what breakout board for steppers to utilize the encoders too?

[drutort]

At first I planned to just get stepper motors, but I was able to run into about 3 stepper motors almost similar specs differ by shaft and encoder that is mounted


My question is what are my options to utilize these motors that have the encoders on them, from my understanding most breakout boards for steppers do not have any kind of feedback (encoder) capability? is there some other breakout board that I could add? or is there all in one that would utilize, so if any of my 3 motors miss a step I would alarm out.

I do plan to add 4th axis in the future

2x PACIFIC SCIENTIFIC E33NRFB LDN SS 02 STEP MOTOR

1x PACIFIC SCIENTIFIC 1.8 STEP MOTOR E33NRHB-LSS-M3-02
same motor (E33NRHB)

motor specs (E33NXHB-LXX-XX-00 939 oz-in, 5.4A, 5.7mH)
http://www.pacsci.com/support/docume...llbulletin.pdf
http://www.pacsci.com/support/docume...llbulletin.pdf

drivers are 3x PACIFIC SCIENTIFIC 6415 OSCILLATOR MICROSTEPPING DRIVE (have a 4th one too for 4th axis)

5A rms 7.1A peak 75v max

Pacific Scientific | step | stepper | step motors | stepper motors | step drives | stepper drives | 6415 | www.pacsci.com
Pacific Scientific | motion control | products | software | documentation | downloads | www.pacsci.com

there seems to be a lot of options for these pacific sci drivers I would have loved for these to have been 7 or 8 A rms, I do not see any kind of encoder input though. There is analog and other types of options on the drivers but nothing for feedback.

as far as power supply im thinking to go with a toroidal 1000VA or 1500VA from Antek (50v)
(remember I want future 4th axis)

Antek - AN-15450
Antek - AN-10450

(I have a number of proximity switches ready to be used as limit switches)
as for spindle I am not sure, once I get my hands on something reasonable which I would like a cat/bt 30-40 taper, then Ill know what I should get for a motor, and probably some VFD? or maybe even a DC? I would like the spindle to be controlled by the software as well

Breakout Boards: I am open for suggestions for the breakout boards and anything else additional that would make this happen
I have been looking at CNC4PC and PMDX, but not sure what setup I should go with and which one would give me option to setup encoders, spindle, coolant and other things maybe even tool changer?

Software: also would all the common software be able to handle something as stepper + encoder setup?

[Cartierusm]

I'm by no means an expert, but an encoder really is only helpful when the controller software actually uses it. As far as I know most software for the hobby market does not have encoder feedback.

I mean servos use encoder feedback, but that's necessary to actually run the motors. I'm sure there is a way to wire the encoder into a breakout board, but it wouldn't actually make the motor work any different.

Bascially if you're looking to wire up steppers so that the system used encoder feedback for absolute positioning and error correcting then your out of luck, that's the whole point of buying a big Haas machine is that is has that kind of thing. The only thing I know of that does that sort of thing is the CNC brain, but I think development stopped on that.

[drutort]

Originally Posted by Cartierusm I'm by no means an expert, but an encoder really is only helpful when the controller software actually uses it. As far as I know most software for the hobby market does not have encoder feedback. I mean servos use encoder feedback, but that's necessary to actually run the motors. I'm sure there is a way to wire the encoder into a breakout board, but it wouldn't actually make the motor work any different. Bascially if you're looking to wire up steppers so that the system used encoder feedback for absolute positioning and error correcting then your out of luck, that's the whole point of buying a big Haas machine is that is has that kind of thing. The only thing I know of that does that sort of thing is the CNC brain, but I think development stopped on that.

thx for the reply, but i only wish to utilize as in use them, but what i left out was to just use to verify to keep things from getting worse, I know perfectly well that I can not have a close loop system with steppers, BUT i can build some form of error or monitoring system that could detect major issues

my other reason for the encoders is to test my machines limits this way i can find out with diff tools, materials, cuts etc... the max until the steppers start to skip, this would be a controlled test and I would get real world data which would beat any set of calculations

I have been talking through email with cnc4pc, and quite a few good convo's and im also waiting on there upcoming hardware, which I was told will have some very nice features, encoders can be used to monitor and to limit a system from worse dmg or worse error, that or like I said simple tests that I can determine or push my cnc machine until steppers start to skip and stop right away

pretty much what I have been told is i would need a 2x lpt board or something like the Smoothstepper (usb to 2x lpt) and connect encoders as inputs, and then it would be more of a software config and parameters is what im guessing, setting up error/alarms etc...

