Easy to build CNC Mill Stepper Motor and Driver circuits

Step 3 Photo Etching a Driver Board

OK, For all you chemistry majors who want to do something a little more professional here are some .pdf files you can print out and iron on or what ever you do to make an etched PC board. There's a Top Silk (just for reference), Top Copper, and Bottom Copper.

If you want to go easy Just do the Bottom Copper. There's not that much on the top and you can just solder jumpers where you need to.

Comments

[alnajem]

very good thanks

[lkroland]

I've done a version of a single controller in Eagle and put it at http://lars.roland.bz/eagle/StepperController.zip if anyone's interested. I hope Tom doesn't mind me posting it here. Thanks so much for a cheap working controller. Reason I only have one (and have to make three of these) is that I can only make really small pcbs.

[treflip]

Thank you for the clear labels for troubleshooting. You rock!

[aterhune1984]

I have been looking and cant figure out what the holes near the parallel port are for? I drilled holes but don't know what goes there... Any thoughts? Thank you

[woodspinner]

(removed by author or community request)

[chony420]

Woodspinner in your image, there are wrong information, the cd4028 must be near the mosfets and the cd4516 near the 25pin connector. they are switch in your iimage. Check that the pin 1 of the cd4028 must touch the Gate pin of the Mosfet and in your image explanation that´s impossible. Please check.

[woodspinner]

I'm glad you pointed that out, I didnt make the image or even work from it myself so it never occured to me but their deffinately reversed.

[aterhune1984]

How do you use the X Y and Z home switch? and the M-code. Sorry ive never used CNC before so some of these terms are new for me.

[woodspinner]

none of them are required except on large commercial machines. on a parallel port pins 10, 11, 12, 13 and 15 are input pins, one is inverted and I dont know which. the rest of them are normally held high when not grounded by pullup resisters in the port board. To wire up a home switch you would simply run a wire from the port pin, thru a normally closed push button switch and then to ground on the port, this way, when your table or gantry hits the switch the ground is disconnected and the port goes high triggering a stop, this way if you have a bad connection somewhere or a broken wire you will get an immediate full stop instead of finding out when the gantry for instance rams into the endstop and tears something up. the m-codes would be for spindle on off and speed, but that will require a lot more work and explaination

[aterhune1984]

... forgot the datasheet... http://www.linengineering.com/LinE/contents/stepmotors/pdf/Step_Motor_Start-up_Guide.pdf

[aterhune1984]

Thank you, I am having another problem. I am trying to do some testing with my motor. I pick up voltage changes on my chips however when I connect the motor I get nothing. Could someone take a look at the following stepper motor datasheet and help me out. I noticed there is no connection to ground so my lightbulb will not light up. If I connect the other side to ground I am reading 3-5 volts which should be good for my motor. The light lights up correctly when connecting the ground. I have never worked with stepper motors before so this is a big jump for me and I appreciate the help. According to the datasheep I am using 6 wire leads color code 1. Thanks for the help!

[woodspinner]

both commons to the bulb and power+, abcd to the mosfets right next to the diodes.

[aterhune1984]

Alright dont know what I did to fix it but its working now. no more Z axis problems however the Z light is always on... is this normal?

[aterhune1984]

I figured out what I did wrong... put the zener diode backward... oops. I am just having one last problem. For the Z axis The second mosfet from the end is shorting to ground. I have replaced the mosfet and the diode and both chips for the Z axis but it is still shorting. I have made sure the wires for the fet are not shorted at the board level... does anyone have a place where I should look next.. I was thinking the parallel port. I will continue to investigate but if anyone has suggestions i would appreciate.

[woodspinner]

check all the traces for that mosfet, and its diode, you may have a bad trace, or sodler bridge somewhere

[aterhune1984]

Alright dont know what I did to fix it but its working now. no more Z axis problems however the Z light is always on... is this normal?.... BTW thanks for all the help woodspinner

[woodspinner]

the lights for all my axis are on all the time when enabled. so yes thats normal. if an axis has the lights off when stopped, check the wires to the motors, and all grounds on the board for bridges or bad connections.

[isozforever]

this board works with mach 3 cnc program? gcode?

[medalhead]

im not sure yet, in test phase atm, but i think so, just have to get the right settings.
theres a very nice video tutorial on the devolopers site.
 

[ziggalo]

 how do you punch out the holes for the leads? and also, from the pictures, these are 5-wired stepper motors? thanks

[kb3guy]

Nice job on the project, I think this will be very useful. Could you perhaps add a mirror-image version of either the top or the bottom layout? This is necessary for the way most people seem to do home made printed PCB's.

[ironaxe69]

also, where would I wire in home switches on the board?

[ironaxe69]

Tom, on the 3dsilk, can you add what value for the resistors? I cant tell from the pics where they go.... I am up at 4:15am putting this circuit together, and Im stumped. thanks! Joe