Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] General Question REgarding Stepper vs. Servos

Daniel:

I have been operating totally-home-brew CNC lathes since '79, and I had built
the entire motor-drives "ignorant" on the first one, and IT would gain/lose a
step now and then whenever another HUGE machine was switched on/off in same
shop. The next machine was about the same, but had generally more informed
construction, still unipolar drives/motors, but I have NEVER recalled a
gained/missing step.

My THIRD little CNC lathe was similar but much better, with S.E. BIPOLAR
drives and steppers, and IT has been ROCK-SOLID, with NEVER a gained or lost step
since original turn-on in 12/'99. (see "PHOTOS" under "Home Brew...") SO, for
economy (depending on what you are DOING with it, of course!), my vote would
almost-always be for bipolar/chopper drive, perhaps the "microstepping" kind,
though I have almost no hands-on experience with the Gecko G210 drives, as the
only two I ever ordered were installed on a device I completed and shipped
right away to Ohio in 1/'00, so didn't have the machine (an application-specific
plotter) in my hands long enough to really "learn about it".

Jan Rowland


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