Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] What can I do with two 40-46 oz/inch steppers?

In a message dated 07-Feb-02 00:27:02 Central Standard Time, lloyd@...
writes:

> Will 40-46 Oz/inch torque be good enough to drive a small lathe? I have
> a friend that may could get a free lathe (I don't know how, but he
> assures me that they are legit, not stolen, or in anyway illegal). And
> he can only get one (I asked).

Lloyd: 40 Oz-In. might do for a little EMCO 5", if you make only light cuts
in aluminum or plastic. Me, I'd want at least 150 oz. in., even for a 5"
EMCO (also sold by Sears with a different color paint! Really!)

Next you asked "what can [you] DO with such small steppers [then]?" I built
a non-chip-making item which I think is 100% ESSENTIAL in my CNC tinkery, a
small PLOTTER, with "four-start" lead-screws that have five-times the
linear-travel per-step as the lathe I also built. With that, using the SAME
program and model of computer and connections thereto, I can do PLOTS of what
the "center-point" of the lathe-bit is doing, only at 5X actual size. This
permits one to SEE clearly what the lathe's cutting-tool will be doing,
before any "blanks" are wasted, or things are damaged due to sudden
(forgotten about) "plunge-cuts" made too rapidly, etc.

Took some "inventing" to figure out how to make a "pen-lift/drop
solenoid/spring" arrangement that worked well. That, on my plotter, is
"triggered" by the "spindle motor switch" in the CNC programs. (There's also
a manual switch for the "pen-drop")

Lotsa luck! Jan Rowland


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