Re: mill servo conversion ?'s

{SNIP}

> Then, how do I choose a power supply based on those specs? I've heard
> I need about 2/3 the amps of the stall amps of all the motors
> combined. Is that peak amps or sustained? And how do I judge a power
> supplies peak amperage? Can some sustain the peak amperage for longer
> (it seems so) and if so, how long? What about voltage? How do I choose
> voltage with respect to the motor's voltage and maximizing torque? Is
> higher voltage always better? Also, I've heard that these power
> supplies are rather simple (practically just a transformer, rectifier,
> and capacitor) so is there some way I can build my own?
>

{SNIP}

Yes you can build you own power supply. It is really pretty easy.
Check out the white paper on the Gecko site:

http://www.geckodrive.com/ycom/documents/C163R16_power_supplies.pdf

It will tell you all you need to know. I am sorry I can't comment
much on your other questions as I am pretty new to this myself but I
have built three power supplies and they are pretty straight forward
for this application. Others with more experience and knowledge can
assist you with the selection of motors but Marris (Designer of the
Gecko Drive) suggest a power supply of 5 volts above what the motor is
rated for (This is for servo motors). If you are using stepper motors
you will need a supply of 10 - 20 times the motor voltage (some say as
high as 25 times the motor voltage). For the most part, you will not
experience all three (or four if you have a 4th axis) motors running
at full bore at once. That is where the 2/3 amps comes from. If you
have three motors rated at 10 amps each then you would have a total
motor amps of 30. 2/3 would be 20 so you would need a 20 amp power
supply (Anyone please correct me if I am wrong here). Hope this helps
and you will learn what you need to know as you ask more questions,
just don't expect it to all fall into place at one time. These people
on this group are really good and you will get some first class advice.

Marv