will post soon
This picture shows how things get wired, on your drivers I believe the step is marked CP not PUL Once wired you must setup Mach3 to control the pins correct
