Looking for CNC Mill Part I - Page 162

topflight-rcu · Feb 01, 2005, 05:07 PM

xairflyer, Would it be good for a mahine that was posted by Mick Molloy on the previous page?

OzDragonFlyer · Feb 01, 2005, 05:13 PM

Topflight, as Xair stated, they will work quite well, I guess they will be rated around the 120-150oz/in mark if they are relatively new. You should be able to get decent performance out of them with a chopper drive at 24-30V. Many to choose from these days (but geckos still seem to get the best torque/speed from steppers)

Depending on the weight/friction of your individual axis' 24-30" would be a good starter for direct drive (you could go bigger on the Y axis if you used a dual screw/motor arrangement)

topflight-rcu · Feb 01, 2005, 05:21 PM

OzDragonFlyer, I am new at the CNC stuff so these questions might seem kinda dumb. First, what is a chopper drive, Second, what is "Geckos"? and last , what would be a good controller or interface to control these stepper motor on the CNC machine? Thanks for all the reply's, this seem like a very interesting project. I plan on using the CNC machine to cut out Foamies, 6mm and 3mm thick.

Joe

xairflyer · Feb 01, 2005, 07:03 PM

Those motors will be perfect for the machine Mick posted, drivers will depend on your budget.

All you need is a driver board either one for each stepper or a board that contains all three.
To supply the power you can modify a ATX computor power supply or build/purchase a higher voltage one.

Regarding the drivers
You can buy the excellent little K179 driver board from www.kitsrus.com available from one of their resellers for about $9.50 each (need three).

Or you could buy The HobbyCNC board which is also very good and well priced.

Tree_Magnet · Feb 01, 2005, 11:05 PM

cnc2play if you are still looking for channel i found a place in brampton cost me 10 buck for all i needed

Tom

Dongledell · Feb 02, 2005, 09:14 AM

What sort of amps do these set-ups pull? you mention the ATX computer power supply - not sure what they are capable of providing but I have a 0-36v power supply coming soon, but it's only capable of about 6 amps - is that enough?

cnc2play · Feb 02, 2005, 09:42 AM

Tree Magnet,

yes, i'm still looking for channel ... what is the address please ?

xairflyer · Feb 02, 2005, 11:48 AM

The amp output depends on the rating of the power supply. I am using a 400W computor power supply and I have 15A @ 12v.

With a 6A supply I would'nt run much more than three 1.5A steppers.

The extra voltage will give you more speed OK, I am thinking about building a 24v PSU but would like about 10A min.

longhair · Feb 02, 2005, 03:14 PM

Has anyone used the Xylotex board on their mill?

Andy W · Feb 09, 2005, 11:57 AM

Keep the ranting, accustation and personal attacks out of these forums. I've cleaned up and restored this thread. In future, please use the "report post to moderator" button (

) if this kind of thing crops up again.
..a

OzDragonFlyer · Feb 09, 2005, 06:05 PM

Topflight: Chopper drives are far superior to the lower cost boards which use resistors to limit the current flowing to the motor. The boards and the drives also run much cooler as their efficiency is higher. You can easily distinguish between the 2 by looking for large (>5W) power resistors. If the board has these, it's probably a current limiting type design.

Geckos are popular chopper drives. (www.geckodrive.com). A lot of high end users prefer these because they are able to drive the motors with voltages up to 80V (giving more speed). They are both rugged and reliable, and give great performance.

Longhair: Xylotex boards are a good low cost alternative for a basic setup. I found them to be quite fragile electrically and sensitive to noise without modification, but lots of people have used them straight up with no problems. You will need a parallel breakout board or a parallel port card that supplies the pins with a high of >3.3V for them to work reliably.

Power supplies.. Lots of people have used PC (ATX) psu's with their steppers with great successs. However, switched mode supplies have a limited bandwidth and sometimes struggle with the constantly varying loads placed on them. There are ways of modifying these supplies (big caps and load resistors) to get them to work better. Given that most pc supplies are only rated for 12V limits them severely though.

Often it's just as inexpensive to build a dedicated (higher voltage) supply using discreet components. The geckodrive website has white papers on this and many other subjects, well worth spending time reading!

longhair · Feb 09, 2005, 06:45 PM

Oz..thanks for the info.

I have a Xylotex sitting on the bench right now and have been following the Xylotex users group on Yahoo, but thought I'd ask the question here. It is supposed to run the Biploar motors I bought so that's why I got it. I also saw somewhere that 24v @ 6 amps is what I should use as a PS for it. So now I need to build or buy one of those....My hobbies are going to get me in trouble with my wife one of these days.

If anyone else has any input on Xylotex please let me know.

Steve McBride · Feb 09, 2005, 07:26 PM

Time for a part II - 2427 posts in a thread is about 2000 too many. Let's try and keep the new thread civil please?

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=333499

Steve

Feb 02, 2005, 03:14 PM	#2424
longhair Team Black Magic Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 243	Has anyone used the Xylotex board on their mill? Last edited by Andy W; Feb 09, 2005 at 11:55 AM.

