Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Servo/Stepper on a Surface Grinder

Hi Alan,

Wow, I really appreciate your kind of thinking. It certainly appeals to
the inner-geek in me ("What can I automate about my house?!") from what
you're describing though it sounds like you're willing to make your own
controller for this purpose. To be fair, a microcontroller or PLC is by
far the most optimum thing for this solution as using an entire PC for a
back-and-forth job really is overkill. But by this thinking, I'm lead to
wonder if you really need gecko's or other servo/step drivers to control
the main back/forth motor?

It seems a simple DC motor speed/dir contoller would do quite well (A
homebrew H-bridge with a bit of PWM to set the speed) - or even a really
cheap 3 phase motor and an inverter. Most inverters have a control line
for direction, so your PLC could just flip that and you could use a
potentiometer to set the speed. This way you'd have nice smooth motion
(with lots of simple adjustment for speed). Maybe even use a belt/pulley
system to reduce the speed? For the Z-axis (is it called a Z-axis on a
surface grinder? Well, for the "mill Z-axis" anyway) I'd use a gecko
stepper driver. No point in servo's here - steppers are nice and cheap
and have the perfect "hold" characteristics you'd want for raising and
lowering the grinder.

Sound workable?
I certainly rather like your idea of CNCing this type of machine. :)

~Abby