Hey all, I was looking around and found a Delvotec Motorized X-Y Linear Position Stage (http://images.marketplaceadvisor.channeladvisor.com/fullView.asp?id=246668980&fc=0&img=http://images.marketplaceadvisor.channeladvisor.com/hi/71/71481/c50509_fk_delvotec_xy1.jpg) with 75x115mm travel and I was immediately interested.

I plan on engraving pcb's 99% of the time with some small 6061-T6 work and require a 80x120mm (my eagle licensed size) travel but making my own machine with pillow blocks or thk rails is going to cost me around $3-400 for good quality precise motion.

I have no idea what to expect from said Delvotec positing stage but maybe someone here has seen or knows what to expect from such a setup. I need the ability to engrave 0.008" accurately and repeatedly on my pcb's and I would suspect a commercial unit would meet quite close tolerances and I can pick this guy up for $250.

Would it be any good for me? It has 2.8A bipoler steppers and I have a KL-4030 in my shopping list so I could be up and running in no time.

You have a 3-3/16 x 4-3/4 working area. If you can fit your entire design on half of a 4 x 6 board, it will be perfect. Seems kind of size constrained though. The motors look like 60 oz. in motors and the lead screws are probably very fine pitched so you won't have fast rapids at all. Considering the small work envelope, the slow rapids probably don't mean much at all. The weak motors have a fine pitch lead screw so that will work as a torque multiplier.

Yea my 80x120 design limitation is a bit of a pain but so far everything i have designed has been in that envelope and if I need more space I stack the boards with a pin header.

It sounds like you think beyond size issues it would easily hit my target accuracy, do you think I would be able to build a similar sized table for cheaper than $250?

Ok so ive got some more info on the table. It is VERY rigid with no detectable play in any axis in any position. Leadscrew is around 6tpi (5/32per revolution) which is much courser than I expected it to be. Base is cast iron and unit weighs 33lbs.

I think im going to get it if nobody talks me out of it as for $250 even if it is only useful for the odd thing its still quite a good buy.

On a side note I am going to be buying a Keeling stepper controller and noticed theirs only a $5 difference between the:
KL- 4030 $54.95/pcs, up to 40VDC, 3.0 A, resolutions 1,1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64

KL-6050 $59.95, up to 60VDC, 5.0 A, Resolutions: 1/2, 1/8

Are the microstepping resolutions worth keeping or should I go with the 6050 for higher voltage and current. I currently have nema17 2A Bipoler steppers and will be buying the 282ozin nema23 3A ones from keeling for larger projects.

Thanks!

Ok so ive got some more info on the table. It is VERY rigid with no detectable play in any axis in any position. Leadscrew is around 6tpi (5/32per revolution) which is much courser than I expected it to be. Base is cast iron and unit weighs 33lbs.

I think im going to get it if nobody talks me out of it as for $250 even if it is only useful for the odd thing its still quite a good buy.

On a side note I am going to be buying a Keeling stepper controller and noticed theirs only a $5 difference between the:
KL- 4030 $54.95/pcs, up to 40VDC, 3.0 A, resolutions 1,1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64

KL-6050 $59.95, up to 60VDC, 5.0 A, Resolutions: 1/2, 1/8

Are the microstepping resolutions worth keeping or should I go with the 6050 for higher voltage and current. I currently have nema17 2A Bipoler steppers and will be buying the 282ozin nema23 3A ones from keeling for larger projects.

Thanks!

Go for the higher voltage/current.

Regards,
Ray L.

Well it looks like nobody thinks badly of this positioning table, while I am concerned about its 6tpi screw I am going to buy in in a few hours.

Does anybody want a very detailed exploration of the table when I receive it next week?

Looks like a rugged little table. I'm betting the screws are metric - 6 tpi seems odd but convert it to metric and it's basically 5mm pitch, combine that with metric travels..

I say go for it - like you say, good buy if even just for sheling for a possible future odd project. :)

Well it looks like nobody thinks badly of this positioning table, while I am concerned about its 6tpi screw I am going to buy in in a few hours.

Does anybody want a very detailed exploration of the table when I receive it next week?

6tpi combined with 200 steps per rev motors running in 1/10 step mode would have a resolution of better than 0.0001". I can't imagine needing better than that.

Yes, please post a detailed description after you receive it. Are there any more available?

Steve

with 1.8deg steppers on a 6tpi screw 1/8th would be great but that makes me re-think a few posts back between KL- 4030 & KL-6050. Should I stick with the 4030 for its greater microstepping capabilities or go 6050 so I can use the controller on a larger mill lather on?

