CNC Driver Board (Multi axis)

This is an instructable to help anyone that is making the CNC driver board by Tom McWire. 
Original Instructable 
Suggested design from Howim
I would also like to thank woodspinner for answering all of my questions. 
When making this driver board I had many issues, that luckily could be answered in the comments of the instructable. I have put together this instructable to help anyone that is making the board with....making the board. Just a few things that I would like to add. This driver board is for making a 3 axis CNC. If you would like to add more axis send me a message, and I'll try to answer your question. So....first things first. The pieces to buy.

Step 1 Buying Components

What to buy. The parts list is attached onto this step. I would not recommend putting the board together by the diagram that I have attached, or by the reference numbers that I have given. I would go by the pictures in the next few steps.

Comments

[niksa77]

Hi everybody. This is my soldering homework and almost finished. I have question about voltage regulator. I think to put this L78S05CV, 5V-2A, is it ok? Did i need more resistor with voltage regulator, or just solder voltage regulator in his place on board without resistor? Sorry for my English. Thanks.

[samr37l]

Wow, looks awesome! I think the voltage regulator should work, but it mostly depends on how many volts your motors need.

[niksa77]

Hi.Thanks for comment. Somewhere i am read if using voltage regulator i must remove zener diode and capacitor i am not sure about that, so i am decided test without voltage reg.. I use motor MINEBEA HYBRID Input: 6-12VDC, 0.67AMP and when i connect diferent bulb i start with 5W,10W, 15W, 20W and power 12V my motor not moves using Kcam, shaft is just hold strong in torque. Hes moves only one step when i connecting (+) power 12V. This is my new problem. If you or somebody can help please.

[tgferreira184]

does it hold 24v 600mA?

[samr37l]

Yah, it should, haven't tested it at that high of a voltage though so I'm not sure.

[diyman]

Hi, i am trying to build this controller and i was wondering if you could tell me what type of stepper motor i should buy.

I found this at amazon. Will this work?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005J6GI2O/ref=gno_cart_title_3

[woodspinner]

I suggest turning down your speakers before watching this.

http://s338.photobucket.com/albums/n411/woodspinner1/?action=view&current=My3DCNC.mp4

[edison01]

Hello!
Construction of the panel, it works perfectly! I would like to ask for help Mach3 program. Kcam works, but not the Mach3. I can not configure step, dir, port, pin, enable ... etc (screenshot) Please help. Thank you!
My e-mail: [e-mail]

[pfred2]

Use LinuxCNC, Mach is abandonware. heh.

[nuwan111]

thank u very much sir ,my controller board & software is work fine,(sorry for my bad english)

[deepakbharti]

Hi, nuwan111
Pleas Send me this projct copy controller board & software pleas
my email- [e-mail]
pleas iam waiting.
Thanx.

[woodspinner]

A salute to tom mcwire and his article for getting me going in cnc routers.

[moffett8]

How did you do that on a 3 axis CNC or did you convert to 4 axis?

Philip

[woodspinner]

I cut the parts out with a cnc, then assembled them.

[samr37l]

Ohh.....and I second that :)

[samr37l]

Is that your stuff?! ITS AMAZING!!!!!!!
Sam

[woodspinner]

yes, its a couple puzzles I made and a lithophane made from a plastic sign board sheet, I've made tons of stuff but those are my favorites so far
John

[nikedp]

Hi,
Firstly, I would like to say, that this tutorial is amaizing. Thank you for doing this.

But, I have a problem. I am using stepper motor stp-42d221-03 and I cant figure out, how to connect it with board. It has only 5 wires and all of them are grey (only first one has blue stripe). Please help. I tried connecting it about 100 times and it always goes few steps (about 5-10 depends on wire order) forward and few steps backward (about 2). I need help.

[kizzap]

I'm not completely certain, but I think R1 is in the wrong place...and that the Zener diode is facing the wrong direction...

where R1 is, should actually be a capacitor, possibly another 0.1uF (no idea really) this is because R1 goes from the positive supply, through the resistor, to the center pin of the spot for the voltage regulator, which is then connected to ground (which isn't correctly shown in the image).

