Z axis Ballscrew back drive concerns - CNC mill conversion

[Bally123]

Hi John

Thanks for reply and photos, very helpful.

On closer inspection a gas strut is going to be awkward to mount because of stroke length. Not impossible but a bit of a hassle. I haven't discounted this yet as I like the "assistance" it provides to the motor when lifting the table. Maybe I will end up with both strut and brake working to complement each other.

In regards to the braked stepper set up I have a couple questions:

I am interested to know, in terms of £, what is relatively "cheap" in your mind? - based for example on the Vexta example you show. - what would you pay?

Secondly if I sourced stepper and driver without a brake I think I could add a brake set up, I guess I could control the brake either from my motion control board or simply release brake when drives are powered up.

Got some work to do on slideway, I found some play in the vertical axis that needs sorting first.

Cheers

Andy

[magicniner]

On closer inspection a gas strut is going to be awkward to mount because of stroke length.

Post a photo and explain the nature of the problem, there are simple engineering solutions which can place you a mounting point in "thin air" ;-)

[johnsattuk]

Hi John
I haven't discounted this yet as I like the "assistance" it provides to the motor when lifting the table. Maybe I will end up with both strut and brake working to complement each other.
I am interested to know, in terms of £, what is relatively "cheap" in your mind? - based for example on the Vexta example you show. - what would you pay?
Andy

I do actually have strut and a brake servo on my mill for the same reason.

Cost of vexta steppers is very variable depending on how long you search for, very round figures £100 each, 5 phase, 500 steps, useful torque to 3000 rpm, direct 230v connection, I believe the steppers run at 162 v

.

[Bally123]

Just to be clear thats including the drive and motor in that estimate?

Cheers andy

[johnsattuk]

~£100 per motor, ~£100 per driver.

If you do a search for VEXTA 5 phaseon eBay. Just had a quick look and as I said they vary a lot, there is a braked motor on there at the moment for £130 with offers, and drivers similarly priced.

[dazp1976]

Take off the head.
Weigh it.
Get a gas strut that is rated just a little more than the weight of the head.
Fit.
Done.
Or get 2 struts that add up to the weight when combined.

The head on my little X2 weight about 15kg so I went with a 20kg strut. Works.

[picclock]

Not sure if this helps but ..

I am converting a smaller mill and one of the options I have is to use a pneumatic cylinder fixed to the rear of the column and pulley on top with a steel cable connecting to the head. The cylinder will connect to a small pressure vessel, and a pressure gauge. When filled with compressed air at the correct pressure the weight can be offset.

The advantage this offers is that assistance is pretty much constant over the full range of head positions (ratio of cylinder displacement to air tank volume), the amount of assistance can be varied by adjusting the air pressure, and there is no damping of the movement (subject to size of pneumatic connection between cylinder and tank). If damping is needed just restrict the flow of compressed air between the cylinder and pressure vessel.
This doesn't solve the inertia of head movement (dynamic load) issue but goes a long way to improving the static loads. Additionally it significantly reduces the bending load on the column.

It is also possible to overcompensate the load such that the stepper drives the tool into the work and when the power fails the head rises to the top, possibly with a short damper for the last few centimeters or so.

Best Regards

picclock