11-04-2005, 12:11 PM
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| | | Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: US
Posts: 1,220
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 How small stepper for a Bridgeport? | |
If a person were willing to accept slow rapids of 9 to 12 inches a minute, could a 300 in. oz. stepper handle the load? I have always wanted a CNC mill. At CAD, CAM, DRO, I followed a link for ball screw retrofits. If the price is right, I could retrofit all the screws including the knee for about $900 on the mill out in the garage. The ways and such are in good condition. A friend has tossed me six 300 in. oz steppers. I'm not really into wood as I am metal, and as long as the mill would be fast enough to mill aluminum at six inches a minute and steel at two to four, I'd be in bliss. It's the capability. Even with slow rapids, the type of convoluted work that a CNC mill offers, gives you a true artistic freedom in the machine shop.
I'm thinking if the consensus is yes, that there should be a way to check accuracy. Although home switches are nice, if the computer made a check station for perceived to true locatiion and it was used at different stages of the work, a deviation could be caught. Lost steps are a worry, but if the motor was geared down with the use of a belt drive, the steps would have less affect between checks. Long travel indcators and the microswitches at -0.5 would keep from crashing into the indicator yet allow a fairly large amount of +- error checking.
Can you tell I want to hear it is possible?    |
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