RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] small 3-axis micro stepper

No offense to Mariss and Gecko as I use his products and think they are
great.
<rant>
But, for what ever reason the general thought has become that everything
need to run at 20 - 25x rated voltage and have a zillion amps. I can
assure you that there are lots of machines happily running on Camtronics
controllers that max out at 36 volts and L297/298 setups. Believe it or
not I had my Shoptask happily running on 3.? V motors with a 24 volt
supply and was getting 90 ipm rapids. Lets get back to reality and get
off the ego trip of my hardware has more XXXX than yours and you're a
jerk if you don't buy godzilla amps and crank the voltage to 1 millivolt
short of frying. Heck I even had my Bridgeport running on G210s at only
58 volts and doing 80 ipm reliably. Luckily no one told the motors that
they should not be working well at only 10 x rated voltage or so. Heck
if you read Mariss' info he recommends that the power supply be 4 - 25 x
the motor voltage. It is just the group ego trip that says it has to be
20 - 25X or you may as well rake the yard and give up on a CNC machine.
</rant>

My guess is that the http://www.xylotex.com/ drive will be a great match
to a Sherline/Taig/mini-mill setup. There are plenty of NEMA 23 motors
that will put out 150 - 250 in/oz in series with 2.5 amps and amazingly
they will run just as well and you would never know the difference if
you run them at only 1.5 amp. Sure you will lose a little low end torque
but a motor in this size range on a little mill can afford to be down on
low end torque. My suggestion to Jared is go for it and get started. The
board will definitely run the mill. We used less for years and it will
be a major improvement over a unipolar drive.

Just remember, the goal is to get a machine running reliable, not to
build the most optimum setup under heaven.

Tim
[Denver CO]

> Jared,
>
> First determine what stepper motors you are going to use with
> them. The
> xylotex board is limited to 35 volts.
>
> As a general rule, if you divide the 35 volts by 20 you would
> get 1.75 volts
> as the voltage for the stepper motors.
>
> You can ask others, but I think that 2.5 amps may not be enough.
>
> You may want to save up your money and buy Gecko drives.
>
> Bob Campbell
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "J" <jaredts@...>
> To: <CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Monday, September 16, 2002 12:54 PM
> Subject: Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] small 3-axis micro stepper
>
>
> >
> > For anyone kind enough to offer 2 cents:
> > This stepper driver from xylotex looks like a good setup at
> a great price.
> Before I go out on a limb and buy one, does anyone see
> anything wrong with
> this system for a small cnc? I have an Enco mill/drill table that is
> slightly larger and heavier than a Taig's. I don't know what
> to use as a
> spindle yet (I guess just a router for now). Is 2.5 amps
> bipolar enough? I
> would greatly appreciate any help from those more experienced than me
> (probably 99% of those reading this right now). My problem
> is that I can't
> afford geckos, and don't want to buy a unipolar driver board and be
> disappointed with the performance.
> > Thanks,
> > Jared
> > bsptrades wrote:
> > Just spotted this outfit on e-bay looks to be a nice simple package
> > using the newer allegro chips. The price seems fair at $90 for small
> > projects
> >
> > http://www.xylotex.com/
> >
> > Brian
> > BSP
>