Need Help!- Recommended 'steps' setting

[bradtal]

Hello All-

I have built the Joes 2006 cnc machine and I hooked up the Y-Axis last night and got it moving. Yippie!

However, I'm not getting any higher speeds than I had got with my JRGO version. I figured with the tighter tolerances/accuracy/etc I would get higher travel speeds.

Anyways, when I was moving the axis at high speeds, the carriage seemed to "jerk" quite a bit. Almost like a reverberation. I hope this makes sense. I got to thinking, is this caused by the number of 'steps' I have the stepper driver set at (like 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, etc)

What I would like is to have the stepper turn as "strong" as it can, with as much torque as possible. This is because incase the threaded rod tends to bind a bit, I would like the stepper to be able to "push" through it without skipping steps.

Also, what is the recommended lube for the threaded rods? I used to use grease, but it gummed up with dust. Now, I a using silicon spray, but it seems to wear off quickly.

Thanks for your help.

Brad

[Crevice Reamer]

Hi bradtal. Welcome to the Zone!

Full step is the fastest. Some drives will make the motors faster with less steps. You won't really know until you try it and measure both ways. It also depends on your computer--Is it fast enough to OUTPUT enough pulses per second for high microstep rates?

CR.

[ger21]

What drives, motors, and screws are you using?

[bradtal]

Gerry-

Sorry. Good point...

I am using the standard 1/2 inch x 13 acme threaded rod. 305oz steppers with a hobbycnc board, 24V 10A power supply. Mach3 to drive the steppers. I have a dedicated computer with just Mach3 on it, so the computer should be fast enough for all steps.

I plan on upgrading to the 5 start threaded shafts from McMaster-Carr eventually.

Brad

[ger21]

3.5amps is too low, which could be part of your problem. And 36Volts would be better. But you won't gain a lot of speed until you switch the screws. But you really should use a 36V 10a power supply.

[mwye0627]

I believe that 1/2" x 13 would be standard threaded rod - not acme.
Doesn't 1/2" Acme only come in 8 or 10 threads-inch (of course with
various number of starts)?

If you are using standard threaded rod, the accuracy and efficiency
of the rod will be much less than with acme threads.