Good news:

CNC4PC - customs called for their cut, should be at my place by Tuesday
Ball screws have arrived at the distributor and have been shipped, might turn up tomorrow.
Picked up the struts for the door from laserpro today

Engraving tool is on back order and is expected in anther week. - mill is out of action at the moment anyway.

It will be real nice to get back int this project, I need a lathe!

More fiddly stuff this weekend, works perfectly, i haven't decided if ill go with air struts or air rams, i am leaning towards rams as it has the added bonus of closing with force.

finnaly got all the stuff in from all of the diffrent places throughout the world to get some motors turning. Here is the PSU (PH), G251's (gecko), C32 & C36 (CNC4PC) and Smooth Stepper (CNC4PC & PH i have two)

Very clean and tidy!

Dan

Ive been thinking about how to control the VSD, the C32 has 0-10v and M3 M4 relays specifically for this which is cool and all but JHChopers got me thinking long and hard about using the RS485 port and how cool his machine is.

Anyone care to chime in on pros and cons of using analogue out vs RS485?

The analog 0-10V can be hard to calibrate to match your target speed and can be jerky depending on your hardware setup.  The cost is only 30 - 40 USD for the control board and takes 3 or 4 I/O lines to control it.

I do like the RS485 modbus, as you can use it for both commands to the VFD (set target Hz/RPM, ON, OFF) this saves I/O, as well as monitor stats from the VFD (AMPS, Temperature, Diagnostics)  The RS484 card might cost you 50 - 100 USD (might find cheap one on eBay for less)  They put modbus on the VFDs for a reason: signal to noise ratio

Just my thoughts,
JH

BTW:  Your lathe has is looking nice !

I was hoping you were still following the tread.

The RS484 cardyour talking about, what is it? can i not just use a USB to RS484 box, i guess the RS232 port on the PC is no good?

Thanks.

You can use PCI to RS484 card or a USB to RS485 box.  I used a box from sealevel, but after looking on eBay, there are some cheaper ones that might work also.

(Don't worry, I been watching this thread.... keep up the great work)

JH

Wow, is it just me or do steppers get hot? I have double checked the current set resistor on my X axis (smaller motor) my Z is the max 3.5a for the drive so no need for a current set resistor. both motors are hot.

Wow, is it just me or do steppers get hot?

You should not let them get too hot. It isn't necessary. Look into current limiting resistors or current limiting by active means, and see just how much grunt you really need.

Cheers