A retired mechanical engineer friend just brought me three crates of old steppers, servos, belts, chains, sprockets and all sorts of other bits and bobs. I feel like I am back in grade school with a brand new erector set!
I have built 2 V1 machines and have just followed the instructions step by step and plugged the different wires into the microcontroller boards but my understanding of how it all actually works is pretty limited.
I would like to buy a microcontroller or some sort of stepper/servo driver even if it is getting into the larger range of systems to start playing with making machines out of these parts but I really don’t know where to start.
Will the SKR pro board with the little drivers that are on board run these steppers? I assume they don’t have inputs for servo feedback?
How do I go about deciphering the stepper label and understanding what kind of control system I need?
Super thankful for all the you who have more experience than I do!
Definitely look them up for voltage and current range. Most of them look to be 6 wire, you can use them (if I remember right) but you have to figure out which wire is which. Not hard, just takes a little practice, a data sheet really helps though.
Okay so I need a belt cutting machine.
When you are done with that a hardware counter.
Then a hardware bagger.
then a…
I looked up on of the little motors with a planetary 998:1 gear reductions and it listed for $400ish new. I’d be happy to offer a 11 percent discount to any forum members lol.
Any thoughts on a controller that can use the servo encoders? When I watch Jeremy Fielding or TOT wire up his their CNC machines they have larger driver boxes and electronic cabinets.
How much can a SKR pro with 2209 drivers handle?
It would be really fun to work on a belt cutting machine. Dial in the length and cut?
How’s that? The two O steppers move at the same time, one pulling and one pushing the belt. The belt slides on a _ surface and something moves the | cutter down and then up when appropriate. The cut end of the belt has enough residual stiffness to stay down on the surface until the puller stepper grabs it, or else we’d put something in the help to belt stay in place like this:
O=_|__O
(Dang the equals sign doesn’t have it’s bottom surface on the surface, it’s floating too high. :))
[and dang even more the autocorrect that keeps changing my slightly misspelled words…]
I actually already have the belt mover part, I just never got around to the cutter. I have an extrusion ready to go. I planned on a lazy Susan (is that not PC anymore?) for the 100M rolls, the belt mover part, then need a cutter. Sitting on my desk, I actually used it a few times. Stretch goals would also be a winder.
I like the idea of an anvil cutter for this. I use one of those for cutting my belts, hoses, and similar materials. You could maybe make something that drops a utility blade onto an anvil. I think a small pneumatic cylinder would be the best way to power it, and would give you the choppy chop force needed to break through a belt. The anvil also would not be sensitive to belt tension, unlike normal shearing mechanisms.
