This is the Stepper motor that I have..( see attached )
Now my guess is where it's rated @ 1.7v /ph & 4.7A / ph
That if I run it at 12 to 24vdc, the current requirements are going to come down to more like 1 - 1.5 A / ph right ? Then I'd be able to use a wide range of stepper drivers out there. Any preffered units that do all three axis's off one board ?

Any Help is greatly appreciated....

-arthur

No....

The current will be 4.7 amps. The only way to make it draw less current is to supply it with less than the rated voltage. I don't think you want to do that.

Or, you could make it draw less regardless of voltage supplied by setting the current limit on let's say a xylotex driver at 2.5 amps. You will not get rated torque out then tho.

Those motors will need to be driven by a high current capable drive such as the Gecko 201 to make them put out max torque.

Eric

aha, well then.... guess I'll be going with either the stepperworld FET3, Or the Gecko drives... since those seem to be the only ones out there that can handle the current load. It's been alittle while since I've worked closely with DC devices, I'm thinking in AC terms now that I think about it more. Thanks for the advise, I'm just getting edgy having the steppers and nothing to control them with ..........

thanks,
Arthur

The Cobra stepper drive is very good. They can handle up to 10 amps. The best for Bridgeport retrofits, also guaranteed.
www.star-cam.com

I'm still futzing with these motors..., I know this is an old thread... but I'm trying to run these steppers with the FET3, which has the upgraded high power mosfet's to handle up to 15amp's per phase. If I'm correct in my calculations, 4.7A per phase, 2 phases per motor... so that's 9.4A per axis that I would need which equates to 28.2Amps that I would need minimum so a 30Amp pwr supply should suffice .... right ? No matter how I've set this up, I end up with a condition like the steppers are connected wrong, just doing lots of humming and buzzing, not turning..... symptom that tells me that I've got the phases wired wrong, but I've gone backwards and forwards with a bunch of wire configurations and can't make head or tails out of it. Anyone else have this problem / issue with the FET3 Ctrllr ? Should I just bite the bullet and just get a Xylotec controller... ?

thanks,

Art

Not yet. First, slow down the speed. What software are you using? what are the settings? What kind of computer? laptop? What voltage power supply? what resistors (if any). Where is the 5 volts for the board coming from? If a seperate supply you need to tie the 0V lines together.

This isn't the right forum for this thread..I am going to have it moved to the stepper motor or electronics section.

Eric

I'm still futzing with these motors..., I know this is an old thread... but I'm trying to run these steppers with the FET3, which has the upgraded high power mosfet's to handle up to 15amp's per phase. If I'm correct in my calculations, 4.7A per phase, 2 phases per motor... so that's 9.4A per axis that I would need which equates to 28.2Amps that I would need minimum so a 30Amp pwr supply should suffice .... right ? No matter how I've set this up, I end up with a condition like the steppers are connected wrong, just doing lots of humming and buzzing, not turning..... symptom that tells me that I've got the phases wired wrong, but I've gone backwards and forwards with a bunch of wire configurations and can't make head or tails out of it. Anyone else have this problem / issue with the FET3 Ctrllr ? Should I just bite the bullet and just get a Xylotec controller... ?

thanks,

Art

I wouldn't get a Xylotex for those motors. You'll only get half the power out of them. When you apply power to the drives, are the motors locking up? If they are, then I'd say the drive is working correctly, and your problem is the software setup like Eric says.

I'd make sure you get your FWT working before you think about upgrading to something else.

Just for your info, with Gecko's, you would only need about a 10a power supply for 3 motors. If you read the white papers at http://www.geckodrive.com , they state that a Gecko will only require 2/3 of the rating for 1 phase. That's for bipolar parallel. Bipolar series only needs half that, or 5a. See this: http://www.geckodrive.com/ycom/documents/C163R16_power_supplies.pdf

This applies to Gecko's only. How many wires do your motors have?

This is the Stepper motor that I have..( see attached )
Now my guess is where it's rated @ 1.7v /ph & 4.7A / ph
That if I run it at 12 to 24vdc, the current requirements are going to come down to more like 1 - 1.5 A / ph right ? Then I'd be able to use a wide range of stepper drivers out there. Any preffered units that do all three axis's off one board ? *snip*

As balsaman said the current capability of the motors will still need to be 4.7 A. However, the average current drawn from you power supply will be reduced, as you say.

(A chopper drive works something like a "DC transformer": power in = power out + losses. So higher voltage in means less current needed at that voltage.)

