Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] SloSyn

>
> Steve, That certainly is a useful link, but I am wondering if there was
> something there that you thought specifically addressed my question re:
> indexers? I have read through a number of the documents and can't seem to
> find a clear definition.
>
> patrick
>

Patrick,

Stepper motor indexers can be seperate units or combined with drives.
The drive takes step and direction inputs and outputs the pulses to
the motor in the proper order depending on the polarity of the direction
bit. If you plan on using one of the CNC programs discussed here like
EMC, CNCPro, KellyCam, DeskCam etc you want step and direction drive.
The drives are "dumb", the faster you pulse it the faster it will
turn the motor. If you want to move the motor 100,000 steps at 100
steps/min you need to pulse it 100,000 times at 100 times/min.
This is what the CNC programs do, they figure speed, direction,
and amount of steps and pulse the drive.

An indexer on the other hand is "smart". Send it some info from a
computer or micro such as "move motor clockwise 100,000 steps at
100 steps/min." and it will do that for you. Some even take G-Code
input, some have control panels built in for manual moves etc.
Most of the hobbiest CNC programs won't work with an indexer. If what
you have is an indexer/drive combo some will let you bypass the
indexer part and let you feed in step and direction info.

If your drives don't allow step and direction inputs and take g-code in
through the serial port it wouldn't be too hard to write your own
cnc program to run them. Just read the line of code and send it to the
indexer.

I don't think there is such thing as an indexer motor.

Hope this helps, and if you already knew this, sorry
Bill