Hello All,
I just found this forum. I've been thinking of adding x-y drive to my wife's quilter for some time (
http://www.pfaffusa.com/5201.html ) and I'm glad I found others who are interested in the same.
I price a Q-Bot, and for $3K decided to pass on it and try this myself.
I already have a laser cutter that follows Corel Draw vector lines, but have no idea on how to duplicate the printer firmware to run my own steppers from.
I'm familiar with PIC and Arduino coding, and stepper motor operation and hope I can get some help here.
My original thought was to use a belt drive on the x, and acme screw on the y since it only has to travel about a 16". Still looking for proper motors that would be fast and strong enough to move the 40 pound mass back and forth.
Well I just thought I'd throw my hat in the ring and introduce myself.
Take care,
Tom M
State College, Pa
Hi Tom,
Glad to hear you are interested in my project. The CNC Quilter has been a labor of love for the last several months. I'll be posting some videos soon on the forum so that folks can see the finished project. My wife has relegated all of the control, setup and operation of the CNC portion of the quilter to me, so now I am hip deep in the Quilting Hobby too. I find it to be rather relaxing, and stimulating at the same time. I am continually finding new things to try out, such as adding drive belts and using cable as the drive mechanism on the Y-axis. The cable works very well for that purpose, I am going to try using a stronger cable on the x-axis soon (my wife will be bringing some 50 lb test stainless steel fishing wire with poly-U coating back from the states.)( I am in Germany). If I can be of help with your project please let me know.
Larry