New member lots to learn

[chillybo]

Hope you can see these pictures of my machine that i have attached.

[chillybo]

Its not freestanding yet i'm waiting for some box section steel to arrive.

[AndyUK]

Hope you can see these pictures of my machine that i have attached.

*head in hands* My mother-in-law has the same rainbow drawers - just seeing them makes me nervous about what her next 'job card' entails.

Looks like you've made some serious progress there - and your workshop is far tidier than mine I can assure you!! What are the dimensions of the machine? Looks like its got a decent amount of Z clearance.

As Clive mentioned though, you may find that a single beefier motor (I'm thinking Nema34 > 8nm) will be more appropriate with the belt drive. If they're physically connected, you won't loose sync between the screws, and you don't want to get into a situation where the motors are fighting each other.

Dropping the slave motor potentially frees up an axis and saves you buying another motor driver - it might also make a homing routine less confusing!

[chillybo]

Z axis travel is about 130mm. I can adjust the clearance by sliding the assembly up or down the gantry uprights (the benefits of extrusion). Ive built it so I can either use a belt as you suggest or slave it without any new modification. I think your right about using the belt. Only issue is I've only got 4.6 Nm Nema 34's. I could give it a try and see if one can move the gantry ok. If not Id have to splash out on a bigger stepper motor and then id have 2 spare motors.

[chillybo]

BTW its a 4x2 foot machine (roughly)

[Clive S]

BTW its a 4x2 foot machine (roughly)

nema 23 motors probably would have driven the machine fine.

[m.marino]

From the original post you made the statement that 5mm pitch will give you slow rapids. What Voltage do you plan on running this at? As mine is running on slightly more than 60V and is capable of doing 27m/min rapids fully stable. I agree with the other statements that you use either a belt drive or two motor working in sync but never both. Good luck on the build.

Michael

[chillybo]

From the original post you made the statement that 5mm pitch will give you slow rapids. What Voltage do you plan on running this at? As mine is running on slightly more than 60V and is capable of doing 27m/min rapids fully stable. I agree with the other statements that you use either a belt drive or two motor working in sync but never both. Good luck on the build.

Michael

I'l be honest at this point. Electronics are my weak point when it comes to building this machine. I know that low inductance stepper motors can potentially run faster than higher inductance ones. As for what power to run the machine at Im guessing that depends on the power supply output voltage. I really need to build my knowledge around the electrics side. I have yet to purchase stepper drivers and a power supply, control cabinet limit switches etc so any advice would be really appreciated.

regards Chris