First photos

A few pictures of the basic parts required for a CNC controller.

First shipment received.  Very exciting at this point.   I have 4 geckos because I used 4 Axis.  You will only need 3 if your Y can run off of one motor.

Antek Power supply.  50V dc at 1000W.  If you can afford to get a bigger one (without exceeding 80V) then go for it.  With my setup you don’t need it, but for future upgrades it could save you some money.

Fuse module.  Comes pre-attached to the power supply.  You can see the connector pins are bent back, shipping damage.

Fitting all the parts into my controller case.  Perfect size!

CNC controller video tour

A short tour of my controller.  Enjoy!

Parts List

Parts list:

Like everything else, you need a case, something to mount this too.  An old computer case, electrical box, etc.  I do recommend getting a metal case for grounding purposes.

4 x    Gecko drives G203V  (www.homeshopcnc.com)

1 x     PMDX-122 breakout board (www.pmdx.com)

50VDC 1000W  Power supply (PS-10N50R5R12) From Antek
Fuse Module for Power supply (FU-3-XYZ fuse module) From Antek

4Pin Male & Female Panel Chassis Connector (purchased off of Ebay) (quantity depends on your machine)  I used 4 pins for steppers and 1 pin for the Z zero plate.

Solid State Relay 25A (this is not a must but extremely handy.  With this you can allow your CNC software toggle your router on or off.  This could also be used for dust collectors)

Breaker switch

E-stop switch

Contact switch

Heatsink (I used a piece of ¼” aluminum which does the job, it needs to be big enough to mount all of your Gecko drives too.)

Wire … Lots of wire (size to follow in build log)

Resistors (you will need these to adjust the Amp output of your Gecko drives)

Fan to cool your drivers

And you will need a method of connecting these wires to each other, “bridge connectors” (I am unsure if that is what they are called) 

I’m sure I missed something, but this is the basics.