As a treat for #3 (CNC not wife!), I recently bought her a set of leadscrews and precision nuts from http://www.abssac.co.uk from a very helpful guy called Phil who gave an excellent service and a bloody good price.

The lead screws were to replace the M8 all-thread rod on my latest hobby CNC router that I use for cutting ply and MDF. I drive this beastie from a fast PC using EMC2 on Ubuntu.



However my Z-axis is now stalling at all but the slowest speeds due to my hasty purchase. This will teach me (again) not to impulse buy, but of course it probably will not. Sigh!

So what should I do now? Upgrade the motors/drivers and PSU?

Forget all about CNC and take up crochet?

I have been looking forward to a much improved and faster #3 CNC router, but alas I made an ar$e of it, and not for the first time.

Instead of impulse buying yet again, I thought I would reach out for some advice from you generous guys.

I have learned from reading other posts that you like numbers:

Weight of Z-axis and spindle = 4.5kg

Existing Power supply = 30V at 2A

Current Motor Stats
Weedy Astrosyn Nema 23, MY103H702, wired Bi-Polar Parallel


Current Routout Driver Stats
2.5A Routout Driver Card set to quarter step

New Z axis, Lead Screw Stats
Thread = 5/16-8-4
Thread Diameter (inch) = 0.313 (7.95mm)
Threads per Inch = 8 (3.1mm Pitch)
Thread Starts = 4
Thread Type = stub acme
Thread Lead (inch) = 0.5000

I was thinking that I would need to replace the motors, drivers and PSU, and i was thinking of this kit from ZappAutomation;

"This CNC Driver kit is designed for 3 axis of stepper control (X, Y & Z)

This kit consists of the following:

1 X ZP5A-INT Breakout board

3 X 4.2A PM542 Microstepping Drivers

3 X 3 Nm SY60 Stepper motors

1 X EP002 - 43V, 500W regulated power supply"

Is that motor/driver/psu setup going to be up to the job?

I have about £250 to spend and would prefer to continue to use EMC2.

What would you propose I replace or reconfigure?

Thanks in advance, BigAl.
The Crapworks