In process of planning my first build. I would like to utilize Nema23 High Torque stepper motors and am curious if the Blackbox can handle the 4.2amps that these motors require? Unlesss I am mistaken, it appears the blackbox supports 4.0amps as the maximum? Thanks in advance for any feedback! -Tom
BlackBox was designed from the ground up to suit our High Torque motors. The onboard drivers can deliver 3.2A RMS (High Torque motors are rated max 3.0A), with up to 4A peaks
Hi Peter, Great - thanks for the prompt response! I'm sure this question has been fielded many times already - but how "plug-n-play" is the Blackbox? Beyond setting the board for my specific motor needs and running all the wires & connections is there anything else that will be required prior to connecting to my computer and beginning to control the machine and/or send gcode? Is firmware all set to go?
As plug and play as possible. Most work is tightening screw terminals (; Checkout OpenBuilds® - there should be a wiring video for whichever machine you like (or if its your own, watch pretty much any BlackBox wiring video) to get a full overview - nice and slow and detailed, or if reading is more your cup of tea, checkout OpenBuilds BlackBox 4X Documentation
I guess I do have an additional question regarding the capabilities of the Blackbox. It appears to be an 8-bit system. Will this affect performance of the CNC router at all, especially if moving in all 3 axis at once? I've seen performance and quality increases with an upgrade from 16 to 32 bit on my 3D printer, would this apply to moving in all 3 axis if doing a complex finish pass, for example?
It would not, Grbl is a much better firmware than any 3D printing firmware. Its not written in Arduino with additional overhead, libraries, and bad coding practices contributed by a large community. See github.com/gnea/grbl/wiki for all the details, but no, it won't be the limiting factor at all
