A few people have asked how to run bigger stepper drivers like Gecko's and MA860H's from the CNC Shield.
The breakout pins next to the X axis stepper and below the reset button is where the connection is made.
The pin-out is as follow:
Enable : Ground
X Step : X Direction
Y Step : Y Direction
Z Step : Z Direction
External drivers need only 4 signal pins to work. The pins are Ground , Enable , Step , Direction.
Take care to make sure the external drivers run on 5V logic voltage like the Arduino that is running GRBL.Summary from other post (Thank you Leo!!!):
Wiring
From the CNC board,
- Each axis (X, Y, Z, A) Dir goes to the (+ dir) of each controller
- Each axis (X, Y, Z, A) Step goes to the (+ step or +pul) of each controller
- The (+ enable) goes to each stepper (+ enable) of each controller. Thus 1 board output goes to 4 controllers
- The (- enable) goes to each stepper (- enable) of each
controller AND to (- dir) of each controller AND to (- step or - pul) of
each controller. It is the shared ground. Thus, 1 board output goes to 4
controllers in 3 spots and the ground is shared. I just used jumper
across the grounds on the negative side.
Note: I am using a SainSmart CNC Microtep Driver ST-M5045 (Which seems to be the same as the 2M542)
Best Suited for Laser Cutter?
Use exteranal drive pins in upper
left corner. See below for examples.
