QUICK! Help with circuit! Nerds unite!!

[tybrenis]

Hey guys,

I have a quick question for you. I am working on my CNC machine tonight and I need to get the software working. The driver board for these is fairly simple, but I am awful with circuits. I've done a ton of research on it but I can't for the life of me figure out to hook up my stepper motor to which cables from the driver.

I know the power. Duh. I'm going to hook it up to 5v with an old psu. Problem solved. The smaller yellow and green cables are for the step control. I know that. Problem solved.

Now I need to know which cable goes to which. I've provided two pictures for you, the top and the bottom. Help please! My stepper motor (I believe) is unipolar, as it has 6 wires coming out of it. Pictures of that soon if I can.

Thanks again for some fast answers!


http://www.powerpackedpc.com/images/tbcs/CIMG0314.JPG
http://www.powerpackedpc.com/images/tbcs/CIMG0315.JPG

EDIT: By the way, the blue cable on the far left of the first pic splits into two cables towards the end of it.

[armadilloben]

sry man i have no skills with more or less anything that dosnt use soley power, switch or other easy stuff after it strays to drivers and stuff im lost lol

U HAVE A CNC MACHINE!!!!??!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?! can i come over to ure house
rofl
-ben

[tybrenis]

Ha. Thanks anyways. I will soon! I have been planning and researching for over a year, gathering and building since september.

[Slug Toy]

what sort of cnc machine is it? how many axes does it move on? what possessed you to build one?

[tybrenis]

Help with circuit first please!

It is a CNC router. 36" x 36" x 4" cutting area, 3 axis. I've always had an interest in manufacturing - hopefully this thing'll make some sick mods too!

[tybrenis]

I did it. I did it I did it I did it I did it.

I'm kinda excited. Okay. I'm ridiculously pumped. Video soon.

[Aero]

sweet Ty. How much did this cost you? So now you have a vaccum former and a CNC router, thats awesome. the college I'm attending next year has 3 professional CNC machines all hooked up with CAD. unfortunately I doubt they will let me near them for modding purposes.

[Zephik]

haha! Well done Tybrenis! How did you do it?

[tybrenis]

This whole project will probably cost me about 300-400 dollars in supplies.... however, I think I can build one for a lot less. In the beginning I bought a lot of parts for the machine then I decided to change directions and I had to order new parts, which meant new dimensions, which meant new bearings etc. blah blah.

The stepper controller cost less than 5 dollars a piece to build, you need one per axis, so 15 dollars will control all 3 of my axis. Commercial controllers sell in the hundreds... =D

How did I get this working? Simple really, in the end. I simply took my multimeter and measured the resistance of the cables by hooking up the negative to one cable and then touching the positive probe to another cable. For each cable, it had two matches. One was 10 ohms, one was 5 ohms.

I paired all the five ohms matches and connected them and I was left with two open cables that hadn't been connected yet. Those are the two red ones. The red ones are for direction I found out. So, when you have Red 1 then Red 2, it turns clockwise. When you have Red 2 then Red 1, it turns counter clockwise.

As I said before, I'll get a video tomorrow. It'll be even cooler when they're hooked up to my computer.... and then even cooler when their being used to cut a custom acrylic computer case.... =D

[Zephik]

That... is so damn cool. lol

I can't wait for those videos!

[Slug Toy]

i might consider trying something like this eventually. a cnc machine is a must-have household item these days.

[ESX]

i might consider trying something like this eventually. a cnc machine is a must-have household item these days.
You said it buddy! I wish I had one, or at least access to one.

[GT40_GearHead]

congratulations man, I can't wayt to see the first piece :D

[jdbnsn]

Hey Ty,

That is one hell of an accomplishment! I would love to come check it out sometime. Found this while searching for something else and thought you'd get a kick out of it.

http://laptops.hackaday.com/2006/11/12/make-a-badass-cnc-mill/