Which board to buy?

andypugh wrote:

ScottBouch wrote:

When I've found out some more data on the boards (An English Datasheet would be good!), IF it turns out that the Parallel port's input pins are not all used by (or not accessible via) the Chinese board; can I hack into the cable to make use of the unused pins?

Yes, absolutely.

Soooo.... I could buy the cheaper 3 axis board, and break out the Parallel cable to use whatever spare pins of the Parallel port for speed control! This will leave me with some limit switch connections on the board!

Providing I can tell EMC2 to output a PWM signal on one of the Parallel pins relating to spindle speed (drive a simple opto-isolated transistor circuit, and the motor), and read a frequency signal back in on another pin from my phonic wheel (redundant steel gear, was for back-gear) on my spindle. Considering a car ABS sensor or Crankshaft speed sensor for the pickup for this.

Oooohhh... how exciting.... This is good brainstorming!

Right , I now need to locate some technical info on the available boards, as the eBay adverts are pretty useless.

Cheers, Scott

Just a thought,

If I am limited on pins, I could always see if it's possible to multiplex (or encode) the limit switches, if EMC2 can decode through a simple bit of logic....

As this is all hardwired logic (with a few diodes) it's still realtime, only lag may be due to decoding in the software. But if they are e-stop (tool crash) switches, they should also be wired to cut the motor power.

Parallel Pins (A,B,C) = Switch (1,2,3..)

(Two pins gives three switches)
A = sw 1
B = sw 2
A&B = sw 3


(Three pins gives six switches)
A = sw 1
B = sw 2
C = sw 3
A&B = sw 4
A&C = sw 5
B&C = sw 6

Cheers, Scott.

Right, Well I am definitely up for making my own board!

A friend has a mill he's CNC'd and has used it to make a few PCB's, so I can go to him for board production. I'll look up the datasheet for the TB6560 and see what it suggests..

This way I could easily add a 4th axis in the future if I wanted to. Likewise with the Linistepper kits!

Awesome stuff, thanks!!!!

I've looked at the example circuit in the datasheet, it really is quite simple! Add a few opto's and we're on!

I've had a word with my friend who has the CNC mill, and he's more than happy to machine my PCB's!

Great ideas, thanks...

Ah, I've just bought three TB6560's! Thanks anyway... Good to know for a futute project...

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-pcs-NEW-TB6560AHQ-T...A99-LI-/330860476449

I'll give them a shot since I've bought them now.. They were less tgan a tenner delivered, so fulfilling my budgetary requirements! I have a stash of components including optos, so building the 3 axis driver board will be very cheap!

Cheers, Scott

Check this out for some somewhat affordable drives that are seemingly well made. www.piclist.com/techref/io/stepper/linistep/index.htm
I'd buy the linistepper but the issue I have is it's 5/6/8 wire, and I have 4 wire motors. That leaves the THB6064 which is supposedly much better then those ones you find on ebay and can be readily fixed. Either way they seem to be nice, although you are stuck soldering the kits together.

jm82792 wrote:

Check this out for some somewhat affordable drives that are seemingly well made. www.piclist.com/techref/io/stepper/linistep/index.htm
I'd buy the linistepper but the issue I have is it's 5/6/8 wire, and I have 4 wire motors. That leaves the THB6064 which is supposedly much better then those ones you find on ebay and can be readily fixed. Either way they seem to be nice, although you are stuck soldering the kits together.

Hi JM,

Yes, those LiniStepper kits did seem quite good, but they cost $90 for three axis (£60 GBP). So I'm having a go at making my own PCB's for the TB6560, three just cost me less than £10 GPB.

The THB6064 you mention seems to be about 3x the price of what I've just bought my chips for (on ebay), but no doubt is better quality as you say.

My main driver is cost (or lack of), and it is only a small machine, so if I'm careful, hopefully I won't blow them up! Recycle, Reuse and buy cheap or second hand is my main aim! This will of course make engineering it more challenging...

I was given the 100 year old Drummond Lathe from my mate;
I was given the cross-slides from a neighbour;
I had the spindle drive DC motor from years ago (saved from the scrap);
The PC I'm using is our old home PC (saved form the scrap again);
I have a large aluminium heatsink for the TB6560's and the spindle drive FET (saved from the scrap, yet again!);
I have numerous multi-pin military connectors, cabling, etc.. (yes, you got it, saved from the scrap bin again)

Cost currently stands at £45.00:
£10 for 3x TH6050
£35 for a solid centre, rotating centre, 6mm (Morse taper no1) collet for milling cutters, tailstock chuck.
Couple of quid here and there at car-boot sales for odd old milling cutters and lathe tools.

It's a cheap machine to buy bits for as it's only No1 Morse tapers in the spindle and tailstock. I have a 3 jaw chuck and a driveplate, no 4 jaw though...

Cheers, Scott