Hey guys, my first post here, so I'll introduce myself... my name's Tony.
I have been following the DIY scene for a while and really want a mill, laser cutter, and 3D printer, but can't afford any of the above, so I decided to build a machine that can, at intervals, be all three.
I was originally going to design it after the McWire machine and just use it long enough to print out a RepRap Mendel, but then I ordered some motors off of eBay that I thought were NEMA17 and turned out to be NEMA23.
So, now I have some huge motors with a lot more torque than I had counted on, and I guess I'll be building a much bigger mill/printer. Oh, darn...
Anyway, I was thinking about making a gantry-type mill, maybe out of MDF.
I had a couple of questions for people who have built these things before:
1: My motors are rated for 179 oz in of torque... is that enough for me to mill metal if I should decide down the line to mill metal with this thing?
2: Since this will be a mill other than a brief period up front where it will be a 3D printer, will I be able to reach a high enough speed with leadscrews instead of belts to be able to print out a RepRap?
3: I was thinking that the benefit to having a large flat stationary bed during the 3D printer stage would be that I could print out all of my parts in one go. Does anybody see any problems with that plan?
4: There were some circuit boards shipped with the motors, and I've attached pictures of them... what are these things? I know the chips are the control chips for these motors, but what's all the rest of the circuitry for? Are they the driver boards, and all I have to do is send them logic signals from my arduino, or are they something else?
Thanks for your help!