Making your own powerful Controller on the cheap side

X-Carve Upgrades
445

I am finally working on my own PCotCS :joy:
Same scematic that Phil used, slightly different drivers.

446

@PhilJohnson - Iā€™m following along at home, as Iā€™m building a second CNC and want to use GRBL + Arduino.

I didnt see mention of the 3 screw terminals you have in the prototyping area in your pics above - are these just 3 from the kit you opted to solder there instead of on the wing, or did you buy additional screw terminals.

Also not seeing your caps in those pics or the schematic, you put them in parallel with pins 9, 10 and 12?

Thanks in advanceā€¦

448

Thanks. I was going to hold off on the filters, I donā€™t have them currently and Iā€™ve never had any issues w\ my homing switches. I use Cat6 cable and NC, Iā€™m guessing the Cat6 might have helpedā€¦

Thanks again.

450

Do you feel like it could go faster or is that probably as fast as you can get?

452

Just finish my controller and tested it can tell its a big difference. I also updated to my Arduino from Easel to 1.0c. I only have one issue is when I got 1 " in the Z direction it only moves about 1/2" not sure if I need to change something after upgrading easel or after upgrading the controller lol

20170528_204012.jpg4032Ɨ3024 2.84 MB

1 Like
453

Check your driver microstepping. Default on the Gshield is 2x for Z axis. Sounds like you are running 4X on those drivers.

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454

Oh man thank you, i just went and confirm and i do have it set up 4x lol, i will fix it tomorrow and run a test carve. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.

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456

Does anyone know whether the Xcontroller can be upgraded to support the 4-wire Nema 23 269oz that @philjohnson used in here?

458

Oh my bad, I just looked, I donā€™t know why I thought the 140oz were only 2 wireā€¦ Silly me.

I have the Openbuilds C beam Z on my livingroom floor, along with the MFX Workshop screw kit, waiting to be built.

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459

Now if only that stepper motor site had them in stock in the USā€¦

460

If you donā€™t mind the dual shaft, with +$6.50 you get the Automation Technology 270oz.in which has 33% lower inductance than the StepperOnline 269oz.in (i.e. will perform better with the X-Controllerā€™s 24V power supply).

461

Iā€™ve got one of the 269 ozin steppers running my linear Z on the Xcontroller. Runs smooth as can be and required no changes when I upgraded from stock motor.

I need to make and sell some things before I do the other motors and belts.

1 Like
462

I too have 3 of the 269oz.in ones and love them. They are a considerable upgrade over the stock ones, but at the time I bought them I only looked for torque and max current and I wanted to use the existing power supply and drivers (X-Controller).

If I was building a controller from scratch I would also look to match the motorsā€™ inductance to the power supply(ies).

Hereā€™s an excerpt from Geckoā€™s stepper basics guide

To figure out what the maximum power supply voltage should be, use the following formula with the motorā€™s inductance in millihenries (mH) used for the L value.

32 * SQRT(L) = Vmax

Over this value, the motors will overheat. Below this value, the motors will underperform.

StepperOnline 269oz.in: Vmax=32SQRT(5.4)=74Volt
AutomationTechnology 270oz.in: Vmax=32SQRT(3.6)=61Volt

Instead of saying will perform better I should have said will underperform less when used with a 24V power supply.

So building from scratch, Iā€™d probably go for the 282oz.in AutomationTechnology 8-wire stepper in bipolar parallel configuration (4.2A, 2.2mH => 47Volt) with 48V power suppliesā€¦ and probably capped @3.5A to use with the Gecko 540. The steppers donā€™t cost more, but 4x power supplies + the 540 do.

464

Phil,

I am curious at your, or anyone elses thoughts on here, about the cost you incurred on this vs an x-controller and also some pros and cons over an x-controller. I am looking to upgrade and am curious which route to go, ease of installation and troubleshooting is a big part but of course money plays a role as well.

467

What are your thoughts on these motors?

469

For the xcarve they wonā€™t fit the std Z-axis (max motor case length = 54mm)

I have by hand tried to stall my X/Y during carving but was unable to achieve that, I have Nema23Ā“s 269oz with 2,6A drivers running 1/2 step (and ACME rods, not belts)

470

I used one of these on the X-Carveā€™s X axis for half a year, then moved it to a new machine. The added weight (compared to stock) works nicely as a counterweight too (especially if you have a direct drive Z which turns your X-Carriage front-heavy). Itā€™s not that heavier than the StepperOnline 269oz.in (1.05 vs 1.2kg).

It was included in this list.

Higher torque NEMA 23 on the X (was originally 140oz.in) to match the 2x 140oz.in on the Y. I settled with a 345oz.in one which is still within the X-Controllers range (3.0A).

471

Iā€™m using an Open Builds C beam Z. and a screw drive upgrade kit, so that isnā€™t a concern.

472

Thanks. I think I might just pick those up, then.

473

would this screw shield work for me? It has a couple less terminals than the linked kit, but do i need those? i am using 4 x TB6600 drivers.