Centroid Community CNC Support Forum

For the little camaster, going with closed loop might be overkill. If you do change motors, you will need to verify the shaft size, nema 23?, length, ect... Sometimes I end up using different diameter shaft's and have to change the pulley, or coupler to make it work. If you just do a power supply and new drivers, that would not mean you have to change out the motors.

Folks here can help with the acorn system, but if you want to try to make it work with the testra, you are going to have to research and figure that part out. You might can get it to work, but I doubt if it's worth the trouble.

If the motors are not locking, the power supply in the testra may be bad.

The air assist is not something everyone uses. It won't hurt to keep using it as it helps the z motor carry the load.

I think your questions should be more like what power supply and drivers would work with these motors, or what closed loop motors and drivers might work. You would have to still verify sizing and perhaps buy some different pulleys and or adapters.

You need a power supply that converts 110 or 220v ac to a DC supply. Something in the 36v or 48v dc range and around 10 amps would be in the ball park. similar to this "Single Output Switchable Power Supply, 349.2W 36V 9.7A - LRS-350-36" search that on amazon or wherever you like.

Then you need 4 stepper drivers similar to "STEPPERONLINE CNC Stepper Motor Driver 1.0-4.2A 20-50VDC 1/128 Micro-Step Resolutions for Nema 17 and 23 Stepper Motor" that you can find on amazon

So around $200 for a power supply and drivers to get started. There are many other drivers and power supply options, but those are inexpensive, dependable, and would get things moving.

You may can find a little info on the testra about what voltage and amps were availabe to the motors originally to get you in the ball park.

IronCaliber wrote: ↑Tue Apr 29, 2025 12:42 am I have not seen it work, the CNC PC that came with it was dead so I decided to switch it to Centroid to get it to work. The previous owner used it for a few years and then got stored away for 8+ years and then donated it to a church that just wanted to get rid of it.
I'll look into the pinouts for the DB-25 and see if I can at least get it to move.

I read up into the differences of closed and open looped systems and definitely want to upgrade it to closed loop now. I'll still try to get it to move with the DB-25 but if not I'll pick up these motors. couple questions though

Will these be a pretty much drop-in replacement when it comes to mounting them on to the machine?

The CNC needs an air assist to lift the router head, will I still need it with this new motor?

I was head of production and R & D at CAMaster in 2013 and headed up the team that replaced the Testra control with a LeadShine MX-4660. This was done due to a near 40% failure rate on internal components with the Testra equipment in the first year. For some reason the other 60% seemed to be bulletproof, lasting years without issue.

The Testra box DOES NOT have the same DB25 pinout as the G540 or the MX-4660. I may have that pinout chart around somewhere, but think it is printed on the box itself, if you go that route, which I wouldn't

That said, upgrading to a Centroid controller usually doubles the resolution of these legacy controls, makes them run smoother and quieter with much better cut quality. Just make sure to clean and lube the belt reduction and replace the belts and possibly the spur (pinion) gears.

The closed loop system does not increase the cutting ability, it adds security in that should the machine lose position, the controller will stop and allow the operator to correct any errors before resuming the cut. The controllers (closed vs. open) cost nearly the same, but the upgrade to closed loop requires buying new motors and additional wires which cost around $800, where the open loop allows yo to reuse the existing.

Our systems use exact replacement sizes, so yes, "drop in" assuming you can get the grub screw on the motor pulleys loose.

The air counterbalance is not 100% mandatory on a ballscrew Z axis with a handheld router motor, but really does help a lot on the rack and pinion models. The extra weight of a spindle motor almost requires it.

As a LeadShine reseller, I only install or recommend genuine LeadShine steppers and drives. My experience has been less than satisfactory with the cheaper knockoffs.

To sum up what Gary said, the controller is junk, buy new motors and drives.

So I got the Stepperonline motors recommended to me and have been working on wiring up one just as a test to see if it works and I am struggling. So far I have got it to get power and lock the motor, but I can not get it to move. So far I have
-checked to make sure its on the right microstep
-Swapped motors
-put the drive in open-loop mode to check if its the encoder

The motor drive light is green so no error code there. One thing I did notice is that when I went step by step through the Axis Bench test, when I go to MDI I get an error "Axis1 fault detected"

I have attached a picture of my wiring (sorry for the messing wiring) and the centroid report below. I am pretty sure its something stupid that I am missing and I am going to kick myself for it.

Those are 5v signal drives. Get a db25 breakout board. Find the wiring diagram for dm series steppers. Make sure if there is a 5-24v switch on the driver it is set to 5v

Read through this.
viewtopic.php?t=11558

If you follow the correct wiring diagram for those drives it’ll work.

Follow this diagram for your drives:
https://www.centroidcnc.com/dealersuppo ... 265.r2.pdf

As Ken stated those are 5V drives and you have it wired incorrectly in your pic.