SmoothStepper user experiences...

[Jason3]

Hi all,

If you have a SmoothStepper from Warp9, please share your experiences here - successes, any problems, details about your application would all be appreciated. Anyone considering buying, feel free to ask questions of those of us who have them.

Many thanks,

Jason

[Jason3]

Here's the reason I bought the smoothstepper - my new machine has 2 mm pitch ballscrews and servos with 8000 CPR encoders. With the parallel port I was looking at a maximum of 60 ipm (1500 mm/min) using Mach3 at 100 Khz. The smoothstepper should hopefully allow me at least 150 ipm.

This machine is almost finished, but not quite, so I tested the smoothstepper using my first machine with the same servos but 10 mm pitch ballscrews. Initially I had an issue with my limit switches (there aren't any...) and the settings in ports and pins - the Smoothstepper expects an active high signal by default, and with no limit switches configured I couldn't cancel the E-stop. A quick email to Greg at Warp9 got me sorted out. Just to minimise the chance of success, I used a macbook pro running windows XP to drive the SmoothStepper. I set max speed to 590 ipm and let rip...

After I cleaned up the mess, I slowed it down to about 300 ipm and tried again. I ran a couple of jobs in 6061 alu and everything went well - cutting at 160 ipm with a 1/4" carbide end mill @ 40,000 rpm went fine.

More to come once I have the new machine running...

[skmetal7]

thats a neat little machine you have there!!

160 ipm 40000rpm 1/4" em 6061al WOW!

[Jason3]

Originally Posted by skmetal7 thats a neat little machine you have there!! 160 ipm 40000rpm 1/4" em 6061al WOW!

Thank you!

...not as extreme as it might be - only light cuts!

Jason

[Jason3]

While I get my act together and finish the next machine, here's a short clip of the machine mentioned above cutting 6061 Aluminium...

YouTube - CNC milling 6061 aluminium

YouTube - CNC milling 6061 aluminium

I hope that works!

[Jason3]

Testing continues...

I've been running the smoothstepper more recently, set to 275 ipm it is fast and smooth. An additional advantage has been the buffer, the machine no longer hesitates when the computer's mind wanders and the screensaver starts up or the hard drive decides to take a nap (I know I should disable those, I was using a different laptop...

Anybody else out there using one yet? Hopefully no news is good news, and everybody is happily cutting at high speed with no issues

Jason

[Jason3]

Ok, I've gone ahead and ordered a couple more smoothsteppers - hopefully no news is good news and they are working as intended for everyone. In any case, my emails asking questions have been answered quickly and I'm pretty confident that the support is there if I run into any problems.

Would still appreciate anyone who has one commenting on how it's going for them though. Anyone?

Many thanks,

Jason

[M250cnc]

Hi Jason

What is the overall dimension of the piece of ali you are milling in the video ?

Phil_H

[Jason3]

Hi Phil,

That part is about 6" x 5" x 1" - not that big. It's the plate that connects the Z axis linear bearing and the ballscrew nut to the spindle mount on the machine in my profile pic

Regards,

Jason


Edit - Here's a better look at it. I haven't bothered to finish the part yet - it'll get cleaned up and anodised with the rest of the bare parts when I'm finished...

[oxford]

Using a SS and loving it.

running 50IPM

[Jason3]

Originally Posted by oxford Using a SS and loving it. running 50IPM

That's good news - what kind of machine is it on?

Regards,

Jason

[oxford]

Emco PC Mill 30.

I took out the old steppers. After cutting out some metal I fitted in some 425 oz in steppers.

They run on Keling 8056 Drives and use a C23 BOB.