running 2 steper motors from one output set

Projects General Guidance
1

hi,

i am planning to use 2560 to build my cnc. i will be using 2 steper motors on x- axis and 2 on y-axis, one on z axis, possibly include a rotary axis too if 3-axis build is successful. my questions are following

1- can i feed two driver boards from one signal output from 2560. can i count on this method and not loose steps from both motors that must be in sync..

2- if i use separate signals (slaving another axis to X and Y), will it be better than 1st method. in that case i will need 5 different signal sets, will 2560 be able to do so. i have no experience in programming. is there any ready made setup for that

what will be perfect setup for me please guide. i prefer to use 2560 for my machine

i am using nema 17 motors 1.7A and TB6560 3A 1 axis board for each motor

2

You can certainly feed two driver boards from one output from the Arduino Mega. But there can be no guarantee that the motors will remain in step unless they are both connected to a common shaft.

If the motors are sized properly in relation to the load they should stay in step.

If the requirement is for the two motors to stay in step always then I would control both drivers from a single output.

...R

3

thanks that solves a lot of issues for me..

i will just connect both to one output and see what happens.