Sorry their is no more, theirs always a massive amount of 2x2" tables on ebay, but repo/closure auctions are the best way to go if your lucky enough to even find them.

Hey, my positioning table has arrived in the mail as well as my order from Keling. I wired things up with two push buttons to test things out and here is a vid of its first movement.

YouTube - Linear Positioning Stage

My first notes are this table is all metric, screws, pieces all nice and easy to convert metric.

The limit switches are one micro and one hall on each axis which is kind of weird unless the controller these where on read different voltage levels to figure out which limit it was. Im going to convert it all to switches though so at least its only two to replace. Limits are on nice ez-mount din rails with green plastic blocks so two screws and my new switches are mounted.

The table was being sold as 2x4" of travel but because the hall sensors actually stopped the table yet where movable the actual travel I now have is a whopping 100x150mm!! nearly 4x6" that makes this table one hell of a deal.

Ok picture time!

http://www.bespoketech.net/public/cnczone/positioning%20table/IMG_0376.JPG
The X-Axis bed, cast iron or something magnetic and has hardened steel linear rails mounted on standoffs. Leadscrew has an overly complicated nut that im not gonna touch unless it needs to be.

http://www.bespoketech.net/public/cnczone/positioning%20table/IMG_0377.JPG
Rear shot of the table while home.

http://www.bespoketech.net/public/cnczone/positioning%20table/IMG_0378.JPG
The steppers on the table. Very decent, run from my 48v psu and they get no hotter than a laptop keyboard after a few hours of jogging and tinkering.

http://www.bespoketech.net/public/cnczone/positioning%20table/IMG_0379.JPG
Pillow blocks, not much to say, their smooth and thats what counts.

http://www.bespoketech.net/public/cnczone/positioning%20table/IMG_0380.JPG
Milling table attached to the X-Axis rails. Table is 150x150mm with some random holes tapped for some proprietary mount I imagine.

http://www.bespoketech.net/public/cnczone/positioning%20table/IMG_0383.JPG
Motor coupling. Helical couplers, bearing in a clamping block.

http://www.bespoketech.net/public/cnczone/positioning%20table/IMG_0385.JPG
Table at its maximum stretch.

http://www.bespoketech.net/public/cnczone/positioning%20table/IMG_0391.JPG
My crazy pencil attachment mounted on a piece of T6, taped to a motorcycle battery shimmed with a notebook.

http://www.bespoketech.net/public/cnczone/positioning%20table/pencil.JPG
I still really suck at Mach3 so I dont know how to scale the gcode so this roadrunner is a whopping 2.5mm square and with 0.5mm pencil lead its not the most wonderful resolution ever lol.

In Mach3 my motor tuning is set to its maximum values which is 60ipm & 15ips. any more than 5 more will cause stalling or whining. Steps per is 2000 but Ive got to do some measuring to figure out the screw type and get everything accurate.

Can anyone gove me a link or a walkthrough on setting up Mach3 so I have the pc's machine coords and my real life ones in sync? so far the table is about 1.2x what the pc thinks it is.

Either way its working, now for the tuning and to start building and mounting a Z axis and spindle (which I still need to make, waiting on the er16 collet chuck from Australia)

I don't really know how to go about finding out my screw pitch. I clamped my caliper and sent the table 200 pulses (one motor revolution) and measured 0.155-0.160in travel which would be 6.25TPI which sounds weird so I tried metric. 4mm/rev so 0.25TPMM? the screw diameter is 0.330in(3/8?) or 8.38mm

About the only screws online I can find with a similar size is 3/8-32.

EDIT:

I was re-watching the mach3 vids and found the troubleshooting one then found the axis calibrate one... no need for any math my axis is now accurate. Then all of a sudden my DRO is in mm and gcode is read in inches. How the heck to I get the DRO back to inches?

In the settingsscreen bottom right is a button to switch from inch to mm

Well I haven't given an overview of the table like I promised I would but I'm moving next weekend so I had to pull everything apart and box it until I'm moved into the new place.

Until then I have started a blog about my adventures for anyone who is interested and the table review will be posted as soon as Its back in the world of the working.

http://bespoketech.net/machining/

Feel free to leave me comments on my site or here.

In case anybody is wondering I have pictures of the table on my site now, Im gonna do a full writeup tomorrow after work.

http://bespoketech.net/machining/?p=39