Gecko G540 or?

[Macwood]

Hi Clive
Thanks for your quick response on a Sunday!
Yes I realised it's an old thread ,but thought I'd ask.
I'll be running 4 motors, 1on the x, 2 on the y , and 1 on the z.
Would like the option to add rotary indexer later perhaps.
I have bought nothing yet, except steel for the table.

I will be starting a build log, more then likely on here and on the mechmate site also.
Best Mac

[Clive S]

Hi Clive
Thanks for your quick response on a Sunday!
Yes I realised it's an old thread ,but thought I'd ask.
I'll be running 4 motors, 1on the x, 2 on the y , and 1 on the z.
Would like the option to add rotary indexer later perhaps.
I have bought nothing yet, except steel for the table.

I will be starting a build log, more then likely on here and on the mechmate site also.
Best Mac

And on vacation Well if you are running 4 motors two slaved, then forget the mx3660. I hope you have done your homework re the Machine you are attempting to build. Have you had a read through some of the build logs on here? It would help if you said what size machine and what you want to be able to cut with it.

Have you decided on what software you will be using.

[Tumblebeer]

Hi there, fellow swede!
I agree with what jazz says, trust that guy.
I'd suggest getting the leadshine am882 drives. I recently finished my build (check my blog at tumblebeer.com) and I used a mix of dm542a cheap drives from an old build and the leadshines, and I can tell you to never ever use anything but digital drives. My leadshine motor spins happily and completely quiet at 3000rpm at only 36v, while the analog drives are resonating and screaming at barely 500 rpm.

As for motion control, I'm using a plcm-e4 from purelogic and I'm very very happy. No need for an external bob, it's packed with optocoupled inputs and mains relays.

[JAZZCNC]

Hi there, fellow swede!
I agree with what jazz says, trust that guy.

Thanks for the vote of confidense.

Think you've got to really experience the difference by using cheap drives to appreciate how much more performance good digital drives give. It's not just the speed it's the smoothness and motor heating, or lack of it.!
Combine this with decent motion control card and like you know it takes the machine to all new levels of performance.

[JW1977]

Hi there!
Thank you for the input. Im still trying to figure out what procucts i should use.

The Gecko 540 solution felt like a pretty solid turn-key solution but of course limited compared to JAZZCNC´s setup above.
What do i need? I dont want to spend more more money than necessary right now but i dont want to spend it on junk either.

Tumblebeer, what did you start with?

[JW1977]

The "what do i need" question was me thinking out loud btw

[Tumblebeer]

I'll start with reiterating the same advice pretty much everyone that has built something gives others: Buying cheap stuff usually ends up costing more than buying more expensive stuff. I know, you've heard it before. Yet everyone, including me, think themselves above this one fundamental rule. I'm not. You're not. No one is.

I started buying http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-4-phase-Ne...item3f1fba0066 together with mid range inductance 3nm steppers. I used a 36V powersupply.

When I built a new machine, I added another stepper, for the dual x-axis setup. This time (putting the new stepper on the y-axis), I went for a http://www.cnc4you.co.uk/index.php?r...product_id=362 together with an am882 from aliexpress.

Right now, I'm about to throw the old drivers in the trash and get 3 more am882's. The difference is huge between them. I mean really huge.
I haven't tried the geckos, but from what I've heard people are quite pleased with them. However, I haven't heard of anyone driving a slightly binding, quite heavy carriage at 15000mm/min at only 36 volts. My leadshine driver can do that. Also, I've seen a version called am882h, that takes ac input. No idea if it's any good, but it should make the power supply slightly cheaper and simpler.

As for using a motion controller, I'd recommend getting one. It'll make everything so much easier. You get smoother and faster motors from the clean pulses, you can use a modern computer (even a laptop) to run the machine, you can use a 100m long ethernet cable instead of a 1.8m parallell cable. Less than an hour ago, I added a crosshair laser to my machine, took me 30 seconds to hook it up to one of the relays on my plcm-e4 and I could control it from mach3. Doing that from a printer port would require an expensive bob, and you'd still be limited in the amount of pins on your db25.

I realise I'm rambling a bit here, but perhaps I got my point across. Get a motion controller, get digital drives. If you want to go my route, I'd say buy
4x http://www.cnc4you.co.uk/index.php?r...product_id=362
4x http://www.aliexpress.com/item/FREES...820280286.html
(or http://www.aliexpress.com/item/FREE-...347654950.html)
1x plcm-e4 http://www.purelogic.ru/shop/elektro...i_ethernetusb/

and either build a toroidal linear psu (should be slightly better) or buy a 70-72vdc switched psu with some overhead (should be good enough, cheaper and easier).

[JW1977]

Ok i can see your point.
About the plmc-e4. How much is it and where can i get one? Is it russian?
Im a bit afraid that ill get in the Electronics part over my head with a "russian" plc.

Im still a bit confused about BB, motion controllers and so on.
Is it right that the plmc-e4 is a more advanced bb and motion controller in one? Whats the difference if you compare that one with the G540 bb for instance? If you got the time i would appreciate the "CNC Electronics for dummies "version of it all. I got the driver and motor part thats no problem.