Hi all,
I'm quite new to the whole CNC world (though not new to real-time software control of other things), but I'm in the process of converting an X2 mini-mill over. Along the way I came across a good deal on these two THK KR46 linear actuators with ballscrews at a local surplus house, and they came with stepper motors and working limit switches. I'm not really sure what to do with them yet, but it only makes sense to get some familiarity controlling and configuring them before I get in to the meat of the real project, so I'm going to test them out with my Geckos.
Thus, I have a few questions. I have made some fairly thorough attempts to search for these answers but haven't come up with anything yet.
1) The motors don't have voltage or current limits stamped on them. All they say is "MODEL MT232-06" from American Precision Industries, Inc, with what appears to be a manufacture date of 10/95. They have the standard 8-pin 0.100" header, and I've tested them with an ohmmeter; the windings are 1-5, 2-6, 3-7, and 4-8 and each one has approx 0.7ohms of resistance. They're standard Nema23 size, but without voltage or current limits I'm not really sure where to start.
Here's a photo of the motor label: http://www.flickr.com/photos/80823736@N00/294997110/
Assuming that I can't find any better information on the motors, can anyone suggest a decent place to start for voltage and current limit settings? I'm not going to pushing much load with these at first, so I was just going to go with 2A/30V as a starting point unless you'll have better suggestions. I have access to a wide range of test equipment so if there are any other easy ways to divine recommended limits I could try those out. The controller I'm using is a Gecko 202, and the power supply is TBD.
2) The actuators aren't the cleanest, but they slide easily from one end to the other with minimal force and I don't hear any grinding. I have no idea if they've been dropped or anything and haven't indicated them yet, but they look nice. Can anyone suggest a fun project to make with these to experiment around with while I get comfortable? Is there any reasonable way you could use one of these on an X2 CNC conversion? I could imagine putting a larger motor and doing the vertical axis with one, but that's about it.
Relatively detailed photos of the motors and actuators are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80823736@N00/
Thanks!
Peter
Melbourne, FL