I had some time off over Christmas so got cracking with putting together the electrical cabinet. I've literally just achieved "first rotation" as it shall forever be known in our house.

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My main inspiration was Eddy's recent build but there are some of my own ideas in there too. The case is a 600x600 and I've left space for an additional driver if / when I add one. The power supply was proving difficult to fit in until I had the burst of inspiration to go vertical. The clear perspex cover (I call it the idiot guard) was a secondary addition after I got a first hand experience of quite how much power the capacitor bank holds:

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The capacitors were almost completely discharged when I probed the top to see what voltage they still held. One slip with the positive probe and a bright flash and bang later and I need a new probe.

The builds not quite finished yet but as you can see I've got a stepper attached and had it rotating using the test mode of the PMDX. Some how, despite measuring everything ten times I've still managed to make it a bit tight around the BOB. I must have been having an off day or something but fortunately I've got just enough space.

I'm going to look at building a soft start for the transformer. As I mentioned in another thread I'm getting some nuisance trips off a 6A Type D breaker. I might give a slow blow fuse a go if I remember to buy one next time I need some parts but I can't imagine it's good for the transformer to be getting whacked with 100A+ at start up. What I can't decide is whether to build a timer circuit to disconnect the soft start thermistor or to just leave it in all the time. The power supply is delivering a steady 71V, many thanks for the help with that so far guys :D.

Anyway, the one thing that surprised me about the set up was that the stepper wasn't silent when it was stationary. It makes a sort of kettle just going off the boil sound if that makes any sense. Is this normal? When it's turning it's quite quiet although I've only had it turning at one speed. I should probably say I've not fine tuned the current for the steppers yet, I just quickly selected a setting that was well below the maximum the steppers can handle.