4 Axis TB6560 CNC Stepper Motor Driver Board Controller
NOTE: This stepper driver board is HIGHLY experimental within the reprap community ( less than 3 known users, none 100% satisfied with their configuration yet)
NOTE: When I contacted ebay seller about the faulty driver board (they delayed sending me replacement) he told he they had received 3 faulty boards at once and were asking which one is mine
NOTE: During tests I managed to kill 3 different TB6560 drivers (one by just hooking scope to the output)
NOTE: This board is closed source, which means we'll have oodles of trouble printing it.
here is the original manufacturer's site, in chinese
google translation of the above site
TIP: the model commonly used appears to be a HY-TB4DV-M.
The 'TB' means it uses the 6560 chip ( TA means the TA8435 chip, which is also used on a similar board). The '4' means the number of channels. The -M and -N boards have different physical layouts, and may be different revisions of the same basic design, not sure?
Input Power | 12 - 36V DC Note that many forums state that this board dies in smoke if powered over 24V |
Stepper motor drive current | 1.5A - 3A/phase |
Drive type | Double-pole constant flow PWM actuation output |
Compatible Stepper motors | 2 or 4 phase, 4,6 or 8 lead stepper motors, 3A max. |
Dimensions | 18 * 11 * 4 cm (L*W*H) |
The pinount in the provided document was wrong (completely) so I traced the pcb for real values and here they are:
Pin | LPT | Driver |
1 | (strobe) | X-CW/CCW |
2 | (D0) | RELAY (heater) |
3 | (D1) | Z-CLK (step) |
4 | (D2) | X-ENABLE |
5 | (D3) | Z-ENABLE |
6 | (D4) | Z-CW/CCW (direction) |
7 | (D5) | Y-CW/CCW (direction) |
8 | (D6) | E-CW/CCW (direction) |
9 | (D7) | E-CLK (step) |
10 | (ACK) | INPUT (limit switch) |
11 | (BUSY) | INPUT (limit switch) |
12 | (PE) | INUPT (limit switch) |
13 | (SEL) | INPUT (limit/stop switch) |
14 | (AFEED) | Y-CLK (step) |
15 | (ERROR) | N/C |
16 | (INIT) | X-CLK (step) |
17 | (SELIN) | Y-ENABLE |
18 | GND | GND |
19 | GND | GND |
20 | GND | GND |
21 | GND | GND |
22 | GND | GND |
23 | GND | GND |
24 | GND | GND |
25 | GND | GND |
You may find that the fourth stepper driver enable pin is not available on the DB25 connector. If so, it is on the DB15 at pin 1.
ALTERNATE: In some revisions at least, the enable pin for the fourth driver/channel is *SHARED* with the enable pin for the third channel ( assuming you wire them in the order XYZE, it means that your Z and E drivers share their enable line ).
-Also i received aboard this week that had pin 17 inverted for y axis to be enabled. -james villeneuve (edited 12/6/2010) - if you use a stepper board, be sure to test the configuration out quickly with a parallel port program. my preference is to test with mach3, it is open source and easy to configure in windows. it is however not open source. i would use emc2 to test it if you are in linux. setup example for emc2 is here: http://makeyourbot.blogspot.com/2010/02/making-emc-do-printer-dance.html mach3 free demo version here (full test but 500 gcode limit) here: http://www.machsupport.com/downloads.php I am not associated with mach3, and only use it here for reference. feel free to edit or remove mach3 comments if it is not appropriate. james villeneuve profounddevices 12/6/2010
another issue, is people need to common both the electronics and the controller to a common gnd. do this by having pin 25gnd, connect to arduino gnd.
Pin | CNC |
1 | E-ENABLE |
Note: The enable pin's are pulled high so if you do not drive them all drivers are enabled by default.
[ -> not necessarily true. i have found that i need to ensure that they are driven high/low whatever state is enabled.
also in reprap firmware you need to make it non inverting enabled. reprap gen 3 is inverted for enabled. these electronics are non inverted for enabled. (james villeneuve) 1/19/2011]
Current Setting | 1 | 2 | Decay Mode Settings | 3 | 4 | MicroStep Settings | 5 | 6 |
100% | ON | ON | FAST | ON | ON | 1 | ON | ON |
75% | ON | OFF | 25% | ON | OFF | 1/2 | ON | OFF |
50% | OFF | ON | 50% | OFF | ON | 1/8 | OFF | ON |
25% | OFF | OFF | SLOW | OFF | OFF | 1/16 | OFF | OFF |
The currently recommended settings for the DIP switches are:
X & Y axis: 25% Current, Slow Decay Mode, No Microstepping ( ie use Microstepping value of 1 ) ie: OFF,OFF,OFF,OFF,ON,ON.
Z: To-be-determined. Currently we believe the required power setting may need to be higher than X& Ym, but we arent sure. No Microstepping. perhaps: OFF,ON,OFF,OFF,ON,ON.?
Extruder: To-be-determined. No Microstepping.
NOTES: You need to avoid microstepping unless you have the absolute latest firmware, because with *lots* of microstepping interrupts on all axes, you will get packet loss on the USB-Serial Host communications. For now, the fix is to avoid microstepping. It makes it easier to debug lost steps, etc anyway.
Signal waveform and timing:
The attached image seems to imply that there is a requirement to have the "step" pin pulled low while the direction pin undergoes a change. It also seems to imply that there should be a quiescient period before and after the change labeled "2C". A is the pulse width, B is the inter-pulse width, and 'C' is the required quiensent time before and after a direction change. The minimum values for A, B, and C are not known at this time, but may possibly be calculated experimentally. please update the wiki page if you have more information on this.