Re:Taig retrofit

Message: 12
Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2001 00:04:24 -0700
From: "Tim Goldstein" <timg@...>
Subject: RE: Taig retrofit

I have the Gecko servo drives on a Shoptask. I am using one of the
Camtronics motors and 2 other motors that are closer to NEMA 34 size. The
drives barely get warm just sitting in the open with no heat sinks or fans.

[That's good to know. The motors I'm planning to use will be somewhat
smaller then the 34 size, so presumably should run even cooler.]

I did manage to get one of the drives to get pretty hot running with one of
the Electronic Goldmine motors with encoders. I was running the motor bare
shaft just to see how the Gecko drive worked. I finally figured out why it
was running so hot. I has mistakenly hooked the driver to the 72 V tap
instead of the 36 volt tap of my power supply.

[What motors are these? Electronic Goldmine doesn't seem to have any
encoder-motors listed presently (although they have lots of cool stuff).
Also, I thought you had to have a load on these motors for them to work.]

Unless you are running towards the top of the voltage range with fairly
large motors You shouldn't need much to keep the drives cool.

Tim
[Denver, CO]

[So ideally, the motors should run in the middle of the voltage range?
Since the drives are rated 18-80 VDC, that would be around 50 volts
continuously. At 5 amps average draw, that would be 250 watts- doesn't that
make any heat anywhere? I can just put the drives in a closed box with no
fan and forget about them? Anyway, since you're one of the few who have
done this, I'd appreciate any words of wisdom you can share on setting this
up, (like how to set up the power supply- there seem to be a lot of ideas
out there) and any "gotcha"s that might not occur to the inexperienced.]

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

> I had a similar idea; but I'm retrofitting a Taig with Geckos and servos.
> I'll have to make new motor-mounts, since no servos seem to be made with
> NEMA 23 mounts, but having closed-loop speed and accuracy should make it
> worthwhile. I got my Geckos a couple of days ago- they sure are small! I'm
> wondering how hot they get when in use? Should I be attaching
> them to a big
> heat-sink and fanning them?

Andrew Werby - United Artworks
Sculpture, Jewelry, and Other Art Stuff
http://unitedartworks.com