Chinese tb6560 driver board

[lensman57]

Hi to everyone,

On the way to converting the X1 to cnc, I eventually managed to get the driver board to communicate with the MACH3 in jog mode. This board is the red version of the TB6560 chip and it arrived from Hongkong without any documentation or instruction whatsoever even though I had requested the manual twice from the vendor. I post the link that I found usefull in resolving some of the issues with this board and I hope it is of some help with others whom have bought this driver and I hope that the administrators do not mind.
http://wiki.zentoolworks.com/index.php/Troubleshooting_Tips
There are still some issues with the current and step settings that I am not sure about, The board in the link is a different version but the settings seem to work.

Best Regards,

A.G

 

[ShedBoy]

I have heard some conflicting stories regarding this driver, alot seems to be about how sensitive they are to voltage spikes. I would like to see more info on this board so keeps us informed. Have you posted pictures in the cnc zone?
Brock

 

[ShedBoy]

Just found the thread
Brock

 

[lensman57]

Hi Brock,

I have read all those reports too. Some claim that the 3 axis ones work OK but the 4 axis boards have problems. There is a guy on cnc zone who has actually repaired his board by adding a buffer of some sort. I am very new to all this but will keep everyone informed the best I can. I also have another one of these TB6560 boards but that one is a blue PCB that seem to have problems. Will be in touch.

Regards,

A.G

 

[warranator]

Had one of these drivers, sent it back and bought a Gecko G540. Had endless hassles with the TB6560. Just my 2c worth..

 

[HS93]

Had one of these drivers, sent it back and bought a Gecko G540. Had endless hassles with the TB6560. Just my 2c worth..

How are you finding the 540, I am just about to try and set it up on a small gantry mill from widgetmaster (one of the last I think) just finishing the micro switches off what a pig that was as it is very small.

Is there anything to look out for ?

thanks

Peter

 

[warranator]

Peter

The G540 has been perfect and straight forward, nothing really to look out for and if you do have any hassles there is so much support available. I found mine was getting warm when I was doing carvings with 100 000 plus lines so I bought the after market fan kit and now it is sweet.

Warren

 

[lensman57]

Hi Warren,

I had sourced these GECKO 540 drives here in the UK but the price for me was prohibitive, it is £296.00 plus shipping (approx $500.00) and then I needed the power supply. The whole Chinese TB6560 cost me just over £63.00 including the power supply so I thought it was worth taking a chance, some people have managed to get them working OK. Anyhow if this thing doesn't work out in practice there is always the Gecko or some other option.

Regards,

A.G

 

[warranator]

Hi AG

The Gecko dealers in the UK must be making a killing. The Driver and PS can be bought direct from the US for about US$250 plus shipping but I do see your point about the TB6560 with that kind of price. I did get mine to work but it was time consuming and frustrating and then after all that the motors made this horrendous screech when running and when idle which I was told is normal.
Have you got it to work yet? I still have all my documentation and settings if you need them.

Cheers

 

[salzburg]

You need to buy the TB6560 from ebay seller carolbrent. He is an american and sends you a dvd showing the test results of the board he
is sending you and it only costs you $ 10.00 dollars more than a chinese dealer would charge you. Included in the dvd is the setup of the board
and the setup with mach3. My board works great.

 

[Herbiev]

Hi all. I just ordered a TB6560 from a dealer in Hong Kong. It set me back $51.00 including postage. Im really looking forward to receiving it and hope i dont get one of the duds. Nothing worse than messing about with warranties. So far it sounds like most boards are ok with just a few duds floating around. Thanks to everyone that posted info on the technical aspects and i will let everyone know how it goes

 

[Tin Falcon]

As many of you know I went the Geckco 540 route. but I did consider xloteck etc.I can see the appeal of less than $50 for a board compared to $300 or more for the G540. especially for the Europe,UK and Ausie folks although Holman Designs out of Australia is a Gecko dealer and IIRC the prices are competitive He even had a sale when he first offered the line.
An from what I have heard the cheap boards do work but do not push them to the limits. this is a hobby for fun and the funds for fun are sometimes limited. I am looking forward to successful reports.
Tin

 

[warranator]

I imported mine from the US about 8 months ago and paid AU$240 all up with postage.

