Hi everybody. I've received BOOST-DRV8711 boards 2 weeks ago, plugged into my MSP-EXP430G2 LaunchPad (with the MSP430G2553 chip), connected a NEMA23 stepper, and following the User's Guide, loaded the firmware to MSP430, fired up the GUI, and... everything worked perfectly from the first run! Kudos to TI team, you did it again with a very affordable and simple to run Booster Pack, further enriching the Launchpad ecosystem!..
Now, as I've got 3 DRV8711 booster packs, I'm thinking about using them to replace the TB6560-based 4-axes driver board for my small CNC mill. Still pretty much a raw idea, so please anyone correct me if I'm wrong: though the documentations says this booster pack is not intended to be used as standalone, the primary function of the MSP430 Launchpad is to load the DRV8711's registers with correct values, and enable the motor's H-bridge by setting bit 0 of the 0x0 register to 1. Once that done the Launchpad could be safely "removed" and the motor drove by any appropriate signals on the STEP/AIN1 and DIR/AIN2 pins. Is this correct?
If the above correct, may I then use one MSP430 Launchpad to set the parameters to all three DRV8711 boards at once, then drive them using X-Y-Z Step/Dir signals from my CNC controller (I'm using a DIY version of Planet-CNC board, http://www.planet-cnc.com/index.php?page=diy)? My idea is to develop a breakout board with the header to plug one MSP430 Launchpad and three DRV8711 booster packs into. The nSLEEP, RESET, as well as SPI of the DRV8711 boards are all connected together and to respective pins on the Launchpad, however the STEP and DIR pins of the DRV8711 board are not connected to Launchpad, but are broken-out to connect to respective X-Y-Z channels of the PlanetCNC board. Then the Launchpad would load and enable all the driver boards at once, which then will be driven by the PlanetCNC's Step/Dir signals, to control the mill... Would this work? Or I still need 3 separate SPI channels from 3 separate Launchpad to load the drivers' registries?
Any advise on this is very much appreciated. Thank you all in advance
Mac Ha