Chain drive

[eurikain]

So belt would be a better choice then, price wise equivalent ? Would AT/HTD belt a good choice ? GT would be a no go for this kind of work area (2x1.5 xy) ? 25mm or 30mm width belt ?

[michaelw]

Much depends on the speed , rigidity and accuracy that you want to achieve and on design of the motor/controller/feedback system .

A rough and ready machine can use a variety of basic motion drives but as requirements get more demanding then higher quality drives are needed .

Also a machine running closed loop with independent position feedback is usually a little more tolerant of basic motion drives than a machine running open loop and which is dependent on the intrinsic accuracy of the screw/chain/belt .

Incidentally a cheap motion drive for undemanding applications and smaller machines which is often overlooked is the friction screw - just lengths of coarse pitch studding and simple nuts with backlash adjustment .

[eurikain]

Interesting :) I have Nema23s 3.1NM, with 24V-36VDC 0.9A~3.0A Stepper Motor Driver (model CW230). I don't know much about which kind of power is needed for a belt drive, but most designs I have seen use this setup (except maybe for the steppers). I suppose that correctly chosen gear reduction will do the job :)

[njhussey]

Interesting :) I have Nema23s 3.1NM, with 24V-36VDC 0.9A~3.0A Stepper Motor Driver (model CW230). I don't know much about which kind of power is needed for a belt drive, but most designs I have seen use this setup (except maybe for the steppers). I suppose that correctly chosen gear reduction will do the job :)

If you're looking at making a "large steel" CNC machine then you'll struggle to get any performance from 24-36V drivers....you'll need 70V to get any sort of performance. What do you class as a large steelmachine?

Edit: for a 2 x 1.5 machine you'll need higher voltage drivers and PSU.