Stepper/Weight recommendation...

[alank2]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to CNC and planning on ordering a Microcarve MV3 from John next week. John told me that he is using 12 tpi, but 2 start on the X-Y (effective 6 tpi) and 1 start on the Z (12 tpi).

I'm going to get a Gecko G540 to drive it and am still not sure about whether I'll use EMC2/Mach3/TurboCNC to run it.

Primarily I plan on cutting plastic enclosures, but I certainly want to do all sorts of stuff on it for fun so I may want to cut other materials.

I came across this page which shows many different motors and I read a thread about the Gecko steppers that talked about a balance between holding torque and linearity.

Stepper Motor

They have NEMA23 steppers from 156 oz - 166 oz - 185 oz - 270 oz - 282 oz (4 models) - 355oz - 382oz - 425oz - 482oz - 495oz - 570oz. 14 to pick from just at this one place!

Any ideas of how to decide on what stepper to get for my purposes that is paired well with the G540?

Thanks,

Alan

[ger21]

Either the 381oz KL23H2100-35-4B, or the 270oz KL23H276-28-4B if you want to save $30.

I'd probably just get the #1 kit here. Page Title

381oz is much more than you need, but will allow you to reuse them if you move to a larger machine in the future. And $30 is a negligible amount imo.

[alank2]

Hi Gerry,

Thanks for the information. I've got one last question about power supplies. I see many vendors pair (3) 3.5A steppers with a 7.3A 48V supply, but have a 10A or 12.5A option. 3.5A*3=10.5A, would the 7.3A be a bit small?

Alan

[ger21]

A Gecko will never draw more than 2/3 of the motors rated current, and usually much less.

2/3 of 10.5 = 7 amps

Also, I believe that a G540 has a 7 amp fuse, so it can't draw more than 7 amps without blowing the fuse.

So 7.3 amps should be fine.

[alank2]

Thanks Gerry.

Alan