Inertia Calculations - Cutting Speed & acceleration

[HughRob]

Hi,

I am currently undertaking the inertia calculations to determine the required stepper motor size, etc.

My question is for a laser what is the range of speeds that I should allow for and therefore the required acceleration?

I am currently building a 40w laser to start with, to get my understanding before I build a 150W.

Thanks in advance

[zax15uk]

I assume you are taking all the factors into consideration in your calculations, for example belt, gear or screw drive. Microstepping. Axis length and weight. Planned use, cutting and/or engraving etc.

300ipm as a maximum velocity would be reasonable, and with a low mass design you can achieve this with some NEMA 17 or single stack 23 steppers and belt drive.

I would probably go with the 23's and 1/8 microstepping for a small system.

Zax.

[Tweakie]

I fully agree with Zax.

My machine is a wood router with a laser head fitted as an optional tool. Unfortunately the mass of the X axis is such that my acceleration / deceleration settings have to be kept quite low and the maximum (100% reliable) travel speed is 3,500 mm/min. Although this is fine for what I want to do (mainly cutting acrylic) the machine would be a lot more versatile if I had 7,000 mm/min travel speed.
My recommendation is to go for the highest speed you can reliably achieve without loosing steps etc. Also consider a servo drive (driven by similar 'step and direction' signals like the steppers) just for the X Axis.

Tweakie.