Servo motor hook up

1

Can anyone teach me how to utilize some industrial servo motors?
I have acquired a couple nema 34 allen Bradley servo motors and want to use them in a home built cnc machine.
These are attached to top quality linear tracks. The bearing assembly is located inside long square tube aluminum and have heavy cogged belt drive.
The specs on these assemblies show little to no backlash or deflection over 7 feet length.
(My research shows these tracks are worth several thousand each. And i have several tracks with bearings) :grin:
That being said, i really want to get these operational on a easy level?
I have some experience with useing a shapeoko 2 machine with upgrades
I also have experience with useing a 3d printer, printerbot simple metal also with several upgrades.
I am very capable of mechanical fabrications ect, however the electronic controlling is my weakness.

  1. Will getting these servo motors working be too difficult?
  2. Should i consider nema 34 steppers instead?

The servo motor is (ab-n-3412-02-h00aa)
I believe its 3 phase?
( Looks like these cost around $2000 each):astonished:

I have the Mach program installed for a smaller cnc build project but haven’t used it yet.

Does anyone have any input or guidance that could help me out in regards to feasibility on this project?

Thanks in advance
Jason

2

NEMA 34 frame motors are generally very large and powerful. This is the type of motor you might have on a professional CNC that can take 4X8 plywood sheets and has a 2.2KW spindle.

Unfortunately, the 3 phase closed loop controller for your servos is likely to cost up to $4,000 used and you will need compatible cables to the tune of $70 each (2 per motor times 3 for a total of $420).

You’re starting to push yourself into the price realm of a new CNC. Dave Gatton bought a pretty serious AVID CNC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtFabEUcbdE&t=114s
for $9723.75 and it has NENA 34 steppers, linear rails and the 2.2KW VFD spindle.

If you’re dead serious about building your own closed loop system, you might check out these two videos from This Old Tony
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0XfRPi_h2M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLdlV3-JaH8
He breaks out the components and the concepts that he learned along the way to making his on CNC machine and converting manual mills to CNC.

All of the above is why CNCs aren’t cheap and why the X Carve Pro might be viewed as competitive.

3

Thank you for the reply.
What you say makes a lot of sence. I wasn’t sure what the cost was gonna be as i couldn’t figure out what was needed to run the servo motors.
Since I had the servo motors already i was hoping to be able to use them. They look to be worth around $1000 each.

I agree that spending over $5000 in just drivers will likely not be justifiable.
If i knew what i needed I would keep my eye open for deals or obsolete parts from local industrial plants as i do well at.

However, the machine i have assembled already with the high end parts will indeed be a quality machine and very comparable to like units. It will have a cutting capacity of around 3feet by 7 feet respectively.
Since the frame extrusions with internal bearing assemblies have the nema 34 mounting, i figured these servos would be best option.
I have seen some bigger nema 34 stepper motor kits that are now looking like the most cost effective way to go.

It would be great if i can sell these servo motors to someone who can use them and or possibly trade/barter for stepper motors!!
Ive had them listed on ebay for a while now and no hits at only $250 each :pensive:

Thanks