What is it?

A 3-axis stepper motor driver, meant to control CNC-stepper motors commonly found in 3D-printers and CNC-milling machines with a standard desktop PC running software like EMC (LinuxCNC) or Mach3. It is an alternative to the faulty CNC-controller boxes and boards commonly shipped with Chinese CNC-machines or the pricey but excellent Geckodrives.

It has a DB25-port for input of the step/direction/enable signals, a power jack to supply up to 24V of power to the stepper drives and features 3 4-pin outputs for stepper motors. It also has the microstepping-headers broken out, a power switch, LED power indicator and a 5VDC fan connector to optionally cool your stepper drivers (recommended).

The board can be used with all stepper drivers that conform to the popular Pololu-pinout, like Pololu's "stepper motor driver carriers", their clones, or the Open Source StepSticks. Comes as a kit without stepper drivers.

Why did you make it?

My Chinese CNC4030 milling machine came with a control box that was skipping steps. Another board (TB6560-based) also skipped steps. All other machines in my workshop (laser cutter, 3D printer, etc.) are Pololu-based. Like some other people I figured that Pololu-drivers would be more than capable of driving the stepper motors on the machine. Instead of spending some money on a Geckodrive or something similar, I took the challenge and designed the board. I guess other people can use this as well. Could also be used for robotics, automation or similar applications.

What makes it special?

Affordable, dependable, flexible control of your CNC-machine using the ubiquitous Pololu stepper drivers.