CNC Router Build #5 - Motors and Movement 

Fair bit of pilot describing the flightpath over the Tannoy in there too, similar Cadence...

The effort in installing them is far more than disconnecting wires in the unlikely event that the machine is moved somewhere else. More connections with plugs & sockets also means more things to fail.

He's used series

Details and photos in this Facebook post: facebook.com/jwflame/posts/181311469047510

The spindle can be run with just the inverter, speed can be set manually with the controls on the front. In this build, spindle control will be done through the software which required some additional wiring between the inverter and the breakout board. This will allow both on/off and speed control.

can you recommend any good inverter, i would like to control spindle from my MACH 3 . thank you

This is just one video in a series, the rest are here: ru-vid.com/group/PLVsHvs2Suqmp7di69X5mYnVeM84rij8I-

All parts and costs covered in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MeIjNFyFA6c.html links in the description have more info.

To move the motors you will require either Mach4 or some other control software, there isn't any realistic way of operating the motors without it. The particular motor drives in the video have a small adjustment screw on the side to obtain best results with a particular motor, this is adjusted once the motor has been set to a continuous slow speed in the software.

hi John , i got my CNC from a person, and it came with very old driver and it was working kind of but when i installed it in my shop it stopped working . i do have MACH 3 software but i cant run CNC with my old driver , . its a big CNC with 34d and 42D motors , motors have 6 wires, 4 phase and 42 D motors are 7.1 Amp. i would like to upgrade Driver for my motors, can you recommend some good drivers for my motors and BOB. thank you

No issues with the machine - the only changes have been that: 1 the computer monitor failed recently (it was already 10 years old when the videos were made), so replaced it with a new one 2 the cyclone dust collector didn't work very well as the plastic tub was too weak, and the sides crumpled in after a while (now replaced with a metal tub instead) 3 for flat panel materials they are fixed to the base using double sided tape, as that's more reliable than superglue and masking tape. They are all single sided so tape on the back doesn't matter.

@@jwflame Its a nice CNC Was your Gecko boards and Motion controller ok? Thats the bit im working on! The Chinese ones are too dodgy Im thinking ACORN CNC Centroid, CSMIO/IP-M 4-axis CNC controller also there is an Italian company N°4 Drives A-CSD04.V and N° 4 Stepping Motor Called RTA! I watch your vids and love the CNC ones clear and very helpfull! Thanks JW

@@iceman1358 No problems with those, I chose those so that if anything did fail, direct replacements would be available, rather than trying to source some random unbranded thing or have to make alterations and fit another type instead.

The documentation for the drives doesn't actually say what is being adjusted, only that doing so 'will result in the most even microstep placement for a given motor and power supply voltage'.

Yeah I want to ask Mariss about that.

The adjustment screw on the motor drivers fine tune adjust the output current at low speeds to match the specific size motors you are driving. This helps prevent excess heat buildup in the motors and drivers as well as vibration. It allows you to find the maximum stepping torque without saturating the windings.

2 motors for a single axis requires 2 motor drivers, each connected to 2 separate outputs on the controller board. The software is then configured to send the same Y axis signals to both of those outputs.

@@jwflame how i can configure in match 3 for 2 motors and 2 drivers for 1 position y axis

@@justbabychub581 No idea, I do not use Mach3.

About £3000.

He's using Mach 4 which does seem to work a lot better than Mach 3 does. It is still ugly as sin though. But it doesn't look quite as much as like a video one armed bandit as Mach 3 did. A little, but not as much.

The alignment of the slave motor isn't quite right, hence the excessive noise on that axis. Gantry was just connected where it was, so that may not be correct either. Maximum speed was 10000 mm/minute, or about 400 inches/minute. Optimum speed, acceleration and other settings yet to be determined.

Your X, Y, and Z are always related to your workpiece and the origin point. Generally, the operator will be standing in front of the machine and the X axis is always right to left and Y is always front to back while Z is up and down. This is the case for pretty much all CNC routers. Even if you work in the negative quadrant like some overseas countries your x is still right to left and y is still front to back. Remember that the front of this machine is parallel to and towards the spindle side of the gantry. In this machine and pretty much all like it, your gantry is the X axis since you always want the front open to set your work origin if you work in the positive quadrant with the origin in the lower left. The Y axis in this machine is powered by dual motors and is attached to the table. This is the way it has been as far back as my CNC knowledge and experience goes and I learned CNC 25+ years ago on industrial equipment. Pretty much all CNC routers were set up in the portrait orientation. Granted you could swap your x and y-axis in the configuration to make the table x and the gantry y but I don't see the point since the front of the machine would then be on the side which would make setting the part origin more difficult. At the end of the day it's all about the end result and how you get there is up to you. That is the beauty of CNC.

kuhrd I'm with you