Power Supply Questions and Advice Needed

**timellis** · 06-09-2013

I am putting together a cnc based guitar pickup winder and need some help with power. The winder has 2 stepper motors - one rated at 3.4v / 1.68a and the other at 2.8v / 1.68a

How do I power these motors? Do I need 2 power supply's for the different voltages?

Also any recommendations on good, cheap, easy to set up drives and breakout board would be appreciated.

As you can tell, I am very new at this. If this project goes well I am going to build a cnc for guitar body's and necks.

**JAZZCNC** · 06-09-2013

If you work a rule of thumb Max 20x the rated voltage of the lowest motor you'll be ok. . . .BUT . . The drives you use may be the limiting factor more than the motors.? . . . For instance if you take the 2.8 and 20x rule then thats 56Vdc so you'll need drives capably handling higher than this value.
Mostly drives come in 2 basic voltage flavours upto 50Vdc and upto 75-80vdc. So if you buy 50V drives then you'll need to run these motors around 44-45vdc Max, you never run at drives maximum rated voltage has steppers generate electricity at times and can pass this back and blow drives so safety factor needs allowing.

Now you don't need to run these steppers at 56v they will happily work at lower voltages like 24-36Vdc but at a reduced speed/torque. Most drives won't work below 24Vdc.

Before recommending a drive, Even thou they will probably easily do what you want for guitar winder I will recommend that you don't buy the cheap TB chip based All-in-one boards has they are very poor quality and can be unreliable, they are also easily damaged in the hands of inexperienced users.!! . . .Stay clear is my advice.

Now if you want to buy drives that can migrate to a CNC machine then you'll want to buy decent drives and not skimp, it's false economy and leads to poor and often frustrating results.

So if just drives for a winder and to test the waters of a CNC machine then I'd say buy any of the cheap Chinese drives like these CNC Mill Router DIY CNC Stepper Driver Board Controller M542 1.0A-4.5A 20V-50VDC | eBay

If you want to build a decent CNC machine then I'd say wait and select drives when you know better what your building.!!
Digital drives are becoming cheaper every month and for best machine you'll want these so I'd wait until the time then buy. You'll also know better then if larger motors with higher voltages are required.

**timellis** · 08-09-2013

Originally Posted by JAZZCNC

If you work a rule of thumb Max 20x the rated voltage of the lowest motor you'll be ok. . . .BUT . . The drives you use may be the limiting factor more than the motors.? . . . For instance if you take the 2.8 and 20x rule then thats 56Vdc so you'll need drives capably handling higher than this value.
Mostly drives come in 2 basic voltage flavours upto 50Vdc and upto 75-80vdc. So if you buy 50V drives then you'll need to run these motors around 44-45vdc Max, you never run at drives maximum rated voltage has steppers generate electricity at times and can pass this back and blow drives so safety factor needs allowing.

Now you don't need to run these steppers at 56v they will happily work at lower voltages like 24-36Vdc but at a reduced speed/torque. Most drives won't work below 24Vdc.

Before recommending a drive, Even thou they will probably easily do what you want for guitar winder I will recommend that you don't buy the cheap TB chip based All-in-one boards has they are very poor quality and can be unreliable, they are also easily damaged in the hands of inexperienced users.!! . . .Stay clear is my advice.

Now if you want to buy drives that can migrate to a CNC machine then you'll want to buy decent drives and not skimp, it's false economy and leads to poor and often frustrating results.

So if just drives for a winder and to test the waters of a CNC machine then I'd say buy any of the cheap Chinese drives like these CNC Mill Router DIY CNC Stepper Driver Board Controller M542 1.0A-4.5A 20V-50VDC | eBay

If you want to build a decent CNC machine then I'd say wait and select drives when you know better what your building.!!
Digital drives are becoming cheaper every month and for best machine you'll want these so I'd wait until the time then buy. You'll also know better then if larger motors with higher voltages are required.

Thanks very much for the reply - I now have a better understanding of my power requirements. With regards to stepper drivers I have seen some that are 3 axis rather than individual for each stepper motor. Is this a good idea or are they not recommended?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

**JAZZCNC** · 08-09-2013

Originally Posted by timellis

With regards to stepper drivers I have seen some that are 3 axis rather than individual for each stepper motor. Is this a good idea or are they not recommended?

No chances are these are the TB based boards I suggest you stay away from. The only multi axis board I recommend is the Gecko G540 which is 4 axis and not cheap but is a high quality unit with good support and excellent warranty.

If you can post linkto what your looking at will take a look.!