Thread: help with what i need to setup stepper motor.

I'm no rocket surgeon, but it seems to me it would be cheaper and easier to go with a full 2D CNC setup rather than trying to patch together PLCs Number pads and stuff.
People are throwing away perfectly good computers all the time!! I bought mine from my local dump shop for $100 for tower, monitor, mouse, keyboard and a brand new set of speakers!! I doubt you could get PLC, Numberpad and some type of display for 100bucks.
There is plenty of windows based software available cheap or free that will offer customisable automation for your application.
I couldn't open the link to your motor so I don't know how big it is. I bought mine on ebay with power supply to suit I think they were about 50 bucks each and 170 or so for the power supply big enough for 3 motors.
I also looked at heaps of controllers and eventually bought a Gecko G540 which will drive up to 4 motors and was around the same price as the one in your link. This turned out to be a good choice as they were very helpful with many setup issues, and the drives are really hardy.

When considering components for your build don't underestimate the value of backup service. I had questions I needed to ask about every component right down to the motors, and being able to ask the supplier who knows their product, or a forum specific to the product and get solutions proved vital and saved endless hair tearing.

Cheers,
Tim.

one big problem. we dont have 240 volt power at teh mill. everything is run on petrol/diesel motors.

everything would need to run on 12-24 volt.

this is sompthign i would like to do properly and teh way i want it. money is not really an issue as buying a mill the same as what im building would be 50 - 100 k

motor http://www.automationdirect.com/adc/...STP-MTRH-34127

Oook now I see.
Sorry I didn't catch your other thread. For portability you can go for a laptop and a USB driver instead of the G540. I think you will still need either a small generator or a decent inverter for the regulated motor power supply as voltage fluctuations could cause havoc with the step pulses.

Cheers,
Tim.

Computer you can run from 12V.
ATX Power PSU 12V Mini-ITX M2 Car PC DC-DC 160W 8V-28V - eBay, Other, Car Parts, Accessories, Cars, Bikes, Boats. (end time 04-Oct-10 16:51:16 AEDST)

^-- might be cheaper ones around but thats the first one I clicked on. (You'd have to watch the power draw of your PC but a basic pc should be able to run on it without a problem.)

Monitor you would need to buy a 12V monitor, pretty common as they cater for the car market.


Running the motors might be a problem.

Not sure if you can get a dc-dc converter, but you should be able to use one of those 12VDC to 240V AC converters they make for cars to run 240V appliances.

Hi Carl,
You are on the right track with the driver and stepper motor although you can buy much cheaper elsewhere.

The driver still needs a step and direction signal to operate and that is why everyone is pointing you to a computer and motion software like Mach3 or TurboCNC as this is the cheapest and easiest to set up.

To help you understand the stepper motors have 200 detents per revolution. The magnets are set up every 1.8 degrees (200 of those to 360 degrees) so that the motor can be moved by the pulses to be at a particular place. Attach the motor to a screw and you can very accurately turn the screw in either direction and the nut on the screw can than be calibrated into a linear measurment.

The driver you selected generates the pulses that move the motor in a positive or negative direction but there needs to be a controller to tell the driver how many of those steps and in what direction.

What you are asking is a controller based on PLC control which is very specialised and apart from Russell I do not know of anybody that has the electronics ability to build such as beast. Well I do but they would not be interested as they are busy building rockets and robots.

Perhaps you should be looking on electronics forums (there are plenty) and asking there if anyone can help out. Another thought is search for electronic leadscrew for lathes as this is a parallel project to that.

ok

its not going to be portable anymore its static or semi static but i still dont have power where its going.

if a computer is that much easier i have an old laptop im not using that can drive it. i suppose.

so if i was to use a computer. and ran a generator/inverter what bits would i need.

Just to add my own interpretation to what Rod has said,

The Driver you posted a link to, simply stated, is just an amplifier.

It listens to pulses coming from a control source at 5v and a few milliamps,

and amplifies them to say, 80v 6amps.

Something has to be the controller and provide those pulses.

On our CNC machines we use a computer and software as the controller.

This would not be ideal for your application. Perhaps with an external control panel and the computer hidden away, it could be adapted.

I think there would be better alternatives.

Do some research on "Electronic Leadscrew",

Electronic Lead Screw Main Page

This might have some potential for adaptation.

Greg

there are heaps of things exactly like what i want meant for metal lathes. only that do 100 other things as well. i just need it to go back and forth.

could i use one of those things and just ignore all teh other buttons?

I would think that is possible but you will have to research it. Greg's link is the type of thing I was thinking of as well.

you could easily use a "basic " programmed usb board for this application even a BS2 basic stamp would do , set the steps to what you need ( 400 pulse's on x , wait 3 seconds then 300 on y ) and every time you push a button the program for that button runs , once its programmed by usb from a laptop and tested , it will run on 12v / 5v by its self , only need the laptop to change the program
you would have to learn programming in basic ( quite easy ) and good learning info on the net from the BS2