Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Stepper on a spindle

Keith,
The gecko would drive the motor in both circumstances. Consider it to
be a power amplifier to convert logic signals to power levels to
actually turn the motor.

The inputs to the Gecko would change depending on the mode of
application. When you are doing plain round turning, your Accel/decel
circuit would provide pulses to the Gecko to turn the spindle motor at a
constant rate. When you are doing spiral turning, the control pulses to
the spindle motor come from Mach 3.

On my lathe, running AH-Ha, I just call the rotational (spindle) axis
the Y axis, and envision my parts as drawn on a cylinder of paper
wrapped around the part, with the X-axis being the router carriage
left-right traverse, and the Z-axis being the crossfeed depth of cut.
This may not conform with some conventions, but it works for me. Of
course, I wrote my own G-code generator program, so I don't have to
conform to any one else's standard. I believe that the "conventional" Y
and Z axis assignments are different, but I'm not precisely sure how.

Dave

Keith Clark wrote:

>Thanks for all the input on this question.
>
>What I really need it seems, is a spindle motor on the lathe with rpm
>that can be controlled by Mach3 and then the ability to let the router
>be the spindle and the lathe spindle become a 4th axis. Am I correct
>in assuming that the wiring would have to be changed from an
>independent rpm controller to a Gecko to drive it as a 4th axis?
>
>Thanks again,
>
>Keith Clark
>
>