much head scratching

[scoeyyy]

G,day CNC'ers
I have a question if anyone would care to answer it. Firstly though I am new to CNC and want to build rather than buy, mostly for the challenge and satisfaction of building. I have a grip on the mechanics but electronics, that where I'M hoping this forum may come in handy........So my first (probably of many) question is, if i want to run a stepper motor on both sides of the gantry for the X axis, can i just use a 3 axis controller and control both x axis motors by splitting the cable in two as they will always be doing the same thing, or do i need a 4 axis controller.

May your toilet never splash back at you.
Jim

[ger21]

Each motor should have it's own drive.

[scoeyyy]

Thanks Gerry, I have found many answers to many questions on the net so far but this one has had me scratching.

[ironDigit]

scratching won't help....

you'll need 4seperate stepper/servomotordrives total.I know from hear say mach3 can be set to run a "slave drive" wich is what you want cause it actually jut makes to drives and motors do the same.

so 4 steppermotordrives(hardware) ,but just 3axis motion control software