3-Axis Stepper Controller

[GreekPIC]

What country? Do you have DigiKey?

[morir]

Hi GreekPIC

I

[Parameter]

Hi, I have built the board as a 2 axis test and it really works nicely but the motors were small and the lathe very small and shaky. Now I'm building it for a 4 axis mill so I added a 4th chip and some power darlington array I found in printers which each can handle up to 4 amps and 4 circuits each.

Those are rated 4 amps max (STA401 if you want to look it up) and there are 6 in each printer. They should take up to 30 volts easy. I took the resistor networks that come with it and the addition is practically no-cost!

I made a driver circuit using those to hook up directly to the UCN and then use the diodes at the driver output. That should take care of some nice amp there. I'll post on that.

I will also use one of those to power 4 relays, one for the spindle, one for the vacuum cleaner, one for the lamp and another one for the fluid If I ever do aluminum with it.

I have a question now, I would like to build a chopper/pwm to control the amps going out BUT I really don't know about using a pwm motor power supply with this board. Does any regular motor PS pwm controler should work for the whole load? Any tips and tricks on PWM? I was going to build a simple one with a 556 or 2 555 and some power transistor I found but ya know, maybe costly black smoke experiments...

Thanks for all the advices guys, keep the post alive, it's usefull!

Para

[Trolex]

Could someone send that version2 circuit like I can use it with KCAM4 (because I want to mill good circuit board with my machine) so if there is .dxf or g-code version available, it'll be good for me :) and another question is with which program do you do you circuits what you then mill with your machine

ps. sry about bad english :P

[Trolex]

I found good program which is Sprint-Layout version 4, I think i'm going to buy it (http://www.abacom-online.de/uk/html/sprint-layout.html)

[GreekPIC]

Trolex I've only made the board in Postcript format. I haven't milled any boards yet, I'm still tweaking the desing and handwriting G-code. I etched the board the old fashion way...

Nikolas

[Trolex]

what programs do you use to mill ? I tried kcam4 but when importing hpgl into it, sizes goes wrong.. so that's why I would like to know other softwares which support hpgl

[GreekPIC]

I use TurboCNC and it doesn't support HPGL, only G-code.

Have you checked your scale settings in Kcam? There's got to be a way to set that 1 step=...mm (or in).

[Trolex]

there is in settings like one mm = x steps and I have set that to 50 (what is right with my machine) all other filetypes imports succesfully with right sizes (example: .dxf, gerber).. but in hpgl sizes goes wrong :E

[GreekPIC]

What's the ratio? Maybe the program in which you make the *.hpgl is using the wrong units. Are you using inches or mm? Can you set a dafault in either program?

[Trolex]

I use mm. and I don't think so that problem is with program I'm using to do *.hpgl because I know other people who had had same problem with different exporting programs, who are trying to import it to kcam. And I also tried to look *.hpgl file with hpgl viewer (found some on google) and in it , sizes was okay. and I'm using mm in exporting program too

[GreekPIC]

Hi GreekPIC, thanks for your reply :)

Well that's a shame :(, I was hoping that this old 386 I was trying to get going, would do the job ;D.

Maybe it will be good enough, for playing around with a prototype, to get familiar with the whole process.

Why don't you try this:
http://www.deskam.com/deskncrt.html
Requires:
MSDOS 3.3 or Higher

[Dazza]

Thanks GreekPIC,

That software looks to be exactly what I've been looking for :D, and it looks like it is very user-friendly as well.

Thanks again :).

[germil]

Hi to everyone and this one is for Parameter. I am from Slovenia in Europe, so my English is not so good. How far did you come with your project 4Amp 4-Axis Stepper Controller? can you post me schematics, pcb and part list? Please. And thanks toeveryone for soo good comunity and forum.
My e-mail adress:[email protected]

[ArcAiN6]

Does anyone know where i can buy all the parts for this projet from one source, and using my CC?

Also, what all types of stepper motors can this project accomidate?

for example, i have a few 5-lead motors here i ripped out of a few old 5.25" floppy drives.

Any help in this would be much appreciated as i can't go out and shop for these parts due to my bad back.

[panosGR]

Hi

i want try to make a 3-Axis Stepper Controller but the UCN5804B is discontinued
and replaced by 3967 and 3977.
how to find the change in pcb?

[MP]

They are not pin for pin compatible chips. I recommend that you compare data sheets. You will need to make a number of changes.
Allegro has discontinued this chip but you can still find them around.
You can still find them at alltronics:
http://www.alltronics.biz/cgi-bin/category.cgi

Circuit Specialists has them in a kit with board, etc. for a little more than the cost of the chip.  http://www.circuitspecialists.com

MP

[ryanstewart86]

Hi all, dont know if people still post to this but i need help. I have built the board, tested it and connected it, when in operation the motor is either 1 of 3 things:

1: Jumpy and just vibrates
2: Has direction but very slow and not much torque
3: stationary but with strong holding torque

Could someone please help

Thanks

Ryan

p.s

When i tested it, i tested for signals from the parallel port and the 5V from the power supply, both of which work!

[MP]

Have you checked timing? How much delay between your pulses? Can you try different values to see if it makes a difference?
If the pulses are too fast, the motor will stall and/or be very jumpy. There is a learning curve where you find the fastest and slowest possible pulse stream for the motor.
Hope it helps.

MP

[kb7cga]

want try to make a 3-Axis Stepper Controller but the UCN5804B is discontinued

Guess its time for a new model and pcb. :-\

[GreekPIC]

Hi all, dont know if people still post to this but i need help. I have built the board, tested it and connected it, when in operation the motor is either 1 of 3 things:

1: Jumpy and just vibrates
2: Has direction but very slow and not much torque
3: stationary but with strong holding torque

Could someone please help

Thanks

Ryan

p.s

When i tested it, i tested for signals from the parallel port and the 5V from the power supply, both of which work!

What s/w are you testing with? As MP say, the pulsewidth is the most important thing to set.

[ryanstewart86]

Hi guys

the s/w im using is TurboCNC & JalaCNC, i also tried changing the states i.e. one phase, step inhibit, half step etc, for some reason it doesnt like it, stalls or vibrates.

p.s

do you know if you hav 2 change the step to phase in TurboCNC?
Ryan

[gogo2520]

Hello kb7cga
  You can find the UCN5804B, heres a link http://www.futurlec.com/Others/UCN5804Bpr.shtml
  also if you want to makle a board with out controllers check this out http://pminmo.com/3axis/3axis.htm
                      have fun
                        gogo

[GreekPIC]

Hi guys

the s/w im using is TurboCNC & JalaCNC, i also tried changing the states i.e. one phase, step inhibit, half step etc, for some reason it doesnt like it, stalls or vibrates.

p.s

do you know if you hav 2 change the step to phase in TurboCNC?
Ryan

It's been a while since I last played with TCNC but a few pages back I've posted my config file. Take a look and see if it helps.

Nikolas

[ryanstewart86]

Thanks guys for the help but i am still having a problem, i am using the half step mode, the motor only works at a certain speed, it also has direction clockwise but counter clockwise just vibrates or  jumps counter clockwise. im using

12V 1A power supply

unipolar stepper motor:
200 steps per revolution
Step angle  1.8