I was wanting to used the stepper motors I had pulled off an Cube 2 3d printer which never really work. I looked up online how much torque they had and they only had a few Kg of Torque. Is that going to be enough?
How much torque should I make sure the next motors have if these aren’t enough?
https://www.v1engineering.com/frequently-asked-questions/
I suggest at least 42oz/in but it is very dependent on your intended use.
The datasheet I found on my step motors says it is the holding torque is 2.6 kg cm. Is that close or higher?
Is there a reason to use higher torque motors? Like harder materials?
Not really, if you built something heavy enough to need more torque the flex in the Z axis would outweigh the gain from higher torque. Better to just slow down and cut shallower if you’re doing something particularly tough.
It will greatly depend on what you wish to do with your machine.
If it’s laser engraving, then you don’t need much torque.
If it is CNC milling, then you will.
I’ve put the biggest motors I’ve found on the Internet on my machine and they sometimes miss steps under big loads when milling quickly (which is very frustrating). So if you plan on building a milling machine, don’t be cheap on your motors. Or use them with smaller pulleys.
To answer the questions, you need torque if you want your CNC to be fast. Otherwise you will end up doing thousands of small passes at low speeds, and every part you’ll wish to cut will take hours. Since you cannot really leave a CNC unattended, this means that you’ll have to spend these hours watching it in the noise and the dirt. No need to say that you’ll end up hating it quickly.
So In my opinion, torque is key if you plan on using your CNC more than twice a year.
If you want a fast CNC, you’ll need two things: a powerful spindle with a good bit and powerful step motors who won’t stall or miss steps.
Since you already have those motors, I would recommend you to use them and try by yourself. If you find that they are not powerful enough then it is quite easy to change them later.
I want to use this for milling which is why I was considering using DWP611PK especially since it has variable speeds but I’ve seen some posts against doing something like this. Other than adjustment to the mount I use, what other adjustments might I have to make and what is the reason people are discouraging this router? I have not found any clear answer either way.
Thanks in advance.
Another question about the stepper motors I ment to ask was what advantage does having a stepper motor with more steps?
Does that just mean it is more accurate?
You can use any router or spindle you want really, within reason. I would imagine that one would be fine, but with small steppers like you seem to have you are going to want to use a small bit like 1/8". If you use a large 1/4" bit you’ll have all kinds of issues.
Wire your motors in series. There are posts here on how to do that.
More steps, I can’t imagine having more steps is an advantage per say when milling, unless it’s metal or similar and you want something very slow and precise, but even then. If it’s woods, you’re likely going to be moving faster and the added steps won’t produce a better result.