By go-to I mean it is what Edward uses, is known to work really well and is well documented.

I really do like the way EMC2LinuxCNC works as opposed to Grbl but have been struggling to identify an acceptable stepper driver solution.

Going down the list of options currently on the Wiki each option has issues.

The open source CNC controller from buildlog.net is difficult to source even though Edward clearly loves this as his preferred setup.

I could order a PCB, source all the parts in the BOM and build it myself but that seems like a whole lot of work and with the PCB setup costs is just too expensive for what I would get out of it.

Xylotex Wikipedia Driver Board Does

It would appear that the HobbyCNC EZ Driver board does not work with 4 wire stepper motors like the recommended one from Sparkfun.

So either I find a 5, 6 or 8 wire stepper motor which isnt as easy as I thought (especially for Nema 17 size motors) or look for another driver.

The Xylotex is just plain expensive but if people have excellent experience with it I might consider it.

The last option, the HY-TB4DV-M CNC controller, is sold on eBay but seems to have serious design issues with how the TB6560AHQ chips are used see.

CNCZone forum postings on this.

And then I found this on eBay for 99 46 shipping from China (see also.

What I think might be good about it.

Xylotex Wikipedia Drivers And DB25

I could also purchase the power supply, drivers and DB25 breakout without the motors and buy the higher rated ones on Sparkfun (literally just a different model number from those in this kit).

My thinking is that if it has even a tentative blessing from Edward and other knowledgeable members I would consider buying it and testing it out with the idea that it could become either a recommended buy in the Wiki or we could work on a solution to stock it State-side.

You will pay 88.00 if you can wait for it to ship from china or 93.38 if you want one already in the US.

I have not used linuxCNC but would guess that it uses many of the same settings.

I am reasonably sure that if it works with Mach3, it should work with LinuxCNC, but more research may be needed.

There are many more boards that come up if you search TB6560 They use the same driver chip but have different layouts.

Its hard to tell, but a three axis one can cost as little as 42.99.

I went with a 4 axis board and run a second Y axis motor on the A axis.

I keep meaning to document my setup on the Wiki but never seem to have the time.

Check out this thread, where fellow board member ejs has mentioned that he is selling these boards.

I drive four stepper motors this way (dual y-axis), and it is great.

Putting together the board was really fun and it was easy to replace the Pololu stepper drivers integrated circuits when I burned them out (I disconnected the motors with the power plugged in).

After what I read about (some of) the TB6560 solutions out there Im still trying to get something better.

As for the boards sold by member ejs, those are the Arduino shield variant of the Buildlog.net driver board and not the parallel port based one I am looking for.

In short, it appears that the go-to solution for an EMC2 setup for ShapeOko is the Buildlog.net one but in the absence of that everybody is trying or going with various other options with varying degrees of success.

Xylotex Driver Wikipedia