Controller recomendation for Mach3

[skelator]

Hi,

I have been planning to buy ShapeOko 2 for a while I have been using those Chinese 3020 for a while now (bad investment), since I already have Mach3 and CamBam license it would be a waste not to use it with ShapeOko 2, any recommendation for controller?

I saw a few cheap chinese controller on ebay like this one

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CNC-3-5A-3-Axis ... 232c78b9d3

or this one with lcd

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CNC-Intelligent ... 33835525eb

right now I'm using this controller with my 3020T cnc

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CNC-3020-3040T- ... 2c6d452453

I could opt to keep the controller but it quite hard to sell a cnc machine without controller

[Improbable Construct]

I have had good luck with this style of driver:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 1413099580
Though others have received bad boards.

If you have the cash the Gecko G540 is an excellent driver An what I am currently using:
http://www.geckodrive.com/geckodrive-st ... /g540.html

[skelator]

I have had good luck with this style of driver:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 1413099580
Though others have received bad boards.

If you have the cash the Gecko G540 is an excellent driver An what I am currently using:
http://www.geckodrive.com/geckodrive-st ... /g540.html

Gecko indeed are best atm but my funding wont allow me to get it just yet need to get a new cnc first , will consider the controller you suggested and see how it goes, at least I have something to to get my work running first

thanks

[northbear]

I have been using individual TB6560 drivers with a breakout board on my LinuxCNC build without issue so far (only had it built 8 weeks or so). Should work with Mach3 as well. Went with these as it seems like a decent budget option and if I blow a driver for some reason I can replace them individually.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TB6560-3A-stepp ... 1210377837?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-5-Axis-CNC- ... 4ac5050f99

[skelator]

using separate stepper drive is also and option, just I don't think i up for the wiring and making a case for it, now I'm. using the current controller with the usb motion controller (UC100) work pretty well not problem yet, thank with the ssuggestion inkeep them all in mind

[northbear]

just I don't think i up for the wiring and making a case for it

You do have a point there. It did take me a while to wire it all up! As for a case I crammed it into the same computer case as was running LinuxCNC. Since it was a tight fit the wiring took even longer

[Brian]

I use the individual tb6600 drivers on my shapeoko but if wiring isn't your thing you can pink up the tb6600 4 ahis board on ebay for about $100. i have a 4 axis board powering my cnc plasma and it works great, as well as the individual tb6600 drivers on my shapeoko. mare sure its the tb6600 and not the crappy tb6560.

[Brian]

I use the individual tb6600 drivers on my shapeoko but if wiring isn't your thing you can pink up the tb6600 4 ahis board on ebay for about $100. i have a 4 axis board powering my cnc plasma and it works great, as well as the individual tb6600 drivers on my shapeoko. mare sure its the tb6600 and not the crappy tb6560.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intelligent-CNC ... 27dab8433c

Here is a link to the aforementioned 4 axis tb6600 driver. I personally use this bad boy on my 4x4 cnc plasma and it works like a champ. I went with the 4 individual drivers on my shapeoko as i wanted the extra outputs so i could set up the dust collector on a seperate relay to be controlled by mach.

[skelator]

thank man, that help me to decide just sold off my old cnc machine to a friend, now need to figure out how much import tax would it cost me before ordering, it a pain if I end-up have to pay 100% of tax from total amount of the machine, I dont see they have a nearer distributor to malaysia

[RonnFolk]

I have been using this one with Mach3. I had to rework the bad soldering, clean the massive amounts of flux off the PCB and put heat sink paste under the controller chips. BTW the G-code editing capability is a lie and a waste of money. It will not record gcode. I do like the control pad. the display is rather worthless. That said it is working great.
-Ronn