I just bought an aluminum extrusion frame and I'm looking for some electronics to go along with it.
The CNC I'm going to be building has 3 Nema 23 motors (two on the Y gantry) plus a Nema 17 for the Z.
I've been considering the TinyG and the Gecko G540. Obviously the Gecko is considerably more money so what am I going to gain from going that route? I would also need to repurpose/build myself a PC with parallel to run LinuxCNC or similar.
I am a college student and on a very strict budget but this is my second CNC build and the first one I cut corners on and ended up completely wasting my money (if you don't count the invaluable lessons I learned in assembly and general knowledge)
So although it is a consideration that the Gecko is more money I am more than willing to pay double the cost if I need to. In the end it's less than $150 more and if that's what it takes then that's what I'll do I just don't want to spend money needlessly on the most expensive controller if I don't really need it. I guess the best way to put it is that I can afford either, I have the money saved, but would it be better spent elsewhere?
Second, I need some steppers. I'm in California so I've been considering these guys because they're not too much more than the eBay motors and they're going to get here quickly. Anyone have a good source on Nema 23 motors? The plans call for a double Y setup and it's a moving gantry so I don't want heavy 3lb steppers hanging off the gantry.
Thanks for the help