Nema 23's?

LowRider CNC Advice
1

Hi,

have just found the Lowrider, and it appears to be exactly what I want!

I currently have 3 x Nema23’s, stepper drivers and power supply plus UCCNC software and a UC100 motion controller. http://cncdrive.com/index.html

Would it likely be a big deal adapting these to the Lowrider? Would save mean a lot of cash (retired on pension) and allow me to purchase the remaining components on line here. Would be looking to build a 4 foot by 4 foot size.

TIA

Gary

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Standard mpcnc or lowrider needs 5 motors though. For lowrider, that’s 2 Y axis, 2 Z axis, and 1 X axis.

3

I suppose Gary could use his steppers for X and Y axes. But I’m not convinced the structure/plates/tubing would welcome he weight properly. And make the other hardware/software stack would also be problematic.

4

23’s are too big. You’d have to redesign pretty much everything.

5

It will be fine. It’s not nearly as much as you’re thinking. If he’s already familiar with UCCNC then it will be fine, assuming the motors are sized correctly, but the LR doesn’t need much, so almost any nema23 is probably fine.

Source: I built a lowrider with nema 23’s and Mach 3, which requires similar hardware to UCCNC (BoB, individual drivers, etc)

1 Like
6

Hi Guys

thanks for the replies…the nema 3’s are a bit big and I’ve had some fun watching UCCNC running them. They were originally going to be used to convert my milling machine to CNC, but I decided that I preferred to keep the mill manual - especially after I fitted a set of DRO’s. They motors/controller/drivers and software cost a bit, so I was after a project that could utilise them. If I can’t I’ll have to wait a bit and save a bit to buy a complete Lowrider kit.

Aaron - how many steppers did you use? Any pics of your build?

cheers

Gary

7

sorry to bump this topic , but i want to build a lowrider with Mach3 support and i saw you have done this before. could you share how you can do this ?

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I have been using my Lowrider 2 (6’ x 10’) for several months now with the standard NEMA 23 motors. I am in the process of upgrading all 5 to NEMA 23 motors. So far I have upgraded the two Z-axis motors. Still waiting on GT2 pulleys with 6.35mm bore for the X- and Y-axes.

2 Likes
9

Hi Tom, I’m considering the LowRider, which appears to be a great build. I already have 3 Nema 23 425 oz/in steppers, 3 M542T drivers, and a 36V PS. What do you suggest for other hardware - Arduino Uno or Mega, do I need CNC shield, etc.? I’m not very technical so any advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated

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20200611_055143
20200611_0551432016×1512 1.15 MB

20200611_055553
20200611_0555534032×3024 3.91 MB

I am using a board originally designed for the MPCNC by Bart Dring. It runs on ESP32 GRBL and has several options for controlling it. I chose to use the built-in WebUI with my 10" tablet. The 5 chips on the board in the attached picture are not standard drivers; they are use to expose the motion signals to external drivers.

1 Like
11

Thanks for the quick response, Tom!

  • I looked online for the board but it’s OOS everywhere. Any other board (Mega/RAMPs) that would work equally well with my motors/drivers or should I wait for it come back in stock?
  • What’s the name/model# of the 5 non-standard drivers on the board?
  • What’s the h/w to the left of the 5 drivers in the 2nd pic? Seems you have a separate PSU for it
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The chips are optos designed by Bart also.
There are a couple of terminal blocks for wire connections, two cooling fans mounted on the board in the other picture, a 24V power supply for the board and a 36V power supply for the external drivers.

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Thanks again - much appreciated!