# Which Breakout Board?



## Limo (Jan 1, 2010)

To those of you that have built your cnc router, which breakout board did you choose and why? I am to the point where I have to get one and would like to hear your experiences with the board. I am leaning towards getting a C11.
:wacko:
Wil


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## pauljj1 (Jan 21, 2011)

I have two different breakout boards. One is the PDMX-122. Which was extremely easy to set up. Awesome documentation. Everything just worked. It also had some nice bonuses, like an onboard relay. PDMX makes some other boards that make it really easy to integrate Gecko controls too.

On my second breakout board, I tried to save about $30 and went with a cheaper board.
The watchdog feature did not work. The documentation was poor.. So I ended up spending a lot more time getting it set up. It worked eventually but lacked features.
For example, on the PDMX board, you can have your inputs set to be +5V or 0V.. On the cheap board, no option, you have to make it work..

So I think it's well worth the extra money to get a PDMX board. That extra money will save your blood pressure if nothing else.


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## Limo (Jan 1, 2010)

Thanks for responding Paul. I went with a cheap board from cnc4pc. The C10. It has a few features and was reasonably easy to wire up. I went with a simple board because I was a little apprehensive of the nicer boards being harder to figure out. It seems to have what I need for now. Later I can upgrade. I just finished wiring tonight and will mount cooling fans next. My drivers have optoisolation built in. I got the set up from PDJ(the electronics). 

Wil


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