Hello all,
Just getting into CNC and have bought what was suppose to be a workable system, but unfortunitly having problems...
I wanted to buy a ready to work system, but the dealer I bought from only had part of a complete system without getting into used. Since I really wanted all new (warranties), he made up a list of what he didn't have for me to buy. Seemed it was pretty cut-and-dry by what he was saying so I went ahead and bought what he had and what was recomended.
I bought the Taig micro mill and shurline mini lathe - both CNC ready, less stepper motors. He had a DenverCNC 4 axis controller he said was good and recomended I buy US Digital MS23 stepper motors. Also got the Shurline rotory table - CNC ready less stepper motor.
Got everything in, put it all together and started using it a couple of days ago. Here's the problem...
Seems the stepper motors are too high current for the DenverCNC controller. I didn't know this (no docs came with it) and after playing around and checking it all out I did my first "real" milling job to test it.
I was processing about a 180,000 line g-code for milling a replica of a $20 gold coin (in aluminum
and after about 15 minutes into the process the controller started to vibrate. I was on the other side of the mill (other side of table) from the controller so I didn't see or hear this right away. When I did notice it, it was actually moving around on the table with the vibrations. I quickly hit the emergency stop and checked it out.
It was almost hot to the touch! Obviously, the transformer was frying in the box.
Well, I emailed DenverCNC to ask for help. After a few emails back and forth, I opened the controller box and seen that it only had a 4 amp transformer in it. This didn't seem right as I rememberd reading the docs that came (book actually) with the stepper motors. It said that they could pull 4.2 amps in micro step using bipolar connections. 4.2x3 is alot more then that little 4 amp transformer would provide, so I knew we had major problems here. Sent another e-mail to DenverCNC and Derek confirmed these motors will draw too much current for this controller.
So, I now have a burnt controller and alot of confusion.
What would be the right controller for this configuration. I don't think the stepper motors are going back, as they were pretty expensive and now used. They are very good motors I've heard, so I think I need to look at a replacement for the controller. I'll be calling my dealer this morning and I hope he has an easy solution for this problem. I'm really not too interested in having to build up a controller as I need to get going on what I bought this CNC stuff for.
Any suggestions?
Thanks.
-Rodger