Arvid

In reply to Balsaman's post, I've currently got three pc pwr supplies for each axis they all have the 12 & 5 vdc outputs, each one @12vdc has an output of at least 8A, to pwr the board itself I've got a 5v 2a separate pwr supply, yes the bench is somewhat busy. I'm using the software on a laptop that's running win98, because the testing app that came with the FET3 .... that's all that it will run on. I got that info straight from Rus himself after attempting for a week to get it running on WinXP. As for what software I'm going to run the system on, well I don't know yet because I can't get past this first part and I figure you don't buy the radio for a vehicle you don't have yet so I'm waiting on that. I was going to go with Mach2.... from reading other posts on the board. So my thinking.... am I right if the motors use 4.7A per phase there are 2 phases per motor ( two coils with center taps essentially ) so that = 9.2A per motor that I require to appease each axis, I need something on the order of a 30A pwr supply to get things working right ? I've made one motor work from the software (test app included ) with the FET3 but that's the extent of it.
any suggestions as to where I'm going wrong ?

thanks guys for the help,

art

Try downloading TurboCNC and use that to get everything running. It's very easy to set up.

Try running it on another computer. Many laptops don't work for cnc. The voltage at the parallel port is too low to drive the driver.

Eric

Aha... that does sound just like the issues that I'm having... how I'm able to run one stepper but three, just does not work just like they're not getting enough signal. Having been in the IT industry now for 10 yrs I'm a seasoned geek that knows the in's & out's of each of MS OS... and something like a voltage or signalling inadequecy at the parallel port is the last thing I would have ever thought of differing on a laptop or desktop. What is the preffered OS of choice ( general consensis ) for most of the folks out here...and or the one that most cnc software seems to run the best on ?
Thanks for all the help.... Now I've just got to build a dedicated pc from the two pallets of PC parts gathering dust in my basement, which I thought were going to become boat anchor material.....lol.

-Art

What is the preffered OS of choice ( general consensis ) for most of the folks out here...and or the one that most cnc software seems to run the best on ?
Thanks for all the help.... Now I've just got to build a dedicated pc from the two pallets of PC parts gathering dust in my basement, which I thought were going to become boat anchor material.....lol.

-Art

The majority of people here use either TurboCNC, under DOS, and just about any speed computer, or Mach2, which needs Win2K or XP, and probably at least a 750 or 1 Ghz machine.

Oh, that's great to know... Then I'm more apt to try TurboCNC first then ... I'm going to be able to build a Dos box alot quicker than a system with any kind of speed & hp. I've got plenty of 2gb drives .... so looks like they'll see some life again, after I blow the dust off.... lol.
Thanks for the insight,

Art

Ok.... Balsaman... you were correct in your diagnosis of what the problem was...I guess the parallel port signal just wasn't strong enough from the laptop.... so I built a desktop dos box with 6.22 on it, and have it running turbocnc. I tested it yesterday with all three axis... and they all worked great. I only had one axis connected at one time, but I did that just for the fact of keeping the bench minimally covered in wiring.
Here's my issue though, and I don't see a way out of it unless I get different motors. At full speed ( Using the qbasic step software that came with the FET3) when I had it wide open, I was at best getting 3 -5 ipm If I had to guess it was painfully slow. This was At 5Vdc, using a current limiting resistor as to not smoke the drivers. All three Axis' were going the same thing.... powerful to a degree but slow. To see how much power the motors have I ever so slightly placed my hand on the headstock to see if the motor would stall out, and it does rather easily.... which is due to the fact that I'm running the motor @ 5v when it's rated for 1.7v per phase.
While I was having success, I thought I'd try turbocnc and when I attempted
to manually JOG the motors, I was getting nothing out of the controller. The parallel port addressing was correct too.... I double checked it against what the qbasic software was utilizing...
Any thoughts on the motor issues ?

thanks,

Art

Are you giving the motors the full 4.7a/phase? More voltage will give you more speed, not more torque. You'll just have the same torque at higher speeds. As long as you supply the full 4.7a, you should be getting full torque.

I'd guess you have something setup incorrectly in TurboCNC.

Yes by my calculations ... the motors each require 9.4amps ( 2phases ea ) and this motor has 9.7 available to it the way it is currently setup. The driver board Transistors only get mildly warm, not hot.... as for the current limiting resistor... that's another story!!

-Art

Those resistors are what controls the amps to the motor. Are you sure they are the correct value for the voltage you are using? You need different resistors for different voltages, I believe.

I have some motors that look very similar, mine are 1V3 and 4A9, unipolar. If you run in trouble because the current and yours are unipolar too, just forget the black and white wires, that are the commons -at least in my motors- and drive them bipolar (with a bipolar driver of course ;). This way you only will need half current, and a 2A controller will work. In fact my motors have black and white wires isolated with thermo retractile so I suspect that was the original mounting option.

Hope it helps
/F