weekend tear down leads to CNC router discovery

[saddledance]

Well this weekend was originally about tearing down a washer and dryer for the motors and to scrap out the metal. that lead to two printers and two scanners i had to scrapp out the motors in those looked a little different so i did some research on them (Step motors) bipolar style. well at any rate i came across several articles on how to make a CNC Router so for the last 12 hours I have been scouring the internet looking for what is needed to make one. my question is I would like to be able to do wood and metal work and when i can pick up a plasma cutter i would like to be able to incorporate that into the design. the work I can think of I would like for it to be able to work on sheets of 4x8 wood or metal I cant really think of any real intricate work i would do so from what im reading i should be ok in the size, my concern is what size motors would be best and what driver. the motors i pulled from the printers and the scanners seem to be way to small. the only unipolar i have has a part number of STH-39D1114 I have four others all are bipolar though.

any help would be apreciated.

Thanks Mike

[ger21]

It's impossible to know what size motors you need without knowing a lot of things about the machine. You need to know how much weight you'll be moving, how fast you want go, what screws you'll be using (or rack and pinion), how fast do you want to be able to accelerate, and on and on.

I suggest you start reading posts here, and wait awhile before starting a machine until you know what you want and need.

[johnmac]

Mike, Gerry is correct. Do your research. My guess is you will find those motors are too small. By then, you will have a better idea of what you will need.

John