Hi,

I have bought a Zoltar CNC Kit and I'm now nearly the finish, this product is very nice, very affordable and good enough for any hobby requierments, I have the Conrad EMIS SMC 1500 and PCNC SMC software, this concept is just marvelous, I have no skills regarding how to manage a router with this kind of hardware and software and was a bit skeptic on how to manage this but it seems that the manual that comes with the software can help a lot.

One question about this type of constellation is it better and easier to manage a route with step and direction products.

I hope my letter is OK I'm not a language expert.

GLHA

I've been searching. I'm thinking about buying this machine too. But I'm wondering how much the pricetag really is.

http://image01.conrad.com/m/9000_9999/9600/9670/9677/967726_BB_00_FB.EPS.jpg
STAPPENMOTOR SOFTWARE
Artikelnr.: 967726 - 8A
109,00 EUR

http://image01.conrad.com/m/9000_9999/9600/9670/9677/967785_BB_00_FB.EPS.jpg
SERVOMOTOR BESTURINGSK.SMC1500
Artikelnr.: 967785 - 8F
165,00 EUR

http://image01.conrad.com/m/9000_9999/9600/9670/9676/967645_LB_00_FB.EPS.jpg
STAPPEN MOTOR VOOR 967599
Artikelnr.: 967645 - 8H
18,15 EUR

109,00 EUR
165,00 EUR (I assume it can drive 3 motors...?)
18,15 EUR x 3

Total 328,45 EUR

Btw is the PC-NC software able to read AutoCAD files? And has the sourcecode been included?

I've also found this site, which too looks OK to me as a source for steppermotors.

http://www.nc-step.de/english/shop.htm
"Zoltar kit 800": 3 stepper motors NMB 23LM-C077V (5,1V 1,5A 0,8Nm) and the following cards (board and partkit):
3 chanel stepper motor driver, optocoupler, power supply (3 ampere, incl. transformer).
275,00 Euro

But what do I need more? For example the milling engine? Powersupply is inluded in the nc-step kit. What other parts are not included in the zoltar kit? Is the whole machine glued together?

Could you give me some advice?

Sorry, many questions :)

The "STAPPEN MOTOR VOOR 967599" looks like too small to me, it looks like NEMA17 Size and in general they are not recommended, normally they have too low torque to be useful.

The "SMC 1500 Servomotor" card, if it is for servos and not for steppers as the name says, will not work, you need a stepper card.

The "Zoltar kit 800" sounds good at least for the torque of the motors although the price is somewhat expensive, specially when you can scavenge a laserjet II for 5€ and get these kind of motor.

I cannot speak about the card of the kit, do not have enough info about it.

True, I suppose the right card should be this one:

PC-STAPPENMOTOR-KAART
Artikelnr.: 967599 - 8F
79,95 EUR

http://image01.conrad.com/m/9000_9999/9600/9670/9675/967599_BB_00_FB.EPS.jpg

However, this is weird, the same error is made on the Zoltar site... I hope the review above isn't written by the same person as is the site. (?)

Anyway, as you pointed out, the Conrad stepper motors appear to be no good. However the card is too week to drive stronger motors. So the card is no good either.

I suppose the "Zoltar Kit 800" card and motors are fit to work together, so I think this is the only valid option.

And finally, the PCNC software runs in DOS mode. Does DOS still work under WinXP?

Hi Ferenczyg!


The "Zoltar kit 800" sounds good at least for the torque of the motors although the price is somewhat expensive, specially when you can scavenge a laserjet II for 5€ and get these kind of motor.


The price is for the hole kit. The motors are available for 36 EUR each. And compared with these motors, the ones from C*nrad are loosy. You can't compare actual new motors with the ones you get from old laserprinters. They aren't designed to drive milling machines...

With kind regards
Thorsten Ostermann - NC-Step.de

Hi,

My question was about wich system is most comfortable the SMC 1500 with PCNC or a ordinary direction and step system, it seems that the step and direction is the most common for hobby use.

I have the Conrad card without the step and direction option, it is cost effective to use this products for my new cnc machines and or should I go on with this card and buy the option for step and direction.

It also seems that it is a lot of DIY step and direction projects and much more software for this type of stepper drivers.

Can any explain the differens between the PCNC without step and direction and an ordinary step and direction product.

I will also mention yhat the Conrad SMC1500 with the PCNC SMC1500 software is very good and it also seems that it can drive any small stepper up to 1.5A wich can drive any good design.

My new CNC are equipped with pro linear rails so a small stepper motor should drive it easy.

Hi "signIT"!

There is no "general" best solution. The SMC-1500 might be ok for small machines. But for the software you have no other choice than PCNC-SMC (witch is quite good for many applications). But there are many other solutions, that run only step/dir boards. I started a simple overview for CNC software (in german only, sorry):
http://www-users.rwth-aachen.de/Thorsten.Ostermann/fraes/fbp_software.htm

The SMC-1500 togehter with the step/dir option is (as far as I know) more expensive than my 3D-Step board, witch is able to run motors with up to 2A/Phase at supply voltages up to 42V (higher supply voltage gives more dynamic at the motor)

And the zoltar-kit also includes an optocoupler board, witch realizes a galvanic isolation betweeen PC and power electronics. That secures you from destroing your printer port. I never thought this could really happen, but I burned a PCI Multi-I/O card some month ago...

With kind regards
Thorsten Ostermann

Thosten what software do you recommend I also looked at your hardware, maybe someday, I need more power to may new CNC router.

signIT

Hi!

I couldn't make a general recommendation. For me PCNC works fine. I also use it for testing boards and motors. For engraving, drilling and 2,5D-milling it is a good solution. For special functions (e.g. cutter radius compensation), an external CAM-Processor may be usefull. BoCNC (Freeware) seems to be a good one, but I didn't had the time to test it by now.

But depending on your application you may find another software more usefull. The software from Step4 (Austria) has a very nice graphical interface for example, but it costs around 490,00 EUR. PC-Dreh is the only software I know do drive lathes. And for styro cutting, there are again special programms.

With kind regards
Thorsten Ostermann

<sorry, post became irrelevant and I seem not to be allowed to delete it>

<sorry, post became irrelevant and I seem not to be allowed to delete it>

Hi, I've noted the reference to the Step 4 software for CNC.
I have a Step four foam cutter with Step 4 controller. My question is: Can the Step 4 controller be used with other software to control a 3 axis router? It has three output sockets of which only 2 are used forthe 4 axis of the foam cutter (I assume that they are split in to a Xa / Xb and Ya/ Yb). I would like to try and use TurboCNC, PCNC (std version) or one of the other generic step / direction type software programes.
The Step 4 controller has built in PS and feeds 4 NEMA 17 size motors for the foam cutter. Is it powerful enough to drive 3 x NEMA 23 motors of 80 oz/inch approx?
I would appreciate any advise from those that have knowledge of this hardware as I don't wish to fry my Step 4 controller through experimenting!!!
Thanks
N