[jblakes34]

Hi,
This is my first post here. I've been slowly working on my gantry machine for several years, on and off. It is almost complete. The body is extruded aluminum, with linear slide rails on each side and on the gantry. Right now about the only thing left to build is the motor mount for the y axis on the gantry. I bought some stepper motors a while back on ebay. I'm not sure they are powerful enough, though. I hooked them up to my circuit and they worked ok. Here's a video of that: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s_e-2Lytv0]Jeremy's stepper motors for CNC gantry - YouTube[/ame] When I connected them to the gantry, it only moved back and forth slowly and erratically. I'm not sure if the wires I had from my breadboard to the motors were crappy, or if the motors were just too weak. I'm looking for advice on motor/driver sets. I've seen a few on different sites. One thing I have noticed, though, is that none of them seem to cater to a gantry system with rack and pinion gears on each side with a motor on each side. Does anyone have any experience with this, and can anyone recommend any sets? I'll see if I can attach pictures of my machine.

[doorknob]

It might be helpful if you could provide some details about the motors and drivers that you are currently using.

I don't have experience with a gantry machine such as the one that you are building, and the images are not really clear enough to draw firm conclusions, but my impression from viewing the video is that you are using a relatively simple driver circuit and relatively small motors (in terms of rated torque, based on the physical size), and relatively low-voltage motor power supply.

[jblakes34]

So I'm not going to concern myself with trying to use the old steppers I have or the simple driver circuit I built. I was trying this week to email geckodrive tech support about info. I sent them two emails and filled out the contact us thing on their site, and havent heard back from them yet. I'm thinking the G540 driver and four of their 400 oz-in motors will work for my machine. I just want their input before I order them. Anybody know how long they usually take to respond to tech support emails? Any thoughts on this motor/drive combination? I signed up for their forum this morning too, but I have to wait for them to set me up before I can post on their forum.

[ger21]

That's not a good motor for the G540. Their site says it's

specifically meant for the G201X, G210X, G203V or the G213V

If you want to use a G540, the 381 oz motors that Keling sells are the best match for it.

[jblakes34]

Thanks for the info. So I googled keling and found their site, and it said they have a new site called automationtechnologiesinc.com. I found kits with the 381 oz-in motors. It looks like they are all dual shaft. I really don't need a shaft sticking out the back, but whatever. I still need to find out how to run two motors doing the same thing, just opposite each other for the gantry, since I have rack and pinion gears on both sides. I think I saw someone mention something about having a driver connected as a slave. Is this what they were talking about?

[doorknob]

Yes - if you are planning to use Mach3 software, Mach3 permits you to configure one axis as a slave of another axis.

[jblakes34]

Ok, good. I'll have to study the mach 3 software. I had the demo installed on a computer a while back, but the motherboard on that machine crapped out. I'm about to build another computer for the cnc. If I want to run a true 4th axis later, will I be able to just connect another G250 to the breakout board on the G540?

[ger21]

If I want to run a true 4th axis later, will I be able to just connect another G250 to the breakout board on the G540?

No, it only handles the 4 drives that are built in.
You'd need another parallel port and breakout board to add a 5th motor.

[jblakes34]

So I probably don't want a four axis breakout board, I need one that can handle 5 or 6 axes. John at automation technology replied to my email about the motor sets, but he didn't read my whole email because the set he said I could use only has three motors. Here's the set he said I could use: High-Torque Stepper Motor, Stepper Motor, Driver, Stepper Motor kit, DC Servo Motor, DC Servo Motor kit, Stepper Motor Power Supply, CNC Router, Spindle, and other Components. Automation Technology Inc

This breakout board accomodates a 6 axis setup. There are only three drivers and motors in this set though. I wish the motors only had one shaft. I replied back to him and asked about the issue of needing two motors for the gantry and I asked who makes the breakout board and drivers. Does anyone know anythig about the quality of these boards? I guess I may try out this set and order one extra motor and driver.

[ger21]

The breakout board is from CNC4PC. CNC4PC

[doorknob]

The breakout board is described as: C10 6 axis Breakout board

The C10 is made by CNC4PC. See CNC4PC

I have no direct experience with the board, however it has been used by many people who post here.

The C10 offers a lot of configuration options which may be selected by setting onboard jumpers. It is a very flexible board, but it can also be confusing for people who do not have at least some familiarity with electronics concepts (however, based on your video, my guess is that you do have an electronics background). Here is a link to some C10 documentation:

http://cnc4pc.com/Tech_Docs/C10R10_USER_MANUAL_V2.pdf

[jblakes34]

Thanks for the help. Lots of useful info. I do have a degree in electronics engineering. I should be able to get the setup for that breakout board figured out. I think I will go ahead and order the set for 4 axis with those same components next week. It suprises me that Geckodrive will not answer any emails, nor do they have motors on their website compatible with the G540 driver.

[jblakes34]

I ordered the 4 axis motor set with the C10 breakout board, controllers, power supply, and all that from keling/automation technologies. :banana: High-Torque Stepper Motor, Stepper Motor, Driver, Stepper Motor kit, DC Servo Motor, DC Servo Motor kit, Stepper Motor Power Supply, CNC Router, Spindle, and other Components. Automation Technology Inc
Hopefully those motors and controllers are of good quallity. I read somewhere someone voicing concerns about controllers not being able to handle the current that the motors are drawing or something to that effect.

Does anyone have suggestions for a good supplier of quality carbide bits? One of the first things I want to try is routing my own circuit board. I read that cheap bits will wear out quickly and start to tear up the copper.

[aprice12]

If you are looking for single shaft motor, check out the 3.5 amp 380 oz-in motors at cncrouterparts.com. This is what I am using with my G540. 3.5 amps is the max rated current per axis according to Gecko. Mine is still in construction so I can't comment on performance yet.

Good luck!

[Dylwad]

I ordered the 4 axis motor set with the C10 breakout board, controllers, power supply, and all that from keling/automation technologies. :banana: High-Torque Stepper Motor, Stepper Motor, Driver, Stepper Motor kit, DC Servo Motor, DC Servo Motor kit, Stepper Motor Power Supply, CNC Router, Spindle, and other Components. Automation Technology Inc
Hopefully those motors and controllers are of good quallity. I read somewhere someone voicing concerns about controllers not being able to handle the current that the motors are drawing or something to that effect.

Does anyone have suggestions for a good supplier of quality carbide bits? One of the first things I want to try is routing my own circuit board. I read that cheap bits will wear out quickly and start to tear up the copper.

http://stores.ebay.com/CARBIDE-PLUS kyocera carbide bits, great prices, awesome seller to deal with.