Quote Originally Posted by lateAtNight View Post
Hey everybody,
On another note i'll be receiving my smooth stepper tomorrow :), so no need to worry about power issues from the parallel port on these small mobos, which I think I read about somewhere.

Oh, one other thing, how important do you think one of the more expensive opto isolated breakout boards are?
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When I had my wiring disaster recently, it was probably only the opto-isolators that prevented me damaging my SmoothStepper. Personally, I wouldn't risk not having isolation.

The opto-isolated BOB's sold by DIY-CNC and Zapp are very good quality & well worth the money IMO. Backup from Roy at DIY-CNC is first class. I have one of their Uniport's as I needed three relays (Router, Extract and laser cross) plus I like the idea of a charge pump to make sure nothing moves while the laptop and Mach start up.

Good luck with the build Dave.

Regards, Jeff.