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Thread: ShopBot Desktop/Handibot drives?

  1. #1
    Join Date
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    Default ShopBot Desktop/Handibot drives?

    I have an old defunct Handibot (one of the originals)

    I stripped it down to the steppers, control board and drives. I'm looking to modify it into some kind of frankenstein machine.

    These are the parts I have: https://photos.app.goo.gl/iZ0TBkPsCNXJL0wd2

    Does anyone know what those drives are? Brady perhaps? I think these might be the same control boards/drives that are used in the Desktops?

  2. #2
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    Geckodrive G250x

    Take care to not short out those mosfets! Be sure to reattach them to the heat sink with the same insulating material.
    Scott




  3. #3
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    Default

    Yup...geckos. Gonna convert it to the Acornholio?
    High Definition 3D Laser Scanning Services - Advanced ShopBot CNC Training and Consultation - Vectric Custom Video Training IBILD.com

  4. #4
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    Yeah, I've been fooling around with one. I figured that it'd be good to test on something that's not my main machine. I ended up ordering a set of 4 cheap drives on Amazon just so I can fool around on the bench. Seems like that's the easier route now then trying to wire in to all of those pins on these Geckos.

  5. #5
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    If you're messing with the drives I think you are...keep in mind that the 'Enable' works opposite of what you think...It should be called 'Disable'...

  6. #6
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    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    Those are the ones I picked up. I figure I can mess around with those Handibot steppers, and also I have a set of three of these:

    https://hobbycnc.com/product/305-oz-...er-motor-copy/

    That's from a VERY old Hobby CNC build I did back in the day. If I'm understanding things right, to use those I'll have to wire the phases in series...

  7. #7
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    I've got a spare desktop board too and am thinking of adapting a UC400ETH to it for UCCNC.
    Scott




  8. #8
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    Those TB6600s are nice and cheap for any number of tinkering type projects, but in my testing, they aren't fast - and performance varies depending on the motor. You might want a cooling fan on them if you are going over 2A. The Acorn etc will have way more 'pedal' in terms of pulse stream output than the drives are capable of going AND those drives also are a bit noisy on the top end of the RPM range, so plan on the motor locking up/puking sooner than later. But...if you're just tinkering and doing low speeds stuff, they're hard to beat. Besides, the voltage cap on the drive really limits high RPM/top end speed anyway.

    No doubt you've probably heard of them already, but Trinamic makes some pretty cool stuff worth a look...
    High Definition 3D Laser Scanning Services - Advanced ShopBot CNC Training and Consultation - Vectric Custom Video Training IBILD.com

  9. #9
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    Yeah, at $39 for four drives I'm not expecting anything good at all... If they can spin some motors with some tape attached to them that's all I want.

    Right now with anything I'd want to bench test (Old Handibots, and an "Oliver" CNC) they all have proprietary drives, or ones you just can't attach wires to easily. I'm sure those Gecko drivers that are in the HB board are fine, but I'd have to buy a bunch of headers to even attach them... These cheapo Amazon ones just seems easier to deal with. And, if I blow one up it's not like I've wrecked a working Handibot.

    I'm thinking these cheap drives, some of my spare sensors, and those old 305 OZ motors I should be able to right up a nice bench test setup so I can start to build some macros and such for the big machine.

  10. #10
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    Marquette, MI
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    Eric...
    Other than a few you may use for special purposes like jig positioning or some "hipster stuff" (sorry, had to do that ) most any macro you would want is posted on the Acorn forum. If its not, just ask. I have taken most every custom file that I used in my SB days, all of my WinCNC macros for tool setting, etc and converted them for use with Centroid control. Pretty helpful bunch of guys and gals over there.

    The last one that I'm working on now is the "center in circle" corner XY and Z setter like in this video: https://youtu.be/b7M1mMhOvr0
    Gary Campbell
    GCnC Control
    GCnC411(at)gmail(dot)com
    Servo Controller Upgrades
    http://www.youtube.com/user/Islaww1


    "We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them"
    Albert Einstein


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