Nema 17 Stepper Motor Driver (Help)

[Ahmad_k]

For those who have made a DIY pcb milling machine.

Can anyone recommend a nema17 stepper motor driver ? I saw a lot of chinese cheap drivers but the reviews do not recommend them because of missing steps and heating issues.

All of them are based on TB6600 or TB6560. Did anyone try these drivers ?

There is a new chip THB6064 which looks promising. Rated at 5A with no missing steps and no heating issue but it is big for my 1.7A nema17 stepper motor

[CocaCola]

I can't comment much on the 'missing steps' beyond the fact there are tons of 'tutorials' to be found that seem to address and fix the issue with a little modding...  As far as heating issues, yeah most of the cheap Asian models lack proper heat sinking, not surprising as that would drive up the cost...  But, I have seen quite a few of these cheap driver boards last quite a long time if the builder installs some additional and better heat sinks with fans pushing/pulling across them...  For the price you can get them they really can't be beat and you can have a backup driver board on hand without killing the bank...

[mars01]

Ahmad, you can build the THB6064 driver that I posted on the Project section. http://www.sonsivri.to/forum/index.php?topic=62478.0
It works very well, actually I kind of forgot about it   You can modify it to use those connectors: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/20-Set-Lot-3-5MM-PITCH-PLUGGABLE-TERMINAL-BLOCKS-CONNECTOR-2-3-4-5-10-24P/32620149246.html
Much nicer to plug the motors ...

I just bought a few of these to have as backup, just in case: http://www.ebay.com/itm/TB6600-Single-Axis-4A-Stepper-Motor-Driver-Controller-9-40V-Micro-Step-CNC-/282298461911?hash=item41ba4caed7:g:6vMAAOSw241YWhqN

They are misleading marked as using TB6600. I opened one and  I found that there is a tiny QFN chip instead of the big TB6600: TB67S109AFTG
https://www.google.ro/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwidzMSPn_vRAhUJQpoKHRaGA58QFggYMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftoshiba.semicon-storage.com%2Finfo%2Fdocget.jsp%3Fdid%3D14642%26prodName%3DTB67S109AFTG&usg=AFQjCNFaGDDMfpiXl6x0V11QgZu5HKiC3g&sig2=HRvGljP1qR98rstlpDl8kA&bvm=bv.146094739,d.bGs

I did not had the time to check them yet, but intend to in the next few days.
But what I can say that the interface between the QFN chip and the heatsink is a small piece of aluminium like 10mm x 50mm x 50mm. They used thermal paste but they put a LOT. I think I will mod them by replacing this piece of aluminium with copper and polish the heatsink / interface piece.

In any case, for the price I paid ... they are OK ... just in case you want to buy them too.

LE: pay attention on what they say on datasheet: "Note) Please be careful about thermal conditions during use."

LLE: You can use the small modules sold by chinese with DRV8825, like those: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3D-Printer-Stepstick-Drv8825-Stepper-Motor-Driver-Reprap-4-PCB-Board-Free-shipping/1640967987.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.19.Lglbz7&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_3_10065_10068_10000032_119_10000025_10000029_430_10000028_10060_10062_10056_10055_10000062_10054_301_10059_10099_10000022_10000012_10103_10000015_10102_10096_10000018_10000019_10000056_10000059_10052_10053_10107_10050_10106_10051_10000053_10000007_10000050_10084_10083_10000047_10080_10082_10081_10110_10111_10112_10113_10114_10115_10037_10000041_10000044_10078_10079_10077_10000038_429_10073_10000035_10121,searchweb201603_10,afswitch_1,single_sort_2_default&btsid=bf972c58-4a17-4060-b50a-18e011b89db5

But be careful, you will need to make some mods on the boards. They are set by default in the mixed decay mode which is reported to give missing steps. You will have to change that to fast decay settings which is reported to work OK.
http://www.morgan3dp.com/stepstuck-revisited-drv8825/

Some other fixes are mentioned here: http://cabristor.blogspot.ro/2015/02/drv8825-missing-steps.html

I also have some of these with mod's but I also soldered pieces of copper sheet on the back of board as extra heatsinks, and have a cooler blowing toward them to keep them "cool & happy". 

[Ahmad_k]

I have two THB6064 chip and now i'm working on the PCB (single side) for testing purpose

The THB6064 chip itself cost 6$ when you can buy a built TB6600 driver for 7$

[mars01]

If you make your own schematic/PCB then make sure to add one logic power supply for each THB6064AH (you can use cheap one like AMS1117). This way is much safer.
Also, add a big capacitor on the motor voltage, like 4700uF/63V. It will help to make the power down process much smoother (no longer unexpected movement from the steppers).

[Ahmad_k]

If you make your own schematic/PCB then make sure to add one logic power supply for each THB6064AH (you can use cheap one like AMS1117). This way is much safer.
Also, add a big capacitor on the motor voltage, like 4700uF/63V. It will help to make the power down process much smoother (no longer unexpected movement from the steppers).

Yes this is what i did

[Sideshow Bob]

Just wondering how would some modern PC CPU coolers perform here. In a new design using TB67S109AFTG i could be a nice twist. It could be more problematic if using a package like HZIP25-P-1.00F or simlar

[mars01]

I think that everything is depending on the quality of the silicon. Coming from the Aliexpress/eBay source, I have no expectations.

If I were to make a new design I will make one based on DRV8711 http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/slvsc40f/slvsc40f.pdf
Although it will add 8 mosfet's for a bipolar motor and it will require a sort of controller (a PIC or an Arduino etc) + LCD to set everything (decay, decay delay, microstepping and so on). A controller here is good because it will allow fine tuning of a CNC system on each axis (different motors with different inductance, different moved mass) in order to lower the resonance.