Plan introduction and Happy to be here!

[henie]

Hi All,

My name is Henock. I have been reading posts on this forum at least for more than two months and now I have registered to be part of this interesting community.
I am happy to be here.All I know about CNC machines is what I have watched on YouTube and read on different blogs and forum posts.

Now, I am planing to build a 3 Axis NEMA 34, 1600 oz.in CNC machines.The dimensions for the table will be 1.5m x 2.5m ≈ ( 5ft x 8ft).
I still have a limited understanding about the equipment and how to get the best out of the machine I am building. I think I will be asking for a lot of help,
hoping I could get answers.

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[ger21]

The first thing, is do NOT buy those 1600oz motors, as they are often a poor choice.
Don't buy any motors or electronics until the rest of the machine is done, and you have a better understanding of what you will need.

[henie]

The first thing, is do NOT buy those 1600oz motors, as they are often a poor choice.

Hi Gerry,

I would like know why you said that? I thought they provide higher productivity like it is mentioned on CNC Router Parts.

The other reason is that, CNC parts are hard to find locally. So am thinking, If I have to get these parts, it has got to be that I don't have to regret for buying smaller capacity CNC parts.

[ger21]

CNC Router Parts does not sell 1600 oz motors. The largest they sell is 960oz.
With steppers, bigger is not often better, because bigger steppers can be much slower than smaller ones.
You want steppers with low inductance, preferably less than 2-3mH.
A lot of the 1600oz steppers have an inductance of up to 22mH.

[henie]

Gerry,

What do you suggest then? Which motor are you recommending ?
shall I use Nema 34, 5nm with a lower inductance about 3mH or a different Frame size motor that could engrave soft metals ?

[ger21]

As I said, design the machine first. You need to know all the details about the machine before you can select the motors.

[Ryadia]

Gerry is more experienced wiht CNC routers than many of us posting here. I'd just like to let you know (if you don't already) that 'Nema" is not the brand of stepper motors. I have no idea of what 'Nema' represents but I suspect the original stepper motor was made by Nema so now all stepper motors are called by that name. From long experience buying goods from China to wholesale in Australia I've done my fair share of research... I still don't import any stepper motors because they are all called exactly the same Nema## but there are dozens of manufacturers of them. Some are made by Japanese companies with great reputations but the stuff they sell is not made in Japan, some of their motors are made in Cambodia.

Listen to what Gerry has to say about electronics. In particular be very aware that the power supplies sold and recommended for 'Nema##' steppers are often not powerful enough to get best performance from the steppers.

Ryadia

[henie]

Gerry is more experienced wiht CNC routers than many of us posting here. I'd just like to let you know (if you don't already) that 'Nema" is not the brand of stepper motors. I have no idea of what 'Nema' represents but I suspect the original stepper motor was made by Nema so now all stepper motors are called by that name.

Hi Ryadia,

Thanks for your advice. Yes Gerry is a very experienced guy. I have read a lot of his posts and advises for other builders. And if I am not wrong he is a moderator in this forum. As he advised, now I am focusing on the design of the table.

NEMA stands for the United States " National Electrical Manufacturers Association". And the number with it stands for the "face plate diameter" in inches. For example, NEMA 34 has a 3.4 inches diameter size.

[henie]

Hi. It has been almost a month since my last post and I am having a hard time with planning the design. If there is any "templates" I can use or any other help, please let me know.

Gerry, I found it much difficult than I expected.

[Ryadia]

Henie,
Maybe the best idea is to buy a ready made chassis and build your own electronics. The 6040 Chassis sells for about $900 USD on Ebay. It comes as a kit you need to assemble. Then you can go about building a control system that does the best for your needs. I found Homann Designs highly helpful in building / rebuilding my Chinese Controllers. They also sell a kit of high quality parts to build your own controller / stepper motor system.

The controllers that come with a Chinese Router are inadaquate to be kind to them. I had Homann Designs replace the power supplies, the stepper controller and pretty much build a new controller using the box and VFD that came with my router. It would have been cheaper to have bought the cassis in parts off Ebay and build the controller from scratch. I'm not sure how you go importing into Ethiopia but it may be worth looking into. Somehow I can't see anyone publishing templates to build machines that all the parts on Ebay are less than the cost of materials in most countries.

[henie]

Henie,
Maybe the best idea is to buy a ready made chassis and build your own electronics. The 6040 Chassis sells for about $900 USD on Ebay. It comes as a kit you need to assemble. Then you can go about building a control system that does the best for your needs. I found Homann Designs highly helpful in building / rebuilding my Chinese Controllers. They also sell a kit of high quality parts to build your own controller / stepper motor system.

Hi Ryadia.

Thank you for your reply. Yes buying the ready-made will be a good solution. But $900 is about 3x much expensive than if I build the table here. And as you have also mentioned the delivery cost to Ethiopia is more than the product cost.

My plan is to build the table here and purchase all the other electronics, may be on Ebay.