1 Topic by d2xhale

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Topic: Printer board that handles Nema 23 stepper or supports external drives

Hello all,

I'm in the process of building a large printer (3ft cubed build area) and will need a controller board that can support nema 23 steppers. So far all I can find are boards that support up to 2.5 amps, which will not be enough for the nema 23's. I am also looking for a board that can handle up to 6 steppers ( 4 for the axis and 2 for a dual extruder setup).

An alternative would be buying a controller board to just run extruders and heat controls while having a separate driver board to run the machine axis. For example would I be able to use Azteeg X5 and a gecko g540 together?

Thank you in advance for your help and input!

2 Reply by Tin Falcon (edited by Tin Falcon 2014-10-19 11:59:12)

  • Tin Falcon
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Re: Printer board that handles Nema 23 stepper or supports external drives

if you can find a breakout board that handles 6 axis  then you could use individual G251 drivers the same driver that is in the G540 except in a separate package.
here is an affordable 6 axis BoB  but you still need to control the heat.
http://www.automationtechnologiesinc.co … kout-board
tin

Soliddoodle 4 stock w glass bed------Folger Tech Prusa 2020 upgraded to and titan /aero extruder mirror bed
FT5 with titan/ E3D Aero------MP mini select w glass bed
MP Utimate maker pro-W bondtech extruder
Marlin/Repetier Host/ Slic3r and Cura

3 Reply by fxdata

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Re: Printer board that handles Nema 23 stepper or supports external drives

Found this board as a plugin compatible to a Pololu board. Hope this helps.

shop.germanreprap.com/en/Powerlolu-Stepper-Motor-Driverup-to-10A

4 Reply by d2xhale

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Re: Printer board that handles Nema 23 stepper or supports external drives

@tin Thank you for the link for the breakout board, I shop with Automation Technologies before and never browsed through their driver section.

@fxdata I saw that driver on youtube pushing 2 nema 23's at once, looked promising but I couldn't find much information on them in regards to being used by other builders with good results.

The external drivers look like a great option but would it be possible to use the Azteeg x5 in combination with external drivers? I like the X5 because it is a 32 bit controller and seems to be a solid design in terms of quality.

If only the Alligator Board was up for sale, this board looks awesome!

5 Reply by grob (edited by grob 2014-10-21 03:21:05)

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Re: Printer board that handles Nema 23 stepper or supports external drives

You should be able to use most 3d printer motherboards with that Gecko driver directly, with a bit of fiddling.

Any board that uses the plug-in pololu driver boards (RAMPS, RUMBA, Azteeg X3 all included) - there are pins for step and direction in the driver board headers, and they output 5V logic levels. Just connect the headers on the board to the appropriate terminals on the external driver (e.g. that Gecko G251 suggested is easy, or via the DB25 port on the G540 you found (parallel ports run with 5V logic level).

As far as I can tell you don't absolutely need the opto-isolator interface for the parallel port if the system shares a signal ground: the 5V signal voltage is widely compatible. If you are worried about noise from the stepper driver unit impacting the controller board, then of course run them on separate supplies and use isolation.

Unfortunately those Gecko 251s have a disable pin instead of an enable pin, which from the description appears to be the same function but the logic is reversed - with some fiddling you could fix that:
(1) in the board's firmware, or
(2) with an electrical logic inverter (I just use a 2N7000 mosfet on a wee board when I have these problems...), or
(3) have the drivers permanently enabled (but not that this will maximise the thermal stress placed on your motors, I'd advise against this!).

http://www.pololu.com/product/1201
http://www.homanndesigns.com/store/inde … ucts_id=94

SD3. Mk2b + glass, heated enclosure, GT2 belts, direct drive y shaft, linear bearings, bowden-feed E3D v5 w/ 0.9° stepper
Smoothieboard via Octoprint on RPi

6 Reply by marco

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Re: Printer board that handles Nema 23 stepper or supports external drives

d2xhale wrote:

@tin If only the Alligator Board was up for sale, this board looks awesome!

Hi Friend,

the Alligator Board is now available on Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign smile

7 Reply by grob

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Re: Printer board that handles Nema 23 stepper or supports external drives

marco, are you involved in the development of the alligator? Welcome to the forum, please feel free to open up a thread in the 'buy/sell' section if you've got stuff to promote / announcements etc. smile

Have you guys compared your features to the smoothieboard? (it's notably missing from your comparison table - and represents probably the closest competitor I can think of...)

SD3. Mk2b + glass, heated enclosure, GT2 belts, direct drive y shaft, linear bearings, bowden-feed E3D v5 w/ 0.9° stepper
Smoothieboard via Octoprint on RPi

8 Reply by marco

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Re: Printer board that handles Nema 23 stepper or supports external drives

Hi grob,

nice to meet you smile
We are updating the campaign with smoothieboard comparison..

Thanks for your advice I will open a new topic in the 'buy/sell' section.