I run a robotics team which just came in possession of a real nice looking x-y setup with some decent looking ways and ball screws. It has steppers attached, but so far haven't tested them to see if they work. By hand it all spins great.
We'd love to convert it into a 2d router for cutting aluminum, up to .25 would be nice but 1/16 and 1/8 would be our primary cutting. Also a lot of misc thinner plastic.
We're good with robotics and manufacture, but we're just not sure where to start here.
What is the best way to test if the steppers are good? If they are, what's the best option for stepper controller/pc software?
What is a good table option?
This wasn't used as a cutting machine, and has no spindle setup, what's a good option there?
I attached a pic of the ways/ballscrews and an overall view.
Turns out they are servo motors (well at least the one I got to after some dissassembly), p50b05010 sanyo denki is written on it. Along with it's ratings, 1.1A AC, 200V, 100W. This was on the Y axis. The X axis is visibly larger, but I haven't got in to read it yet.
EDIT: that was easier than I thought! the X-axis is a p50b07030, 300W, 2.2A, 200VAC.