I need to know everything about CNC Electronics

[alanfreefall]

Hi everyone... I finally finished my CNC machine but still have to buy all the electronic components... I know nothing about the electronic components so can anyone tell me everything I have to know about them?

Ive searched all over the place but haven't found anything that answers all my questions:

-Do i have to use stepper motors, or can I use a servo motor from a r/c car...
-In ebay i saw a computer controller board, but the guy tells me i need to get drivers, which gecko, and other companies sell... what are the drivers and stuff? i thought that having the controller board was enough, that i could plug motors in there then its done...
-What other parts do I need to make it work?

Thanks

[Al_The_Man]

Its all here somewhere, all those questions and have been answered before in one way or another, you just have to dig a little.
Al.

[alanfreefall]

thanks, but i have been searching and every hour later i think i have found out everything i need to know, but then i find something new after...

[Vin007]

Check out the forum's, it's all in here, you can find it.

[Vin007]

Al's right, Alan, it's all here. It just takes a little patience. I'm like you, a Newbie, searching out nuggets of info to help me build my own X2 CNC. But everytime I think I've got it straight I read something that throws me a curve. There is a forum on CNC electronics, so I'd start there. Another thread I think that may help you is, Hoss2006, I've read his posts and found them quite helpfull. All I can add is go slow and think about what you want your machine to do, how much weight will it hold, what material are you cutting, how fast do you what it to go? All these factor into what your looking for, so plan it carefully.

Just my thoughts that's all, good luck with the project.

[pminmo]

Take a look at my website, you may find some of your answers there.

[CarbideBob]

I need to know everything about CNC Electronics

Trust me, even if you live to be 100 you'll never know everything.

Try to formulate a general idea of what you think will work and post it in the form of "What do you guy's think of this?".
You'll get lots of feedback if you post a specific combination.
Bob

[Madclicker]

I like the "I need to know everything" part.

[bones]

Hi,
It's great you ask the questions, but the answers haven't been too great.
I'm amazed someone hasn't said google it.
The search engine on cnczone isn't the greatest. Try searching for "EDM" and nothing will come back!
But there is a whole section on it and the word must of been used somewhere in there.

1st thing r/c servos aren't the same as cnc servos. nothing like them except the princible of how they work.
Stepper as cheap easy to install and for you first machine I would go that way.
http://www.xylotex.com You can buy the whole lot of them. Motors, driver board and powersupply in one go.
It's probably the cheapest and easiest way. I know heaps of people that use them and no complaints.

As for controllers and drivers. They are pretty much the same thing.
The board plugs into the parallel port of the pc and the motors plug into board.
So does the power supply. A bit of tuning and your done.
Are you using Mach3 to drive the mill?

Now you have a starting point and clarified a few things you can go over and look at the cnc electronics section on the forum.

I wouldn't use "I need to know everything about CNC Electronics" as you did.
It sounds like you are one of those UNI students from one of those countrys wanting people to design there major project for them and do it now.

And I'm not having a go at prevoius posters. I'm just saying it takes about the same amount of time to answer a question as to not to!
It's very bewildering when you start out and can turn people off posting and/or cnc in general.

Cheers
Bones

[Switcher]

Hi everyone... I finally finished my CNC machine but still have to buy all the electronic components... I know nothing about the electronic components so can anyone tell me everything I have to know about them?

Ive searched all over the place but haven't found anything that answers all my questions:

-Do i have to use stepper motors, or can I use a servo motor from a r/c car...
-In ebay i saw a computer controller board, but the guy tells me i need to get drivers, which gecko, and other companies sell... what are the drivers and stuff? i thought that having the controller board was enough, that i could plug motors in there then its done...
-What other parts do I need to make it work?

Thanks

Tell us about your machine, is it a tabletop machine, or the size of a Buick?

You'll never get a good answer, If we don't know what your working with, photos would help.



.

[NC Cams]

There is a FAQ on "steppers versus servos" on the Zone. Try the search engine

If you do a "stepper" search on the 'Zone, you should come up with a lot of into. Ditto that for servo. Asking for "everything I need to know" is simple to respond to - it is all in Google, if you know how to use it properly.

FAQ stands for "frequently asked questions". A lot of the stuff you're looking for has been addressed, often time and time again, in the FAQ's.

Search engines are your friend, providing you know/learn how to use them. Perhaps the most important phase to master of a DIY project is how to LOOK for information.

The more and harder you LOOK for information, the more likely you are to value and retain it, especially in the form of knowledge and wisdom it generates. Answers are easy to get and easy to forget - wisdom lasts a lifetime.