RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Getting started

Simon,

First I would suggest you go to the FAQ (
http://www.ktmarketing.com/faq.html ) and spend some tile there
particularly following some of the links listed as tutorials (These links
are reached from the FAQ page and are listed as "Great collection of
resource and reference links. AKA: Bill's (the list mom) collection of
links"). Don't mean to come off sounding unhelpful and elitist, but with the
number of people on the list it is the fastest way to get you up to a base
level of understanding.

I would particularly point you to this link on the above referenced page:
"tutorial on stepping motors. A great place to start learning how a stepper
works "

The short answer to your question about how a stepper controller works is
that what you describe is close to a phase drive. Change serial port to
parallel port (If it was serial you would need intelligent electronics to
decode the signal and route it to the appropriate phases and motor) and you
just described a unipolar phase driver. Most drivers are now a step and
direction configuration so the drive electronics are receiving 2 signals, a
step pulse and a direction. The electronics then generate the phase output
and amplify and possibly monitor it.

Please keep asking the questions that don't seem to make sense as you work
through the tutorial material.

Tim
[Denver, CO]

>
> Hi,
> I know very little about steppers, but intend (time permitting) to
> build
> an NC woodlathe. I have been looking at controllers and they seem to
> run
> about $150 each.
> What exactly do these things do? Are they just a glorified
> transformer,
> or do they have some intelligence? It seems that one could just fire a
> series of pulses through a serial port and have them control a larger
> current
> which would run the stepper, or am I oversimplifying things?
>
> I am also (this one may be a bit off topic) looking to have some laser
> cutting done in 1/8" steel, but the place I have found locally wants $3
> Canadian
> (or $2 American) per linear inch of cut. This is prohibitively
> expensive
> as far as I am concerned, but is it out of line with what the market
> will
> bear? Is there any other way to do relatively clean cutting in steel
> which is cheaper?
>
> Thanks for any advice,
>
> Simon
>
> FAQ: http://www.ktmarketing.com/faq.html
>
>