[louieatienza]

Horsepuckey! Steppers are perfectly reliable, if the entire drive system is competently designed and built. Steppers will "lose position" ONLY when asked to perform a move that is
beyond its capability. The same is true of ANY drive system. Lost steps is a result of poor design, or improper operation. Period. I have run many hundreds of hours on stepper-based CNC machines and NEVER once lost a step other than when I crashed the machine. Sadly, far too many people here "design" based on recommendations from what are, effectively, strangers who, themselves, based their "design" on recommendations from other strangers. That will always be a hit-or-miss proposition. Proper design REQUIRES knowing the detailed motor characteristics, the DETAILED machine requirements, and a very good understanding of HOW steppers work More is NOT better. Bigger motors, more voltage, more current, etc. can be every bit as bad, sometimes even worse, than going the other direction. Steppers are used in literally millions of machines worldwide, in applications where a single lost step would be catastrophic, and they operate flawlessly for years and years. Again, steppers "lose steps" ONLY due to poor design, improper operation, or hardware or software problems that require correction.

As for the Home switches, your switches will be just fine, provided:

1) Your hardware never screws up
2) Your software never screws up
3) You never make any mistakes

#1 I'd not be too concerned about, except for your limit switch wiring. A fault there, and you WILL break something. #2, if you're using Mach3 or Mach4, I would not bet five cents on that one... #3... Well, it #3 is true, which I sincerely doubt, you're going to save a bloody fortune on metal stock and tooling compared to the rest of us!

Regards,
Ray L.

I have to agree with a lot of this. Too many times, too large a stepper is used with the thought of "bigger is better." And for some reason pair the large steppers with cheap drives, which can only handle puny power supplies. And I think a lot of limit switch "fears" stem from way oversized steppers that can do serious damage to the machine - something that shouldn't happen if the steppers are sized right. Also, if you know the extents of each axes, you wouldn't set up a part where the CAM would breach those extents anyway.

Embarrassingly, I've never set up home or limit switches on any of the machines I've owned until recently. I've missed steps when I've committed a bonehead error - like not setting the "safe" Z rapid height far enough and crashing into a fixture or bolt, or while jogging. I actually used to jog up to the ends of each axis and stall the motors purposely and use that as home! Does no harm to the steppers or machine. I've been running programs using "high speed" toolpaths since my wood-framed router, where the potential of stalling would seem to be greater with the many rapid repositionings. It's only when one either pushes too small a motor to the brink or "underpowers" a large motor that problems occur.

The one think where I may disagree would be with builders over-voltaging their steppers. This is probably the rarest of problems. Most times, I see builders using too little, mainly due to the use of cheaper drives. Many issues I see with lack of power come from running steppers well under the rated current, which is related to having cheaper drives, which may not be able to supply the required current to the motors. Some folks don't realize that the way the stepper is wired can determine how much to set the current to at the drive. Many don't realize that the insulators in the steppers can be rated to 200-300V. I wouldn't go that far of course. But the more voltage used, the more torque available at higher speed.

Stuart, carry on! If your greatest fear is potentially bending some aluminum brackets, I think you'll be all right!

[atomarc]

Thank you..I'm carrying on full steam ahead.

I will admit that I have ordered 3 new micro switches just like the ones I'm currently using for home switches, but the new one have levers, and I may revise the mounting of the switches to accommodate a ramp type actuator. After all the input from various forum members I do feel that my current setup would work fine especially using soft limits as a 'guard' just before the home switches.

Stuart

[louieatienza]

Thank you..I'm carrying on full steam ahead.

I will admit that I have ordered 3 new micro switches just like the ones I'm currently using for home switches, but the new one have levers, and I may revise the mounting of the switches to accommodate a ramp type actuator. After all the input from various forum members I do feel that my current setup would work fine especially using soft limits as a 'guard' just before the home switches.

Stuart

Not sure what choice you're using for a controller software, Stuart, but most of them, when you load a program, will warn you that a move will exceed the extents of the soft limits while loading and before you even hit start!

[SCzEngrgGroup]

But the more voltage used, the more torque available at higher speed.

That is true only up to a point. There is an optimal voltage for each motor, determined by its inductance. Voltage above that optimal value does absolutely nothing of value, but does greatly increase motor heating.

Regards,
Ray L.

[atomarc]

Not sure what choice you're using for a controller software, Stuart, but most of them, when you load a program, will warn you that a move will exceed the extents of the soft limits while loading and before you even hit start!

We have done all the nuts and bolts stuff but have not dug into Mach4 yet. I'm hoping that the developers are much smarter than I am and have built in many 'checks and balances' such as you mention. Knowing what the software will and won't do can influence how we build certain facets of our little machine.

Thanks,

Stuart & Nick

[atomarc]

Happy Sunday! Waiting on a few parts orders to come in (new home switches w/rollers)..... 1/2 & 3/4 cord grips... a bunch of din rail stuff for the electrical enclosure..... speaking of that electrical enclosure!! Decided that the power supply was going to be moved outside the enclosure..... space reasons / extra doo-dads / ****. What do you do when you want to make a sheet metal enclosure but lack the proper sheet metal tools?.......... let me show you! ...... (adding the louvers was not necessary or the easiest things to do....i decided it would be fun so went ahead with it....)

