Im am almost finished with my first router. It is a steel framed moving gantry design with chrome plated supported shafting and open pillow block bearings. The lead screws are ACME 1/2" diamter, 10 TPI and the nuts are standard type ACME nuts. (hope to get a build log put up soon with pictures )
I hooked up my stepper motors today (Hobby CNC 305oz steppers driven by the Hobby CNC Pro board, chain drive to the leadscrews 3:4 ratio (3 motor turns per 4 screw turns)) and I am having problems with the motors not having enough power to turn the leadscrews. This is especially aparant when trying to run a program (using Mach 3) as i see an axis trying to slowly move, but it just sits there vibrating slightly instead of slowly spinning. I can usually jog ok, but it seems like it wants to delay a little bit when starting
I don't have my motors set at an excessive speed. Actually, the velocity and acceleration are set very low.
I am trying to figure out why this is happening, because it seems like many people here have successfully used steppers in this capacity range. It happens with all 3 axises. The axises all slide freely when the nuts are detached.
If i turn up the amperage to the motors, would that help? (set on about 2 amps right now).
I am willing to redo the lead screws if thats what you all think needs to be done (would like to go with 2 or 5 start for speed, but if i dont have enough power to turn a 1 start, how can i turn a faster screw?)
Please Help!!! I'm feeling very disappointed right now.