[malikilam]

Hey, I am trying to decode these instructions as you seem to have done. Thanks for spotting that error. Now, I just need to know the specifics of the corrections. I'm not very good at reading schematics yet (this is my 3rd electronic project). If you can post an image, that would be great. But any assistance will be much appreciated. Thanks

[zopatch]

you are right

[malikilam]

Hey, I am trying to decode these instructions as you seem to have done. Thanks for spotting that error. Now, I just need to know the specifics of the corrections. I'm not very good at reading schematics yet (this is my 3rd electronic project). If you can post an image, that would be great. But any assistance will be much appreciated. Thanks

[samr37l]

Oh, I'll fix that. Nice catch.

[jayeshshinai]

is there any specific gauge of wire to be used while building this circuit?

[jayeshshinai]

Anybody know how to increase the shaft size of the motors?
i was advised not to open stepper motors...but i dont think it'll be a problem if i jus peek into it for sometime n probably clean it (its used).
or is it like that harddisk i opened up...which made it start clicking, and still not work!

[jayeshshinai]

is there any way i can mod a dremel to take in 5mm bits?

[woodspinner]

use a shaft adapter, sized to fit over your motor shaft, with an extention the size you wish.

[woodspinner]

like the hard disk, your not equiped to disassemble it and if you do its likely that it will fail or be extremely weak.

[jayeshshinai]

well the hard disk wasnt working...but it was only after opening it that i realised that i needed a makeshift clean room.

but is it the same for stepper motors?i see no harm in opening them unlike servos.?

[woodspinner]

well I have never taken one apart, but have heard reports that most attempts fail.

Good Luck with that

John

[jayeshshinai]

thanks for reminding me about the shaft adapter...id forgotten about it completely..

[daustin2455]

Can anyone post step by step instructions for mach3 or kcam or emc2. I cant seem to get any of these to work for me. I don't even have the controller hooked up yet. I am just trying to test the output of the parallel port with an led and resistor and I cannot get any of the pins to fire. Thank you in advance

[simplistik]

Can anyone clarify this schematic please, I have everything soldered in place I'm a little mixed up as to where the Diode,Resistor and Capacitor goes? I can see small differences between Tom's and this Schematic as far as these 3 components are concerned , just unsure as to where the three should actually go.

[jayeshshinai]

How do we add limit switches to the circuit board...??

[jayeshshinai]

hmm did some research...i have to connect the limit switches to the pin no 15,16 n 17 on the board and configure mach 3 on it...right?

[woodspinner]

you can use just one pin for all the limit switches if you nc switches and put them all in series.

John

[jayeshshinai]

hey spinnner, Wouldnt that create errors for the machine to get to its home position?
Coz if it would trigger any of the switches(for eg, take Z axis), the movement would stop without it reaching the home of the x and y axis...
or is there any way i could let the computer identify different axis switches by diff pulse types.?

[woodspinner]

nah, it would be homing the axis one at a time, each trigger signal would indicate the current homing axis was there and move on to the next

you can also use the limits as home switches and again the controller would know that you were homing and not think you had triggered the limits when you hit home.

[key_j]

Sir I'm starting to collect the necessary components to build this driver,,,
I found these 2 24v stepper motors extracted from an old hp printer:
pm35l048 and pm55l048
Datasheet: http://www.eminebea.com/content/html/en/motor_list/pm_motor/pdf/pm55l048.pdf
http://www.eminebea.com/content/html/en/motor_list/pm_motor/pdf/pm35l048.pdf

I want to know if i could use them and what changes to the board should i do

[xaffy]

Buonasera a tutti ho intrapreso l'idea di costruire questa scheda x cnc ,e da 1 settimana che mi scervello ho provato ha mettere l7805 escludendo zener e resistenza ma non va' nulla non c'e' alimentazione agli integrati, rifatto schema senza l7805 e seguito passo passo le piste con condensatore .1uf resistenza , zener e condensatore 220uf ed meraviglia ancora nulla alimentazione sugli integrati . dove sbaglio ????