Strike CNC (My first CNC router)

[Shinobiwan]

I agree, round rail for a short Z is not normally a problem especially if you are using it for soft materials?
Looks like a Marchant Dice machine?

Hi Gary the machine is from Strike CNC.

[Gary]

The motors are nema 24 and to get anything useful from them you will need to have quite a high voltage power supply.
Also the comment that they are two small for 25mm diameter ballscrews is totally right especially if you want to get them spinning fast.
The 4Nm is just the holding torque and totally irrelevant, and without a high voltage these motors will perform really bad.

[John S]

What's with the Nema 24's My understanding is that the size is determined by the across the frame distance so 2.3" and as they all have to fit the same bolt hole pattern they should all be the same. I have bought these larger powered 4nm's from Zapp, Roy at DIY - CNC and also from the link above and China direct. They are all interchangeable so all must be 23's unless i'm missing something here ?

Also £600 for the enclosure doesn't sound high to me. These guys are working for a living, not pissing about in a garden shed and that stuff isn't cheap. I built two enclosures for the KX series machines to go in at the shows for ARC. I'll bet he wished I'd only charged him £600 quid a pop

[Jonathan]

I have bought these larger powered 4nm's from Zapp, Roy at DIY - CNC and also from the link above and China direct. They are all interchangeable so all must be 23's unless i'm missing something here ?

I can't see the 4nm motors at Zapp, only the standard 3nm that everyone sells.

Also £600 for the enclosure doesn't sound high to me. These guys are working for a living, not pissing about in a garden shed and that stuff isn't cheap. I built two enclosures for the KX series machines to go in at the shows for ARC. I'll bet he wished I'd only charged him £600 quid a pop

What I meant is I'd never recommend paying that much for an enclosure when it's something anyone can make. You don't really need to know anything about CNC to make an enclosure, as it's just a box. Plus if you're going to charge £600 for an enclosure why make it from extrusion when you get a bigger profit with other materials :lol:

[John S]

I can't see the 4nm motors at Zapp, only the standard 3nm that everyone sells.

Sorry, brain fart meant the 3nm ones but both Gary's and Roys are in the fatter frame. So although they are fatter at 60mm and called type 24? the bolt fixings are still the same as type 23.

[Gary]

Oh and to simulate torque i coupled the motor to a larger nema 34 motor and shorted the windings.
This works but its bloody noisy.

[Jonathan]

Fair enough, I should have compared the power consumption. The ratings imply the power consumption is nearly equal which is inconsistent. I'll continue to steer clear of those motors...

[Gary]

Nema 23 motors are 56mm square.
the 60mm motors are an oddball so they called them nema 24.
We only sell the 3nm version of the 60mm motor, i tested the higher torque version and found that they performed worse than the 3nm version.
As john rightly says, you cant expect a company to make a bespoke enclosure for near nothing, £600 is not bad, we all need to make a living.

[Shinobiwan]

I suspect these are nema24 and I incorrectly called them nema28. Everything else seems to fit.

What does concern me is the points raised by some about the inertia and general mass of the screws being too much for the stepper motors. Obviously its hard to tell without testing and you can be sure I'll post some video's of the machine working to allow you to look for any issues that I might not be able to identify being a beginner.

Supposing I do find that the motors are inadequate, how big of a job would it be to upgrade them to something suitable?

[Shinobiwan]

As john rightly says, you cant expect a company to make a bespoke enclosure for near nothing, £600 is not bad, we all need to make a living.

Where there's clear panels, they've used Lexan too rather than just clear perspex. I've had a quick look at prices for a 4 x 8ft sheet and its not cheap. The machine is 1.8m D x 1.8m W so your looking at a couple of sheets of that if you arrange your cuts sensibly. Overall I was happy at £600.

I know what you guys are saying though. I DIY too (not CNC machine though) and don't consider my time spent as a commodity so £600 for a cover would seem expensive compared to something I could knock up. In this case though I wanted a neat package that ran straight out of the box.