Messages

7781

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: 3 Axis Stepper and Spindle Control Circuit Diagrams

« on: February 15, 2009, 08:02:31 AM »

Hi again,

I think that both of the boards you are thinking of building will be good. Personally I would prefer the Tom McGuire design as you could use a ready made Break out Board incorporating opto isolators etc for your LPT connection to the computer.

Providing you are only going to use the finished project for pcb drilling then any of the 0.6 to 0.8 Amp stepper motors you have would have enough torque for positioning the spindle as long as you keep the friction on your  X,Y,Z slides low and use a high speed spindle such as a Dremel for the drilling. For pcb routing however, you would probably need more torque and have to upgrade the steppers for 1.5 to 2 Amp models but the driver boards you are looking at will handle this upgrade.

If you go for the Tom McGuire it would be handy if you could find someone local to yourself with a working machine to route the pcb for you as the GCode for the board is available for download.

All the best,

Tweakie.

7782

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: 3 Axis Stepper and Spindle Control Circuit Diagrams

« on: February 15, 2009, 04:25:46 AM »

I fully understand wanting to make it yourself.

Another suggestion - have you looked at chips such as the Alegro A3977 ?. The advantage of an integrated solution is 'micro stepping' as this produces a much smoother movement of a bipolar stepper motor than say 'half step' will do.

All the best,

Tweakie.

7783

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: A Valentines day gift.

« on: February 14, 2009, 09:12:35 AM »

Yea Rich,

It just goes to show that your soda machine doesn't love you any more. 

Tweakie.

7784

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Taig CNC Lathe: First Run...

« on: February 14, 2009, 03:29:46 AM »

I love the Gecko Inside logo.

Again very professional looking standard of workmanship.

Tweakie.

7785

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: A Valentines day gift.

« on: February 14, 2009, 03:21:14 AM »

Dracula should have no problem with these.

Tweakie.

7786

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: 3 Axis Stepper and Spindle Control Circuit Diagrams

« on: February 13, 2009, 08:57:41 AM »

Hi,

There are many 3 axis stepper driver boards available from China (on ebay) at such low prices that it is hardly worth building your own. Some of these boards incorporate the charge pump safety circuit and spindle control relay as well as providing opto isolation of all inputs and outputs they also have provision for adding a forth axis at a later time.

Yes it is OK for limit switches to pull to ground but make sure it is the controller ground and that ground loops are not created in the process.

If you have the time to take a look at my website you can see the machine which I constructed and there are some details of the problems I encountered in the process.
http://www.cooperman.talktalk.net

I hope this helps. Good luck with your build - please post pictures of your progress.

Tweakie.

7787

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / A Valentines day gift.

« on: February 13, 2009, 05:30:02 AM »

Hi Guys,

A simple gift for your loved one.

Just in case any of you are as soppy as me I have posted my GCode but you had better get going as you only have until tomorrow.

Good luck.

Tweakie.

nb. The attached .nc file is compressed - change the file extension to .zip before you open it.

7788

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: Brass Clock Gears

« on: February 13, 2009, 05:23:41 AM »

Beautiful gears - my complements on your work.

Tweakie.

7789

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: C11 breakout board/trying to use the 110 AC Relay

« on: February 06, 2009, 05:41:01 AM »

Hi Dajavu,

The charge pump safety circuit for spindle control should be what you are looking for, here is the link:-

http://www.machsupport.com/docs/ChargePumpSafety.pdf


Tweakie.

7790

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: Motion Controller Info Needed

« on: February 06, 2009, 05:36:17 AM »

Hi Bakeng,

Smooth Stepper is a first class USB to parallel port controller for Mach - although you will still need a stepper driver board as well.

Tweakie.