linistepper questions from a newbie
I’m a newbie, and its my real "passion" that got me interested in cnc (building hi end kites) being as I have about as complete a knowledge of CNC controlers as most of you likly have about kite aerodynamics, I’m likely going to have a hole mess of stupid questions.
my long term project is a cnc plotter table (working area about 48"x62") for fine piont sharpie plotting of kite sail templates, and hot cutting R/S nylon by dragging a pen style soldering iron across the material. what i was thinking for liner motion was "belt" driven gantry and tool slide. with a 62" tool movment (y), and a 48" gantry movement,(x) (the material is 60" wide, so this layout it alows me to run a roll off the front and back of the table for a pattern larger than 48" wide)
if i can keep percision within +/- 1/64 i will be happy the only z axis i need will be a simple pen up/down
after hanging around studying the site for a wile, I have decided I like what I here about linsteppers, so i will likly get two linstepper controlers, a breakout board, an isolator circut, and some sort of controler, or relay for a soleniod for pen up/down (the iron cuts nylon with heat, as such will need no more pressure than its own wieght to do so)
the stepper motors I have gotten a hold of are 2 identical American Precision stepper motors, 23D-6102C.
the motor specs says its a 6 lead motor, 5 volt, 1 A. 1.8 step. after reading the posts, and the web site, I am under the impression that linstepper controllers are in the ball park for this motor. (with a good heat sink, and fan of course) i hope this is the right impression.
would it be better to run the soleniod off one of the z axis pins on the breakout, or should i use the option of an on board relay, (i read some disgussion of rfi problems around relays, and was wandering if thats an issue on a breakout board) i might also want to put a 120v relay control for heat on/off for the iron, and because i have the z axis free, i was wondering if theres a problem with using those i/o's for "accesorizing my toolhead"
if driven at 200 full steps per inch, can i expect a reasonable, range of speeds of cut (1-3" per sec) in the 1200, 3600 modes (to prevent overheating the edge of the material)
thanks
wayword son
go build a kite!
for info go to www.kitebuilder.com/kiosk.html