Newbie- Pacific Scientific motor & Thomson rail? & intro

[willsonj]

Hi. I've been into woodworking for several years and cnc has always been something I've wondered about. I came across this site about two months ago and have been trying to absorb as much information as I can, it has been a little overwelming to say the least. The plant that I work at is closing at the end of March, and they are offering some of the equipment at a very reduced rate. I was able to pick up 4 Pacific scientifis stepper motors and controllers, that were conected to Thomson linear systems. I don't have a strong enough understanding of everything to know if these will work for a small desk top cnc. The reason I ask is because I have The opportunity to buy up to 12 more of these. I figure I may be able to sell these to fund my Cnc project. I plan to make a 2 x2 machine capable to use a palm router to cut wood. here is the specs on the eqipment

Pacific Scientific 1.8 degree stepper motor
Type T23NLLC-LNN-NS-00
15.8 VDC
0.67 AMPS

Pacific scientific 7000 series controller
Model NO P70360-R4N

Thomson Linear motion system
Part # MS33-24940
3/8" drive @ 8 threads per inch

My plan is to use cncrouterparts bearings for the X and maybe the Y axis, and 80/20 for the frame. I also got a pc and cabinet at work to run it.
Will this work? I know it is not a very detailed description, but I will Try to post pictures. Thank you for your time Jake

[willsonj]

I hope pictures

[willsonj]

A little more explanation and Questions.
These were used on a X and Y axis to hold a camera that adjusted televisions. They have manual controls for movement and speed and to my knowledge were never hooked to a pc. So I have what would be 2 jigs, each with controls and a emergency stop. They were mounted to 80/20 stands, soI should have enough to make my cnc frame. My biggest concern is the break out board. Will I need to get a specific one for these controllers or will any of the more popular boards work? I plan to use mach 3, will this work? I have until tuesday to decide onthe other 12 motors controllers and linear systems. So any Idea what a fair price for these would be? Like I said I'll be loosing my job soon so the budget for my machine is very low. I'm assuming that these can work for a small cnc, please let me know otherwise. Anyone with experience with these motors and controllers, any advice would more than welcome. I know that any advice and information needs to given to be recieved, unfortanately all can do now is document and pass on what I learn on this thread. Thank you and I appreciate all advice and expertise.
Jake

[YZF]

I think you have some good stuff there. I couldn't find the T23 motor with 0.68A per phase so it may be some custom winding - don't know. The other motors in this family seem to have plenty of torque (~2.7 N-m).

You can try finding it through here:
http://www.danahermotion.com/website/com/eng/index.php

Your drives http://www.kollmorgen.com/website/co...%29/p70360.php look pretty good. I think they all have step/direction inputs so wiring them to anything shouldn't be an issue. You'd need to download the manual and figure out how to configure them. They have AC input so you don't need a DC power supply.

Can you zoom in on those linear stages showing the screw, the nut and whatever linear rails they run on?

[Riceburner98]

From what I can find online about those Thomson slides, they can produce 89N of force. If the online calculator is right, that's about 20lbs of thrust. Also says 34 pounds of dynamic load capacity. It's a "Zero backlash" Acme screw, doesn't say if it's a plastic nut or metal. (I bought one Thomson slide the seller said was a ballscrew, instead it was an Acme rod with a plastic spring-loaded nut)

It seems Grainger sells this type of slide, at least the same series -> http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg...&sst=subset&N=

Not super-powerful, but would probably work for a fairly low-load system. (something with a high-speed spindle running 10-30k RPM; just take light passes)

The drivers are good for the motors -> max 2.5A capacity, 120v input (so don't need separate power supplies), and appear to have step and direction inputs. (which means any breakout board *should* work..) User manual -> http://www.pacsci.com/support/documents/msd7ac01.pdf Not sure what the -R4N means, could have been a special order..

