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  #1  
Old Fri 02 February 2007, 17:49
Kim Mortensen
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Motion Control Products Ltd (Bournemouth England)

Anyone has any experiense with these.. I can get a 4.2Amp 50v Microstepping driver for 39 pounds sterling. That's about 70 dollars a piece.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-2A-50V-Microstepping-Stepper-driver_W0QQitemZ13007038200 6QQihZ003QQcategoryZ42899QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item1 30070382006
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  #2  
Old Fri 02 February 2007, 21:10
Gerald_D
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I have bought from that company before and it was a pleasure to do business with them. (Their one sales guy is from my country and speaks my language :-)). (a friend is not happy with their handling of a dud driver from them?). I have no experience of that particular driver though.

There are some comments about that drive on the CNCzone forum - some say the 4.2 Amp is "peak" and should drive no more than a 3 Amp motor.
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  #3  
Old Mon 05 February 2007, 03:45
Kim Mortensen
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The it should be good enough to drive the steppers on the mechmate... as they only take max 2 amps per phase using the vexta motors....
And the Motionking dows only 2.7Amps per phase...
I think I'm going to try them out, I can always resell them If I don't think they are good enough...
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  #4  
Old Mon 05 February 2007, 10:38
Mike Richards
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Kim,
I know that most money-trees became extinct years ago, but I would suggent that if you can, find the funds to buy Orient Motor steppers and Gecko stepper drivers. They've been proven to work all day every day without fail (barring malicious meddling). Having proven components will make your life so much easier. You'll be able to get help from a number of other users who have parts identical to yours. In my experience, that alone is worth the cost of the Oriental Motor steppers and the Gecko stepper drivers.
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  #5  
Old Mon 05 February 2007, 11:07
Gerald_D
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Mike, your perspective is influenced by the fact that you are near to Geckodrives and an excellent Oriental Motor distribution center. Guys like Kim and I don't have those luxuries and we tend to shop around and experiment a lot - sometimes we are lucky, sometimes not. We do this being fully aware of the risks in not following conventional wisdom.

I lost $800 on a USA shipment that did not arrive. But I have friends and family regularly commuting from the UK and thus shopping at Motion Control Products is a reliable option for me (and probably Kim as well).
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  #6  
Old Thu 26 April 2007, 15:39
Håvard
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Well, I tried to order the MSD542 Microstepping Driver (4.2A 50V) at £28.50 (US$60) however they wanted £60(US$120) for shipping across the north sea... Given the website said the cost would be £30 and I was quoted US$30 for shipping of 4 gecko drivers from the US, this is ridiculous. It brings the cost pr. driver up to $90, by then I'd rather spend a hundred dollars more for four gecko 201s because they are far better value IMHO.
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  #7  
Old Tue 12 February 2008, 09:15
hignog
Just call me: Andrew
 
Dorchester
United Kingdom
I have been using the MSD542 for the last ten months and have bought over 300 of them.

Regarding the current settings, dont get confused, when you have a 4.2A motor in series you set it to 4.2A (Peak)
The MSD542 is not a 3A driver it is a 4.2A driver.

Regarding the argument that you should spend more money on you motors and driver to get the best ,because it will last longer and cost you less money in the long run.
Dont make me laugh, I used to use Pacific Scientific motors with IMS drivers, i decided to then use Gecko drivers to save money, and while they were not as good on the performance side, they were half the price.
I did have more failures but the price was half, so what do you expect, i then started to buy chinese motors from Motion control, and did not notice any difference on my application, and was paying a quater of what i was paying before.
I would also point out that i have only had about 4-5 motors fail in three years and over 1000 motors used.
I then tried the MSD542, and found i could save a bit more money, and have been using them for the last 10 months, and touch wood have not had any problems.

I would not consider myself a motion control fanboy, but they do have some good products that are very competatively priced.
The only real problems i have had with Motion control is sometimes they say they have stock, and sometimes you have to wait for it.
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  #8  
Old Tue 12 February 2008, 11:01
Doug_Ford
Just call me: Doug #3
 
Conway (Arkansas)
United States of America
Thanks for the input Andrew. I'm thinking about going with Motion Control next time I buy some motors. Good to know they are fairly good quality.
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  #9  
Old Tue 12 February 2008, 12:01
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Andrew, what are you using all the motors and drives for?
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  #10  
Old Wed 13 February 2008, 03:21
hignog
Just call me: Andrew
 
Dorchester
United Kingdom
we use them on a number of machines, but mainly on printing machines
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  #11  
Old Wed 13 February 2008, 04:24
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Which I presume run at fairly constant speeds? Do the drives/motors have to do much running at the resonant frequency of the stepper motors, and do the drives have compensation methods for dealing with this resonance?
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  #12  
Old Thu 14 February 2008, 08:04
hignog
Just call me: Andrew
 
Dorchester
United Kingdom
most of the time i run them quite fast, so dont have any problem with resonance, i dont know if they have anti resonance circuitry, you will have to ask mcp. I would presume they do.
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  #13  
Old Thu 14 February 2008, 09:28
Richards
Just call me: Mike
 
South Jordan, UT
United States of America
The only way that I know of checking for resonance is to run the motors at a variety of slow speeds for a length of time. For instance, running the motors at 1/4-inch per second increments would show at which speeds the motor resonates. (For those who claim that they would never run a motor at 1/2-inch per second, keep in mind that if you gave the command, G01 X90 Y10 F300, the Y-axis would be moving at 1/2-inch per second.)
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  #14  
Old Thu 14 February 2008, 10:35
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Yes, motors & drives for a CNC table have to perform across the whole speed range - from holding an axis stationary, through creeping along, all the way to running flat out. Somewhere through that speed range, ANY stepper motor will have an attempt at resonating, and it is only the drive that can limit it.

Gecko considered producing a cheaper drive without resonance compensation, but they were soon told that they can't leave that out because that is the major thing that sets them apart. See the replies this post by Mariss.
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