 

[lensman57]

Hi to all,

I rigged up the board with three 1.8 NM-2.1A steppers ( bipolar series) and the parallel port to Mach3. Using the wizard for a circular cut I gave the board a try and it seems to be working and following the commands from Mach3, the motors are not however connected to my X1 yet as I have not bored the flanges for the bearings . So as of yet I still don't know how they will perform in the real world.
Will keep you all informed.
As for the settings and the config files any help is greatly appreciated.
By the way I just got a quote for a Sherline 5400 cnc ready mill without any tooling or accessories from the agents guess what its £970.00 plus shipping this is nearly $1500.00, I guess the X1 will be with me for a long while yet.

Regards,

A.G

 

[tractionengine42]

Hi
I converted my sherline, after a long and frustrating journey, the Gecko 540 with a PMDX PCI card was the answer to my problems, this works perfect.
I live in the UK but work in Singapore several months of the year so have a workshop in both locations. The G540 was 350 SGD about 175GBP. UK price is stupid.

My Journey
At first I bought a 4 axis 'sherline' drive control from hongkong via ebay. One drive did not work (after weeks of hassle they sent me a replacement but it was a servo motor driver instead of a stepper motor driver). I used the 3 working drivers and blow 2 computers each after about 10 mins running with mach3. So I have put this to one side for now. I will change the BOB for a cnc4U later as I am sure the one supplied, which has very few components on it, is junk and is the problem.

So I bought the G540 (and another 2nd hand computer) to get up and running quicker, my PC does not have a printerport so I am Using a PCI card. The G540 needs the printer port set to EPP, my cheap ECP/EPP compatible PCI card could not be manually configured and windows was not setting it automatically probably because it does not recognise the driver so the G540 was not working correctly I replaced the PCI card for one from PMDX which worked fine with the G540.
Now I am having a great cnc time.


Nigel

 

[Tin Falcon]

Nigel thanks for sharing your cnc experience. Please do post an introduction in the welcome sub-fora. tell us a bit about yourself your shop(s) and your interests in model engine building. and engines you have built or plan to . an intro will allow us to give a proper welcome.
Tin

 

[lensman57]

Hi Nigel,

Thanks for sharing your story.
A while a go a vendor on eBay was advertising a Sherline 5401 , I think, and whole lot of tooling and accessories for Just over £800.00 but the shipping was ridiculous. On top of all that there is the VAT and the import tax to pay so I left it alone. I think the guy was in Malaysia but I could be wrong.
As for the Gecko 540 what kind of steppers are u using and what is the current load of the motors?
A lot of the Chinese stepper motors that are on the UK market seem to be rated at 4.2A in Bipolar parallel or 2.1A in Bipolar series these include the 1.8NM ones that I have.
How are you using yours?

Regards,
A.G

 

[Tin Falcon]

the g540 is rated @ 3.5 amp per axis and has current limiting resistors so you can limit them to 2 or whatever. If I was doing it again I would buy the motors from gecko IIRC $ 59 ea or $55 ea if you buy four. IMHO a good value . But I know it is not easy for you guys to import things taxes etc.
Tin

 

[tractionengine42]

Hi AG
My can't be sure about my motors being bipolar or unipolar, they are 4 wire units, not sure if that means the bipolar or unipolar is pre-wired. They came with the controller as part of the Hongkong Sherline conversion kit I have put to one side, I think I can recall something about them being bi-polar but not sure.
Anyway, they are 3 amp and I installed a current limiting resistor as mentioned above by another poster. It's all quite well explained in the G540 documentation available on the website.

I had no problems setting up the G540 once I got my PCI card sorted.

I would seriously consider a smoother stepper next time so that the USB can be used, I hear these work very well. (As usual, knowledge after the event)

Some guys I know in Singapore are building dedicated computers using an "Intel D525MW Mini ITX Motherboard with 1.8Ghz Dual Core Atom 525 CPU" with seemingly good results (for those more computer savi than me). They are using the G540 driver, I think this transpired after another user had the same PCI card problem as me.

Cheers for now

Nigel

 

[lensman57]

Hi Nigel,

Many thanks for the info.

Regards,

A.G