Drive selection help needed

[DJB282000]

First things first
I am a newbie to the CNC world and would like to thank all of you for sucking me in and then pushing off the cliff. I have been reading for about a week and a half now nonstop.

My question is which drives to buy. I am going to be using stepper motors from Anaheim Automation ( http://www.anaheimautomation.com ) to drive a plasma cnc/router.

The model # 34D311s
Torque 2.5 RPS -- 400oz
I am hoping that this will be adequate

I would like to stay away from the multi axis drives (1 board) so I guess that leaves the geckos. Anaheim also sells drive but I do not know anything about them.

Any help here would be appreciated.

[Nono]

Versitility is Gecko. Small. up to 7amps. No better out there for the money.
Whats was your Question again? Got any pictures?

[DJB282000]

No pictures yet. I am still trying to figure out what i am going to build and have lots of ?. once i get started i will get some pic and place the build on the sight.

[ViperTX]

What are you the steppers for....what are they going to be driving?

[H500]

The motor you specified uses about 5 amps per phase, so that rules out the hobby class boards. The gecko's seem like a good choice.

[DJB282000]

The 2 anaheim motors that I have will be driving the X and Y axis. According to the tag on the motor they run at 2.8 vdc, 5.5A. I would like to get a set of drivess and the software and play around with them a lil bit before i start to draw up my table.

Any thoughts on what i shoud be using for the interface between the computer and the drives.

I am thinking about using Mach2 software.

The more I read the more ?'s I have.

tks for the help.

[ViperTX]

Well on the computer you'll need a CAM package like Mach2 for Windows (TurboCNC for DOS, etc.), that will interface to a "parallel port breakout board" which will mostly reside in a chassis that contains the Geckos, and a power supply(s) for the Geckos, the breakout board and the steppers.

I'm sure we'll have some discussion on whether Mach2 is a CAM package or not.

[DJB282000]

I have been looking belive that i am going to go with gecko's and will be ordering them after the 4th. I am also looking at the axxus break out board but i dont see anything on the site about optical isolation. is this needed when used with a plasma cutter.

tks

[ger21]

I'm not sure if Dean is still sellin gthe Axxus boards. I've seen a few posts saying people couldn't get in touch with him. If you're building a plasma cutter, go with the Sound Logic board and the Torch Height Control board. http://www.campbelldesigns.com