I need some help. I'm in the middle of a large project for a client and something is wrong with my controller on my expanded C-beam machine. Im using a cheap arduino pronteer shield and arduino clone. I have dual y axis motors and only one is being driven. I checked all connections, replaced the polulo drv8825 drivers three times, I also swapped drivers and motors around. I still can't get the Y axis port to move. The cloned port works ok though. So I think something is wrong with the board itself. I was hoping to fix it easily without buying another board. 1. Can I run two nema 23 motors off of one drv8825 driver? 2. If I have to buy another board, I'd was looking at the cnc xpro V3. But it always seems out of stock. Does anyone have one they could sell me? Or is ther another site I could buy one from that has it in stock. 3. Is there any way to hook up an external controller to my cloned axis that is working? Please help, I'm on a tight deadline and need to get this resolved. Thanks!
I'm no expert on the electrical side of things but previous comments on questions similar to #1 are basically answered "yes but not well" as the motors are running on shared power and can be noticeably anemic. This in turn can lead to them getting out of step with each other and racking your gantry. You might get away with it for a little while but overall really not worth the risk. If what you had was working I'd suggest just replacing the shield to get back up and running. They're only $8 and with expedited shipping you can be back up and running in two days. Keeping the system unchanged will also eliminate the lost time of getting an altered system up and running. Save your upgrade money for when you really have time to spend messing with the upgrade.
