Bipolar Microstep 48 volt 5Amp /phase, 4 axis board

[kreutz]

Any interest in a bipolar micro-step 5 Amp/phase 48 volts (maximum), 4 Axis board?

Specs:

Micro-step mode:

Full, half, 1/4, 1/8, 1/5, 1/10 and 1/16

Automatic maximum torque feature (peak to RMS compensation) depending on stepping mode and speed.

Micro-step reference waveform "morphing" depending on speed.

Independent screw terminal outputs for unused PC parallel port pins.

Charge pump (software monitoring feature) on board (for Mach3).

Over-Current, over-temperature and over-voltage protection per axis.

Opto isolated Step /Direction and Enable signals.

Target introductory prices:

Kit: $140.00

Assembled and tested: $180.00

The board is based on an improved version of the "Mardus-Kreutz" translator.

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[atlab]

Any interest in a bipolar micro-step 5 Amp/phase 48 volts (maximum), 4 Axis board?

...
The board is based on an improved version of the "Mardus-Kreutz" translator.

What type of current decay (fast, slow, mixed) you are released?

[kreutz]

What type of current decay (fast, slow, mixed) you are released?

Mixed current decay, % mixed decay proportional to motor speed.

[Lnz69]

All 4 axis for $140 ??
Very interesting !
Are you using always mosfet like IRF.... ??

[max_imum2000]

i think that will fill in a gap,
with that price it will be great
tell us more
are you using fets? or driver ic ?
any website/pics we can take a look at it ?

thanks

[kreutz]

All 4 axis for $140 ??
Very interesting !
Are you using always mosfet like IRF.... ??

No, this time it is an integrated solution. The prices are target prices, I hope we won't have to increase them, it all depends on demand.

[kreutz]

i think that will fill in a gap,
with that price it will be great
tell us more
are you using fets? or driver ic ?
any website/pics we can take a look at it ?

thanks

This design effort is more about the translator's features than the power part. The whole board is still on my mind drawing board. The driver will be made of two integrated H bridges per axis and a dual chopper. The translator is what includes almost all the features.

I just want to know if it had some acceptance before committing my time to this design. The whole idea came out while trying to help a fellow engineer, who was laid off last week (and needs the income). In order to make sure this is going to help her, I need to know if it has some demand in our community.

[ger21]

I'd sell my Xylotex and buy one. Then I could run my motors at 4.6 amps bipolar parallel instead of 2.3 amp series and probably double my top speed.

[max_imum2000]

sorry but what is a translator ?

i would say go for it, i will remove my 2 hobbycnc boards and use yours , power with these unipolar motor will surly increase.

but i think you should also provide 3 axis board with even less price
as 35$/axis
maybe the 3 axis board should be 100$ or so for the kit.

keep on the good news

[SCHootie]

I think you'd have a lot of interest. Most of the steppers I've considered aren't being fully utilized using the available drives barring the Gecko's.

[phantomcow2]

If you can do it, it would be pretty nice. I would get one for sure

[kreutz]

sorry but what is a translator ?

i would say go for it, i will remove my 2 hobbycnc boards and use yours , power with these unipolar motor will surly increase.

but i think you should also provide 3 axis board with even less price
as 35$/axis
maybe the 3 axis board should be 100$ or so for the kit.

keep on the good news

The translator is the part of the driver that converts Step-Direction input into the mosfet driver switching sequence and provides the reference waveforms for micro-stepping. In our case it does a little more than that, because of the morphing and automatic peak to RMS reference compensation depending on the micro-step mode (what we call automatic torque compensation) also takes care of the Fast/Slow/Mixed decay selection depending on the step sequence quadrant and speed.

Since it is intended to be both, a kit and assembled board, you can get a kit and depopulate the fourth axis. If you get the assembled board you can disable any of the them.

[max_imum2000]

thanks for the explnation
i think the translator is a microcontroller (avr or pic) ?

about the 4th axis beeing there or not, its not for me , i can always make use of extra spare electronic parts
its just a thought , that you will get even to more people buying your board that they only need 3 axis and dont want to pay for the 4th.

for me a 5th axis will even looks better

so when do we expect to see something ?

[ger21]

The 4th axis would be mandatory for me.

[patmul]

With those features and price, I'm in!!

Let us know when you have them available.

FWIW:

Give the board a good, not too cute name, and create a small web site for support.

If it works as advertised, word-of-mouth (word-of-email?) alone will find you selling many, many boards!

Good Luck

-Pat-

[evena4]

If the power end is comprised of discrete components like FETs or Driver ICS, it could be possible to create a 4-axis board and leave the 4th axis drive section unstuffed to sell a 3-axis board at a slightly reduced price.....

You may want to consider that when laying out the board design. Catering to the hobby crowd without the expense of 2 circuit boards may be the way to go....

[vacpress]

i would consider such a board very very strongly.. this would indeed 'fill a gap'.

the xylotex boards used to be a great deal... now that memory makes the current pricing seem steep in terms of cost vs features...

your proposed board has just enough extra power for these 400 oz/in NEMA23s that are now widely available.

Please design, produce, and release this board, by next week!

[pminmo]

8 L6203's at $11 each (digikey), a 4 layer pcb big enough to handle the components and currents, processors, connectors etc, for $150 ?

[kreutz]

8 L6203's at $11 each (digikey), a 4 layer pcb big enough to handle the components and currents, processors, connectors etc, for $150 ?

That is why producing a 3 axis board at a reduced price will no do the math. It is all about buying the parts in large quantities and passing the savings to the buyer, but it has a limit, my friend also needs the income. That also is why I wanted to explore the market before committing myself to help working on this design. The prices I gave before were target prices, I still think we can keep those prices if we get enough sales volume.


Thank you all for letting me know what you think about this!!

[ger21]

You would think that a lot of the guys building routers would jump at this. Possibly 2-3 times the performance of a Xylotex for just a little more money. For a lot of people, Geckos are a bit more than they want to spend and this would fill the void that's existed for a long time.