I am trying to build a learning lab with kflop. I will eventually use kflop to CNC my grizzly g0704. I would like to get my feet wet with kflop before I make my final decision on servo vs stepper and open loop vs closed loop vs double closed loop. Right now I would like to get a sense of what Kflop alone can handle so I want to buy some inexpensive motors and sensors to mess around with.

I was looking at these nema 17 motors.... 10 bucks each
NEMA17 Stepper Motor (KL17H247-168-4B) (1/4? dual shaft with a flat) 62 Oz In. Hybrid | Automation Technology Inc

Can these be ran directly from the kflop? Can they also be ran with a stepper driver(not talking about kstep) that is then hooked up to kflop?

Can anyone recommend the following parts that will work with kflop directly?
  • Nema 17 stepper
  • Cheap driver for above stepper (to see what the difference in capabilities is with the stepper hooked up directly vs through a driver)
  • Cheap nema 17 or small servo (not sure if this is possible)
  • Limit switch
  • Emergency Stop switch
  • Rotary encoder (to mess around with feedback loops)
  • Linear encoder (cheap glass slide)
  • Some sort of cheap pump (to emulate flood coolant)
  • Some sort of cheap air valve (to emulate a mister)
  • Inexpensive linear guide and screw. (so I can hook up my dial indicator and move the carriage back and fourth to test the repeatability of open loop vs closed loop)
  • Coupler for the motor shaft and screw


Also anything else you can recommend off the top of your head to mess around with would be well received.

I have an extra corsair ax1200i power supply and a Mastech HY5005D-2 Dual benchtop power supply. Multimeter, metcal sp 280 soldering station. I also have an arduino uno, and a teensy++ 2.0. I also have the make microcontroller kit found here.
Ultimate Arduino Microcontroller Pack

I also have plenty of motherboards / cpu's laying around, a ton of linux/windows administration experience and am an avid C programmer. The fact that kflop requires C programming is what turned me on to it. I am a network engineer by trade (ccie) and used to be a linux server administrator that focused on virtualization. I also have some basic electronics training through a votech that I received about 15 years ago. As far as the software / computer side of the equation I have no worries. The electronics side of the equation I am in the process of brushing up on.

I do not have an oscilloscope, digital logic analyzer or function generator or any motors to mess around with.

Basically help me build a learning kit for use with the kflop.
Thanks!