I’m new to arduino and stepper motors so please keep that in mind when answering my question. I’m no dummy to electronics but my computer knowledge is dismal.
Quick summary;
I want to build a stepper motor driven power feed for my milling machine. I will upgrade to full cnc in the future. For now I want basic button and knob controls. Fwd, rev and speed control. Maybe some limit switches. I don’t want to get into g-code now but I do want to option to easily implement it in the future.
-Can I use the easydriver and arduino to do this? Will I be able to use simple buttons for Fwd and rev without getting into g-code?
-Is there a limit to the size of motor I will be able to use? I’ll probably use nema 23 or 34. If there is a size limit what is it?
I just need to be sure this setup will do what I need before I buy it. From the research I’ve done I believe it will. Looking forward to hearing from you. I’m also interested in hearing better ways of doing this. Thanks
You first need to figure out how much torque the motor will have to deliver, at what RPM, and on that basis decide on a particular motor and possibly also a gearing arrangement.
Motor torque is proportional to the winding current, and the limitation is that there are no motor drivers on the hobby market that can deliver more than 1.5 amperes/winding without extra cooling. If you need much more that, you will have to buy a commercial motor driver.
Once you have all that, any small microcontroller can be used to steer the setup. The Arduino development system is convenient, free and there are lots of examples to learn from.
NEMA sizes relate to the dimensions of the motor mounting faceplate, and have little or nothing to do with the motor characteristics.
How do I find out how many amperes a motor requires? The motor I was looking at is 425 oz.in. I know other guys have used them and they were powerful enough. Is it as simple as knowing the maximum oz.in I can go with?
Check the motor data sheet or manufacturer’s product page for the current rating, or for the voltage rating and winding resistance. The voltage rating divided by the winding resistance is the same as the current rating, which is the steady state maximum current. Motors can always be (and usually are) run at less than the maximum current.
The motor end plate will usually have its current rating. However, I doubt that you’ll be able to get that much torque with only 1.5A though. You should look around for motor drivers that can take higher voltage. High voltage will allow you to run at higher speeds which you will want when you go full CNC and need rapid traverse. Take a look over on CNCZone and see what’s popular over there.