Cheap (economical) Stepper Driver Boards

I have several different machines running on EMC2 and one on Foamworks. I use four single axis drivers boards mounted in a diecast box for all of these - swapping from machine to machine sometimes for instance mounting my indexer on the lathe to do cylindrical engraving. This does involve much re-connection and moving kit about and even though the wiring is fairly simple it has resulted in several fatal escaping of smoke incidents at some cost. What I basically want to do is to have dedicated drivers at each bit of kit but as a hobbyist I do find this expensive in terms of driver boards. I am very happy with my collection of XP PC's with their 25 way Parallel ports and also have a collection of suitable power supplies But:
While seeking to source more economical single axis driver boards I stumbled upon 1 Axis Controller Stepper Motor Drivers TB6560 3A driver board for under £5 each. I have worked out these cannot be connected directly to the parallel port but am sure that they carry much of the circuitry and certainly the drive current element found in the more expensive driver cards. It seems to me that some simple interface device might be possible but this does pull me out of my comfort zone and certainly beyond my knowledge base.
So my question is: Has anyone worked out a simple way to interface the parallel port direction and step pins to these boards i.e. 1 Axis Controller Stepper Motor Drivers TB6560 3A
Cheers
Ken
PS it has been suggested that an arduino gismo could be used but being of advanced age I need to follow my KISS principle if I am to retain my marbles!

Hi,

A simple break-out board (BOB) may be all you need. In ebay, search for:

New 5 Axis CNC Breakout Board For Stepper Driver Controller Mach3

by using this board you should be able route the STEP/DIR from the parallel port over to the single axis drives.

There didn't seem to be any documentation on the ebay pages I found, so you'd have to check in to the board further to see if it will fit your needs.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff
Looking at "Upgrade Usb 5 Axis Cnc Breakout Board Interface Adapter For Stepper Motor Driver" I see the board together with cabling which seems to include a 25 way connector for the parallel port. I can envisage the breakout board being plugged into the PP on the PC and say four 1 Axis Controller Stepper Motor Drivers TB6560 3A driver boards connected to the relevant connectors, the Stepper motors connected to the appropriate connectors on the driver boards. From what I can envisage the breakout board must have the capability of translating the step and direction pulses from the parallel port into the correct format/logic signal in order to utilize the driver boards capability. Understanding this is beyond my present knowledge base but I am sure someone (I hate the expression "out there") will have the necessary in depth knowledge and experience to put me right. I can envisage some ladder program or algorithm using logic is required. The attached Power point file shows what I have in mind and where my lack of knowledge exists. I am only familiar with the PP setup using pins 1 through 9.
Best regards
Ken

Can't seem to add file

Hope this works
Ken
No it didn't what am doing wrong wonder

Hi,

This BOB just makes a convenient way to get the signals without having to solder to a DB25 connector. You *shouldn't* need any signal translation in between the PC and the drive board. Those board often have opt-isolator which simply means that you might need the signals coming from LinuxCNC to be "active low" Otherwise, the signal drive from the PC parallel port through the BOB should be enough to properly power the signal input to the drive board to change state and get motion.

I haven't used either the drive board you are referring to, or the BOB I mentioned. If you want to get them, I'd suggest finding the datasheet for both the drive board and the BOB and do a little studying.just to make sure they will do what you want.

Jeff

Thanks for that Jeff.
I can't see my attachment on my response. It does show differing connection scenarios and what is confusing me. Did you get it?
Regards
Ken
PS there seems to be a scarcity of data sheet/connection diagrams for these boards. I have a four channel driver from America and four drivers from Routout which clearly indicate connections etc.

Hi,

I have not received any document.

If you have a URL, just post that to the list instead.

Jeff

The document is an MS Powerpoint presentation. I will see what I can do





.www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CNC-Router-1-Axis-Con...rksid=p2054897.l5658
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/170926726867?lim...3=80&ff14=108&ff19=0

Hi,

All I see is ebay listings.

Jeff