Originally Posted by
peteeng
Hi Rayna- working thru your Q's
1) the current steppers are fine unless you want to draw more than 3A through the Gecko
2) You could use 12mm as these screws are quite short. 5mm pitch will give you large forces but will be slower and 10mm will give you good speed but less force. Generally for a router 10mm is a good compromise
3) By "Gecko" do you mean the Gecko 540? If you require a 4th axis into the future this means the G540 has to be replaced or there are ways to add this on I believe
4) Direct drive is usually sufficient, This makes the assembly long and the motors usually overhang the machine. If room is tight then use a belt and reflex the motor above or to the side of the screw. If the design is OK for this (please show us a piccy) you can use belts to drive both sides from one motor then you only use 3 axes allowing the 4th to be free. This has compromises but maybe could work for you...
What do you hope to achieve with the screw drive vs the belt drive? Peter