advice on drivers and stepper motor purchase

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29 Apr 2010 05:12 - 29 Apr 2010 05:14 #2745 by efret
Hello,

I'm new to CNC machines and am trying to build my own so please bear with me if I ask some pretty obvious questions. Anyways I'm trying to pick out a driver and some motors. I've been looking around on the internet and I have no idea what's good or bad, but i did find this set up here . Does this look like something decent to start with for a 3 axis machine? If not what would you suggest? As for your suggestions please keep in mind that I'm not made of money and i don't want to spend much more than $200.00 if possible.

Thank you,
Last edit: 29 Apr 2010 05:14 by efret.

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29 Apr 2010 12:29 - 29 Apr 2010 12:30 #2754 by BigJohnT
For starters what kind of machine do you have or plan to build? That would dictate what kind of drives and motors you need. Voltage = speed in the stepper world so don't expect much from a 24 volt power supply.

And as for almost everything you get what you pay for usually. Reliable suppliers include but are not limited to Gecko, Mesa, Pico etc...

John
Last edit: 29 Apr 2010 12:30 by BigJohnT.

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29 Apr 2010 17:23 #2755 by efret
I'm planning on building a plasma table. Do you think that 24V will be fast enough to keep the cutting head from over heating?

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29 Apr 2010 23:51 - 29 Apr 2010 23:56 #2758 by BigJohnT
No. I built a plasma cutter table with steppers and used Gecko 203v drives with Automation Direct steppers and used a 64v Antek power supply. I used a Mesa 5i20 with their THC card to control the torch height and drive the Geckos. For thin materials you need 300IPM cutting speed. With that setup I get in excess of 450IPM.

Cutting head overheating is not the problem with slow speeds but crappy cuts and fast wear on consumables is a result of going too slow.

Do you have a CNC ready plasma cutter?

John
Last edit: 29 Apr 2010 23:56 by BigJohnT.

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30 Apr 2010 05:06 #2761 by efret
Yes, I have a CNC ready plasma cutter.

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30 Apr 2010 11:16 #2763 by BigJohnT
What kind of frame are you building?

Some pictures of my plasma here:

s47.photobucket.com/albums/f163/johnplctech/Plasma%20Cutter/

John

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01 May 2010 10:15 #2768 by Rick G
Hi John,

What size plasma cutter do you use? Except for thin material do you find the THC necessary?

Rick G

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02 May 2010 18:27 #2781 by BigJohnT
Hi Rick,

I have a Hypertherm 1250. For all materials the THC is a plus. It does the final tuning of the height to maintain the voltage needed to get the cleanest cut. Can you run without one? Yes, and I did for a year. You just have to be careful that your material stays flat and you can get acceptable results most of the time. If your already using a 5i20 then for $70 the Mesa THC is all you need hardware wise to add a THC to your plasma cutter.

John

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03 May 2010 16:42 #2789 by efret
For the frame I'm going to be using a modified pattern torch set up. I would post some pictures but unfortunately I'm building this about 200 miles away from where I currently am.

Thanks for the advice John you have been very helpful, but I think I'm going to try and go the cheap route and try the 24 volt set up and if that doesn't quite cut it it should work fine for a small CNC mill application and I'll have to save up for the good stuff.

Thanks again John.

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