Feb 09, 2005, 11:57 AM	#2425
Andy W That sickening crunch.. Join Date: Jun 1999 Location: Marietta, GA Posts: 39,796	Keep the ranting, accustation and personal attacks out of these forums. I've cleaned up and restored this thread. In future, please use the "report post to moderator" button () if this kind of thing crops up again. ..a

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Feb 01, 2005, 05:07 PM	#2416
topflight-rcu Registered User Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Kissimmee, Florida, United States Posts: 55	xairflyer, Would it be good for a mahine that was posted by Mick Molloy on the previous page?

Feb 01, 2005, 05:13 PM	#2417
OzDragonFlyer Model Bender Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Sydney,Australia Posts: 2,586	Topflight, as Xair stated, they will work quite well, I guess they will be rated around the 120-150oz/in mark if they are relatively new. You should be able to get decent performance out of them with a chopper drive at 24-30V. Many to choose from these days (but geckos still seem to get the best torque/speed from steppers) Depending on the weight/friction of your individual axis' 24-30" would be a good starter for direct drive (you could go bigger on the Y axis if you used a dual screw/motor arrangement)

Feb 01, 2005, 05:21 PM	#2418
topflight-rcu Registered User Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Kissimmee, Florida, United States Posts: 55	OzDragonFlyer, I am new at the CNC stuff so these questions might seem kinda dumb. First, what is a chopper drive, Second, what is "Geckos"? and last , what would be a good controller or interface to control these stepper motor on the CNC machine? Thanks for all the reply's, this seem like a very interesting project. I plan on using the CNC machine to cut out Foamies, 6mm and 3mm thick. Joe

Feb 01, 2005, 07:03 PM	#2419
xairflyer Bleriot's R Us Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: NW Ireland Posts: 374	Those motors will be perfect for the machine Mick posted, drivers will depend on your budget. All you need is a driver board either one for each stepper or a board that contains all three. To supply the power you can modify a ATX computor power supply or build/purchase a higher voltage one. Regarding the drivers You can buy the excellent little K179 driver board from www.kitsrus.com available from one of their resellers for about $9.50 each (need three). Or you could buy The HobbyCNC board which is also very good and well priced.

Feb 01, 2005, 11:05 PM	#2420
Tree_Magnet Registered User Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: georgetown ontario Posts: 389	cnc2play if you are still looking for channel i found a place in brampton cost me 10 buck for all i needed Tom

Feb 02, 2005, 09:14 AM	#2421
Dongledell and this wire goes where? Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Southampton Eastleigh, Great Britain (UK) Posts: 631	What sort of amps do these set-ups pull? you mention the ATX computer power supply - not sure what they are capable of providing but I have a 0-36v power supply coming soon, but it's only capable of about 6 amps - is that enough?

Feb 02, 2005, 09:42 AM	#2422
cnc2play Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: oakville Posts: 3	Tree Magnet, yes, i'm still looking for channel ... what is the address please ?

Feb 02, 2005, 11:48 AM	#2423
xairflyer Bleriot's R Us Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: NW Ireland Posts: 374	The amp output depends on the rating of the power supply. I am using a 400W computor power supply and I have 15A @ 12v. With a 6A supply I would'nt run much more than three 1.5A steppers. The extra voltage will give you more speed OK, I am thinking about building a 24v PSU but would like about 10A min.

Feb 09, 2005, 06:05 PM	#2426
OzDragonFlyer Model Bender Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Sydney,Australia Posts: 2,586	Topflight: Chopper drives are far superior to the lower cost boards which use resistors to limit the current flowing to the motor. The boards and the drives also run much cooler as their efficiency is higher. You can easily distinguish between the 2 by looking for large (>5W) power resistors. If the board has these, it's probably a current limiting type design. Geckos are popular chopper drives. (www.geckodrive.com). A lot of high end users prefer these because they are able to drive the motors with voltages up to 80V (giving more speed). They are both rugged and reliable, and give great performance. Longhair: Xylotex boards are a good low cost alternative for a basic setup. I found them to be quite fragile electrically and sensitive to noise without modification, but lots of people have used them straight up with no problems. You will need a parallel breakout board or a parallel port card that supplies the pins with a high of >3.3V for them to work reliably. Power supplies.. Lots of people have used PC (ATX) psu's with their steppers with great successs. However, switched mode supplies have a limited bandwidth and sometimes struggle with the constantly varying loads placed on them. There are ways of modifying these supplies (big caps and load resistors) to get them to work better. Given that most pc supplies are only rated for 12V limits them severely though. Often it's just as inexpensive to build a dedicated (higher voltage) supply using discreet components. The geckodrive website has white papers on this and many other subjects, well worth spending time reading!

Feb 09, 2005, 06:45 PM	#2427
longhair Team Black Magic Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 243	Oz..thanks for the info. I have a Xylotex sitting on the bench right now and have been following the Xylotex users group on Yahoo, but thought I'd ask the question here. It is supposed to run the Biploar motors I bought so that's why I got it. I also saw somewhere that 24v @ 6 amps is what I should use as a PS for it. So now I need to build or buy one of those....My hobbies are going to get me in trouble with my wife one of these days. If anyone else has any input on Xylotex please let me know.

Feb 09, 2005, 07:26 PM	#2428
Steve McBride Registered User Join Date: Feb 2000 Location: Agra, Oklahoma Posts: 5,315	Time for a part II - 2427 posts in a thread is about 2000 too many. Let's try and keep the new thread civil please? http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=333499 Steve