I feel I need to post an update to my driver board evaluation. When I last posted I had not gotten any kind of performance out of the device, that made me happy. So I fiddled around with my clock pulse circuit I was using some. Then I messed with that some more. Now I have to say the drive is running great.
It has torque at high RPM. I haven’t put a scope on it yet, to measure exactly how fast it is going. Faster than I’d drive the lead screws of my machine, that’s for sure. Beyond that, what does it really matter? I will have to scope it though, just to get the sweet pulse width timing. Of course this drive comes with no decent documentation. None at all really. OK if you look there is a Chinese manual online. I have run it through Google Translate, and it is less than informative. But I am working on that some.
For me to give any more definitive information I would have to install these drives on my machine. Right now I only have the one. So I’d have to get more. But I can say this, it is a quiet drive. It does not make the harmonic howling sounds like my TB6560 drives do. Which for me is a big plus. Listening to my CNC machine now can drive me nuts.
This drive also appears to have some kind of low speed current compensation built into it too. The current drops off at lower power outputs. That is nice.
For the money there’s probably better drives out there. At least that is how I feel right now. But I have not run them myself. I have a totally different drive on the way to me now, which I plan to check out, when it arrives. Then based on how I feel about everything I’ll order enough drives so that I can upgrade my machine.
I’ll see what is up when the other drive gets here. This one is not entirely terrible though in my opinion. The other drive has something here to beat. I can see myself going with these mystery drives too. Because I still don’t know what driver IC they have on them. It ain’t no TB6600 though, that’s for sure! It is some kind of counterfeit Chinese deal. But in this case that is not entirely a bad thing. Well, I’ll see. The other drive I am getting has something that at least looks like a TB6600 on it. Although the odds of it being authentic are slim, to none.
We are talking about direct from the Far East Chinese gray market goods here after all. The West was never so wild as manufacturing is there right now.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Upgrade-Plate-4257-TB6600-TB6560-stepper-motor-driver-drives-the-plate-4A-32-segments/32614148725.html
Let me know if you ever want to try a THB6064 driver KIT… $35 to build, $10 to repair (chip replacement). 4 A, 50 V, 200 watts (continuous, not peak) and if you post a review, I’ll refund the purchase. I think people would be interested to see a comparison.
@James_Newton
Isn’t a THB6064 a souped up TB6560AHQ made under license by an outside manufacturer? I wasn’t even going to upgrade my drives, but at one point one of my drives was giving me a bit of trouble so I ordered a couple to replace it, and one thing lead to another.
I ended up fixing that drive in the interim. But decided to order another and replace all drives.
I still don’t even have them on my machine yet. As I am still in the process of working out the new powering scheme these drives need. Long story. I am working on it.
I could have been done already too, but I want to isolation route the board for my step down converter, and I am running into some teething pains with that. It will be my first routed board, if I ever manage to finish it.
So far I’m still hopeful. Right now I am making a planed pallet to hold the board level on my machine. OK right now I am cleaning up my Y axis wiring rig preparatory to planing that pallet. But I’m getting there.
Here’s one test I routed into a scrap piece of hardboard. http://i.imgur.com/V2giEAp.jpg It is somewhat encouraging. I still need to control my depth better.
@Paul_Frederick Yes, it’s souped up in several ways, and one of the most important is power on sequence protection. The TB6560 datasheet specifically says that logic power MUST be applied before motor power… otherwise the driver can lock up and fry… which they do, about one time in 100. THB6460’s don’t have that issue. They also have higher power, better heatsinking, automatically standby, etc… and… here is the real secret: Those TB6560 drivers would begin to drive the power they are claiming. They overheat and shut down far before that. The 6460 really will drive 200 watts (more actually) without failing, given a solid heatsink. My THB6460 drivers are running 3D printers big enough to print houses out of concrete:
http://www.ecomorder.com/Techref/io/stepper/THB6064/gallery.htm
@James_Newton
are those chips even still available? I thought it was a limited run made by an outside fabricator under license from Toshiba. Because when I went looking for them they’re dried up now. TB6600s are everywhere. I already bought a PSU suitable for the 6600s. My machine does not warrant anything more powerful than those either. It really runs OK on my 6560s. But the 6600s will offer a marginal boost over them. More headroom than anything else.
@James_Newton
are they still in production? The THB6064 is a very niche item. I was unable to source them from other suppliers. I tend to shy away from rare, and unique hardware due to the position that puts me in. There are benefits to going with the commonplace.
@Paul_Frederick They are very much still in production. I order them regularly directly from the mfgr because I have a long time relationship with them.
There are also knockoffs available from China, which I very much recommend avoiding.
Ask me how I know:
That is scary stuff. Counterfeit electronic devices are rampant today. I watched a Dave Jones video where he got some fake parts from a major supplier. Digikey I think? So there is no guarantee these days. Not even if you buy from a reputable supplier, and pay top dollar too.
At one point in your video the fake packaging looked better than the real thing. But the truth often lies in the performance. Or lack of it.
