I’ve been calibrating my CNC for a couple of hours meaning very light-weight usage. My motors are pretty hot. Almost too hot to keep my hands on them for more than a few seconds. All 5 motors seem to be this hot. For the last 10min, the machine has been powered on but not moving and the steppers are still super hot. Shouldn’t they cool down if they aren’t moving anything? For my calibration I’ve been using a feedrate of 5000. It doesn’t seem crazy fast in real life but maybe that’s too much for these.
If they’re energized, they’ll stay warm. They’re keeping position by engaging the magnets. What voltage are you running them at?
I didn’t think about them holding position. That makes sense. As to voltage, I’m not sure. I didn’t make any changes so it’s the default that comes from v1. I’m running the rambo board in parallel if that helps.
They should be wired serial, not parallel, though I don’t think it will make a difference for the heat.
Maybe I’m using the incorrect terminology, but I’m using dual endstops which I think use parallel wiring.
Mine don’t get very warm at all.
Parallel means something specific, which is wiring two motors together in parallel. Dual wiring isn’t parallel or series because it is just one motor per driver. We call that dual.
But the motors do use the same amount of current if they are moving or staying still. The current makes the heat. The goal is to keep them under 50C, which is quite warm. At about 60C, the plastic starts moving.
You can turn it down, but you risk skipping steps when the router is really trying. If it is a pen machine though, or something, then turning it down is probably smart.
You should try TMC2209 V3 driver (see here: Solving Z axis lifting problems, stepper losses ). They are a little bit more expensive but work fantastic.
The steppers are really silent and stay very cold! After working for some hours (with aluminium) the steppers are less than 30°C (all).
Even with 50°C the plastic (PLA) starts becomming weak! Therefore I printed all the parts for the steppers with CPE (PETG) or ASA.
That’s going to depend on what controller he’s using.
Not relevant for the OP but this does make a diffrence, serial wiring will apply the set current through both steppers. Parallel wiring will split the set current between each stepper. So if you wire in parallel but have the firmware set up for series they should run cooler(and weaker). If you set the firmware for parallel and run series they would run MUCH hotter and you will probably burn up the motors(@winterminute this is not the issue your having because none of the v1 firmware is set for parallel wired motors)
What stepper motors are you using? Did you get them from the v1 shop or did you source them yourself?
They came from v1.