[Cartierusm]

That sounds like way more work than necessary. I mean to make sure your steppers are working correctly is make sure you use the right size for the application, then do some real world test to find your limits. It really only needs to be done once. Most people have been brain washed into believing that steppers are less accurate or loose steps when compared to servos, that's total BS, read some articles on stepper vs. servo. In normal operation, stainless, aluminum or steel hogging or whatever I've never missed a step.

What I did was just buy a cheap chinese outboard DRO on ebay and use that to verify that everything's working perfectly. The benefit is that it's not tied to the computer, totally independent.

[Iron-Man]

Originally Posted by drutort At first I planned to just get stepper motors, but I was able to run into about 3 stepper motors almost similar specs differ by shaft and encoder that is mounted My question is what are my options to utilize these motors that have the encoders on them, from my understanding most breakout boards for steppers do not have any kind of feedback (encoder) capability? is there some other breakout board that I could add? or is there all in one that would utilize, so if any of my 3 motors miss a step I would alarm out. I do plan to add 4th axis in the future 2x PACIFIC SCIENTIFIC E33NRFB LDN SS 02 STEP MOTOR 1x PACIFIC SCIENTIFIC 1.8 STEP MOTOR E33NRHB-LSS-M3-02 same motor (E33NRHB) motor specs (E33NXHB-LXX-XX-00 939 oz-in, 5.4A, 5.7mH) http://www.pacsci.com/support/docume...llbulletin.pdf http://www.pacsci.com/support/docume...llbulletin.pdf drivers are 3x PACIFIC SCIENTIFIC 6415 OSCILLATOR MICROSTEPPING DRIVE (have a 4th one too for 4th axis) 5A rms 7.1A peak 75v max Pacific Scientific | step | stepper | step motors | stepper motors | step drives | stepper drives | 6415 | www.pacsci.com Pacific Scientific | motion control | products | software | documentation | downloads | www.pacsci.com there seems to be a lot of options for these pacific sci drivers I would have loved for these to have been 7 or 8 A rms, I do not see any kind of encoder input though. There is analog and other types of options on the drivers but nothing for feedback. as far as power supply im thinking to go with a toroidal 1000VA or 1500VA from Antek (50v) (remember I want future 4th axis) Antek - AN-15450 Antek - AN-10450 (I have a number of proximity switches ready to be used as limit switches) as for spindle I am not sure, once I get my hands on something reasonable which I would like a cat/bt 30-40 taper, then Ill know what I should get for a motor, and probably some VFD? or maybe even a DC? I would like the spindle to be controlled by the software as well Breakout Boards: I am open for suggestions for the breakout boards and anything else additional that would make this happen I have been looking at CNC4PC and PMDX, but not sure what setup I should go with and which one would give me option to setup encoders, spindle, coolant and other things maybe even tool changer? Software: also would all the common software be able to handle something as stepper + encoder setup?

Try this link: Page Title

Hope this helps,


Iron-Man

[drutort]

Originally Posted by Cartierusm That sounds like way more work than necessary. I mean to make sure your steppers are working correctly is make sure you use the right size for the application, then do some real world test to find your limits. It really only needs to be done once. Most people have been brain washed into believing that steppers are less accurate or loose steps when compared to servos, that's total BS, read some articles on stepper vs. servo. In normal operation, stainless, aluminum or steel hogging or whatever I've never missed a step. What I did was just buy a cheap chinese outboard DRO on ebay and use that to verify that everything's working perfectly. The benefit is that it's not tied to the computer, totally independent.

you are right, and I have thought about that way, cause there are few machines around that I can find that have DRO that i could use on this one or adapt it... esp the older ones, but I think I could use the cheap encoders I have already and just link them up as inputs into the computer dont know if i can do it externally? maybe ill look around for some other external or maybe another third party software that I could dial in these encoders to work independently