Also started work on the new replacement to the oil front oil manifold. With the addition of some push-to-connect fittings its now a spacer block / chip guard mount / home switch mount! Once the new switches arrive progress can continue.




(sooooo..... about that power supply cover..1...2...3 GO!)





















































(hehehehe )





(the holes are for 3/4 & 1/2" cord grips.... and a few extra)





(anddddd.... there ya go! a simple cover that i will appreciate every time i see it!...... (nuts))





(the start of new front combo block thing.....?)





:cheers:


P.S...... the electric shears from harbor freight are the D-SHIZZZ-NIT! really tho..... they work great.

[atomarc]

Good evening! work continues on the sheet metal covers for the Y stepper motor / saddle & ways......some more cutting fitting and grinding yet to come.......... a bunch of parts came in (limit switches) so more progress can be had.



(y stepper mount after machining 5/8" slot)


























(Coming at you in 4K for your viewing pleasure!!! Subscribe to my youtube channel for updates! - Nick )

https://youtu.be/hGr0VkKjuhg


:cheers:

[gcofieldd]

Now you guys are just showing off.

[atomarc]

Now you guys are just showing off.

:nono: Thank you! I'll take it as a compliment!

- Nick

[gcofieldd]

:nono: Thank you! I'll take it as a compliment!

- Nick

It was :cheers:

[atomarc]

A teaser / bump picture! ...... more come monday.

- Nick

[lcvette]

What is your overall travel in Y now with everything on it?

Sent from my QTAIR7 using Tapatalk

[atomarc]

What is your overall travel in Y now with everything on it?

Sent from my QTAIR7 using Tapatalk

Chris,

'Y' travel is 7"...it appears it's up a bit from the advertised travel of 6 7/8", but who knows if that factory spec was accurate.

Stuart

[atomarc]

Hello.....

Chip-chippin' away on the Grizz..... X home switch and trip, all the sheet metal for the table and...... are complete for the most part......................... lets start with the pictures shall we!



(building the moving portion of the Y cover)


















(the trip for the X home switch)





(the x stepper cover plate needed something to fasten too.... so 2 "arms" where machined and bolted to the end plate..... bob just might really be my uncle! )





(cover plate.......for covering.. )







(the gutter runs the length of the table, covering the x home switch as well)





(the gutter has 1/4" slots on the back side, bolting to the dovetail slot on the front of the table)





(a birds eye view...)





(Back by popular demand.... lol ! I want to thank all the people that have subscribed to my YouTube channel, I appreciate the love! It keeps me (us) motivated working on the build!

https://youtu.be/m1QjEW4x8P0

:cheers:
- Nick

[atomarc]

I think Nick may have noted this, but for the sake of 'thread clarity', we are only using the factory Grizzly stand as a place to hold the machine while we work on it. The roll around, full enclosure is basically finished and after everything is painted the machine will be bolted into the enclosure.

The gutter that runs the length of the table proved to be too much to bend on our beat up old Harbor Freight brake, so a fellow at a local sheet metal shop did a beautiful job on a big Tennsmith brake in about 1 minute..and didn't charge us. Nick of course had the piece all layed out with scribe lines first.

Stuart

[gd.marsh]

Am I the only one, or are other's missing all the pictures from this thread?

All I can see are descriptions .. just went back through last month & pictures I used to see are now gone.
Double checked my 'settings' for the forum & nothing out of order there .. Any one have any ideas?

gd.marsh

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Am I the only one, or are other's missing all the pictures from this thread?

All I can see are descriptions .. just went back through last month & pictures I used to see are now gone.
Double checked my 'settings' for the forum & nothing out of order there .. Any one have any ideas?

gd.marsh

Still fine for me...

Regards,
Ray L.

[atomarc]

Am I the only one, or are other's missing all the pictures from this thread?

All I can see are descriptions .. just went back through last month & pictures I used to see are now gone.
Double checked my 'settings' for the forum & nothing out of order there .. Any one have any ideas?

gd.marsh

It's not just you and I don't think it's anything on your end...some of the pictures don't show up when I browse the thread too. I don't know what it is...maybe something on this site. Hopefully one of the smart guys will show up and help us out.

The last picture in post #266 is only a blank page...I see the text but the pix is missing..weird!

Stuart

[gd.marsh]

Stuart,

I was able to trace it to Firefox problems by restarting Firefox in safe mode, after which your pictures & others videos that had gone missing showed up again .. I did a reinstall of Firefox and all is back working again!
I believe it could have been the result of a recent Firefox update. After reinstall I changed from automatic updates to 'let me choose option'

As with everything you've done so far .. Beautiful work on the machine!

gd.marsh

[atomarc]

Not a lot to report..... added a piece of skirting to the end of the x stepper cover. Started game planning how best to go about covering in the draw bar motor area....

Are the pictures working? I hope the pictures are working...



(a couple photos from adding the skirt to the x cover)





(transfer punch.... + 6-32 button heads)









(something like this....)





(and this brings us to the head.... the idea is that the blue tape area would be a removable cover / door to access the draw bar..... holler if you have any sweet ideas or thoughts!)










(Iam quitting my day job... you should subscribe for updates! )

https://youtu.be/ZOaxtnfmgj8


:cheers: - Nick