Depending on how much you can get them for they could be a good deal.. The stronger Thomson "Superslide" linear systems typically go on eBay from $100-$300 depending on length. Those are ballscrews and usually have 3/4" - 1" dual supported round rails. I directly replaced the X and Y axis on my Taig mill with them and can run 400 inches / minute all day, with a couple hundred pounds of force at lower speeds. I'd say these would probably sell in the same range, it depends on if they're plastic acme nuts on the leadscrew or something stronger / more mill-friendly instead of "positioning units". The drives are worth a couple $ on their own, I'd guess up to $100 each for the right buyer? They're nice in that they take 120v directly, but the down-side is they're only 2.5A so big motors are out.

The stepper motors ( http://www.kollmorgen.com/website/co..._Number_TB.pdf , http://www.kollmorgen.com/website/co...rque_T2_TB.pdf ) are fairly typical 3-stack Nema23 motors with some industrial looking 1/2" pipe connections on the end. Can't find the specific part number in the spec sheet, but the T23 series all seem to be rated at 380oz-in, which is pretty good.

That PC / cabinet looks pretty nice too!

The stuff might work good for a 2x2 wood router, just depends on that nut and how hard you'll need to push through the wood..

Sorry to hear about the place closing, hope all turns out well for you!

^^ Haha, seems we were both helping out at the same time!

[Riceburner98]

Looking at some more websites with the MS33 slides, it looks like there's a half-circle ball slider on each side of the carriage running along steel rods along the insides of the extrusion... Trying to find some more specs on it.. Still looks fairly light-duty.. If you use the cncrouterparts bearings for the actual load-bearing bits and just use the Thomson slides for the motion, it might work out... Less machining than using separate lead / ballscrews and having to make your own bearing blocks / motor mounts.

[willsonj]

WOW thanks alot! That was the kind of information I was looking for, I really appreciate it. I have alot of reading and research to do. The slides are half rounds on the side, I'll have to check out the material of the nut. I'm pretty sure it is a ball screw. Iposted closer pictures of the srew and nut from each side. I will probably pick up the other assemblies, there should be a bit of profit to fund the rest of this project. Yeah I was planning on using the cncrouterparts bearings to support the load and use these setups to push the gantry and y axis. I'm going to look into cutting one of the slides to about 8" for the Z axis. I might try to mount the palm router directly to it, but I dont think it will be strong enough. Thanks again Jake

[brihoo2k]

Looks like some pretty good quality stuff. Do the other 12 motors come with the ball screw units? If so I'd be interested in 4 of them.

[mlabruyere]

Sorry to hear that your place of work is closing but those are some nice pieces of equipment you picked there.

[willsonj]

Well I finally started to work on this after a rather large honeydo list. I using a piece of 1/2" aluminum that is already drilled and tapped to mount the slide onto the 3015 8020 for the y axis. For the z axis I cut one of the slides down for about 7 inches of travel, and drilled holes for different mounting heights. I had to get a machinist to cut down the end of the treads for the end bearing, but I cut the rest and drilled and tapped for the end cap. I used a piece of 3/8" aluminum to mount the router to the slide. I made a router holder out of 1 1/4" UHMW and mounted it with 3 bolts(5/16x18), 1 countersunk. It looks pretty good, the only thing that I am Worried About is the Y axis being able to support the Z. I have anothe slide that I can Use for more support(above the Y in one of the pictures), but it will take a lot of drilling and tapping to mount everything to a new piece of aluminum. I need the aluminum because the motor is deeper than the slide, used like a spacer. Heres some pictures of what I have done so far. I have about 30 feet of 3015 to build the gantry and the table and extended motion carriages for the x axis. A little more work to go.

[Riceburner98]

Nice! I like seeing these pre-made units come together in machines.. I'm using them because I figure the Thomson guys can hold better tolerances than I can when it comes to making bearing pockets and such.. And they're just plain easier. Keep it up!

[voltsandbolts]

Just an FYI. I use PacSci steppers and drivers on my machine and have been very happy with them. The build is looking good.