What electronics??

[saddledance]

Ok I've been surfing the forums for a week now and havent really found what I'm looking for. I can't find out how to match motors to driver boards and whether or not the motor selected could be rated for that board amp wise or power wise. Ive been trying to find deals on Ebay. but since I'm not sure if i need to buy motors first or board first or if i should just run over to hobby cnc and buy a kit. the problem with that is I dont have time to solder all the components and than hope it will work. I would like it to be able to cut wood and light metal. also can you get unipolar motors and bipolar motors to work on the same driver board.

Thanks in advance

[saddledance]

I guess it is supposed to be a big secret than as to piece mealing it all together. or maybe my question is vague? I have been looking to build a router since I tore down some old scanners and printers and wanted something to do with the motors in them. that was about six months ago. Started looking on the internet for different rig assemblies and I have found alot and alot of how-to's nothing seems to really give the specs of the electronics portion of these yes they seem to list the motor specs but nothing as to boards. Im just trying to get an idea as to if I buy a board off of say ebay and than later buy the motors what are my chances of the board and the motors working together. and will the board work with most software that is out there. mdfly on ebay has some boards but on of the post on here doesnt sound promising as to them working correctly. any help..

[budP]

If you are looking for technical information you dont look on EBAY.
There are a ton of advertisements on here to look at, most of them will give you the information you seek.
There are only 2 things to be concerned about and that is how powerfull do you need the stepper motors to be. How much current (Amps) the steppers require, all of the boards for the voltages and current are adjustable so that is no problem.
As far as I am concerned the small steppers that come out of scanners and printers are almost useless for running a decent machine.
Blud

[saddledance]

My thought was that if I buy a board now I could start goofing off with the little motors that i have now. I found the specs for the the two motors I have one is uni the other is bi. I was thinking that If i pick up a board now test the motors and get an idea of how the software will work with everything together than later when i can afford motors buy those. I just dont want to buy the parts and later find out i need to buy another board because they wont work with the motors I'll buy later on. as far as the use all I could forsee myself using it for is wood and light metals. Hobbycnc seems to have a decent package but like I said i don't want to have to solder anything unless it is broke.

[barbque]

Well first you need a "BOB" break out board. The board takes the signals from the Pc and splits them to go to the drivers. Pair it with Geckos or IMS stepper drivers. Or you could go for an all in one BoB & driver. You could use a Xylotex plug and play kit no soldering. In both cases it will take some research on your part.

Kris

Sites of intrest
http://www.cnc4pc.com/
http://www.imshome.com/Product Manual PDF/im483.pdf
http://www.geckodrive.com/products.cfm

[ger21]

You need to decide on the machine before you decide on what motors you need, and then pick drives that will work with the motors. Most of the cheaper drives are limited to smaller motors. If you find you need bigger motors when your machine is done, then you'll need new drives.

[HobbyCNC]

The HobbyCNC Pro board does NOT require a BOB!

My thought was that if I buy a board now I could start goofing off with the little motors that i have now. I found the specs for the the two motors I have one is uni the other is bi. I was thinking that If i pick up a board now test the motors and get an idea of how the software will work with everything together than later when i can afford motors buy those. I just dont want to buy the parts and later find out i need to buy another board because they wont work with the motors I'll buy later on. as far as the use all I could forsee myself using it for is wood and light metals. Hobbycnc seems to have a decent package but like I said i don't want to have to solder anything unless it is broke.

[jamesl]

Scanner and printer motors are for scanners and printers and basically that's about all. Bipolar motors will not work on unipolar drivers and vice versa.Bipolar motor=bipolar driver
unipolar motor=unipolar driver. There are many inexpensive,but usable motors and drivers out there to experiment with. Anything less than a nema 23 150 oz. in. would not be worthwhile to start making a wood router,even that would need to be a very small footprint.