(I was suggested to repost this becasue i had it in the wrong forum and didn't get any replies)


Hi. First i'd like to say what a great forum! I have been researching home built CNC routers for a while and only recently stumbled upon this community.

I am in the process of gathering all the components for my router. I have the ball screws and linear guides and am looking now for the stepper motors. The ball screws have the following lengths of travel to give a size perspective of the machine. X,Y,Z respectively: 73", 42", 18". As a side note, I do not intend to use all 18" of Z height--I got a great deal on the screw and will cut it down to fit the design if necessary.

I will be planning to cut mostly wood, ren, and ocassionally aluminum. The projects will generally be furiture related: end tables, coffee tables book cases, etc.

My main question is in regards to the size of the stepper motors needed. From looking at past threads it seems most people are in the 200-400 oz-in range, but it also seems most peoples machines have a smaller foot print. The motors i have had my eyes on are 990 oz-in. Is this complete overkill for my project? I had planed to couple them directly to the ball screw shafts (direct drive). I would guess the Y-Z gantry will weigh about 100-150lbs when complete.

Any input or suggestions would be appreciated, thanks.