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Typical stepper speeds on stock PhlatPrinter

Discussion in 'MOTORS - Stepper Motors' started by meistertek, Jan 1, 2009.

  1. meistertek

    meistertek Member

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    I have been working on tuning my steppers and have gotten the following velocities and Accelerations to work without losing steps:

    Axis Vel Accel
    X 80 30
    Y 18 12
    Z 12 10

    My question is about the X axis, is this a safe velocity at 80? At 80 velocity the bit flys through cuts along the X axis. It was so fast that I slowed down to 50 velocity just to be sure that I don't goof anything up.

    Is the X axis typically capable of faster speeds than the Z and Y?

    I am wondering what would happen if pulleys and belts were added on the other steppers, would they speed up also? Maybe changing the drive ratio of the steppers with a belt allows them to perform at higher velocities?
     
  2. Crash

    Crash Moderator Staff Member

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    I would say that if your parts are being cut accurately, then rock on! :D

    The only thing that I would suggest you watch for is the foam skewing from side to side. The best way to check this is to note just exactly where the sheet is when you start a file up, then check to see where it ends up after you file has completed cutting. If you have a big shift in the foam, then you may want to slow the X speed down until you quit getting skew. Mind you, we are building foam airplanes so high accuracy is not necessarily needed. You don't, however, want to end up with something like a half inch of skew! :lol:

    At one point, I cranked up my X to like 500 ipm. Surprisingly, the sheet cut just fine, but the skew was so bad the the sheet snagged on the sides of the machine. :eek: The torque on the sheet imparted by the spindle's torsional forces can be pretty high and if the speeds are set too high, the nip points cannot keep the sheet in place (well, maybe not without some kind of mod!).

    With my machine set at 45,22,15, I find very little skew when the sheet comes back to the home position after a cut - something like a run-out of less than 1/8".

    Hope this helps!

    You did a great job on your machine, dude!!
     
  3. dangre

    dangre New Member

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    Crash,
    500ipm, COOL!!! I'd love to see a video of that with the Dremel retracted. Maybe with an x-travel of 60" just see how far you can throw the fanfold! Maybe a new way to self-launch our airplanes! :lol:

    I agree with you that trying to get reallllly fast speeds shouldnt be the big goal here. Taking 1/2hour for the PP is a whole lot easier than with an Exacto (with your feet on the table drinking coffee). :ugeek:
    Of course we all need more speed or we would not be so passionate about this hobby...
     
  4. Flashsolutions

    Flashsolutions Active Member

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    My two cents worth...

    Having replaced my stock steppers with kick butt 282 oz/in motors, I discovered that fast is not necessarily the goal.

    If you try to run the foam thru the machine too fast, you will end up skewing it along the X axis if the Dremel cannot keep up with the feed rate.

    Therefore I have reduced my X and Y to 30 ipm and my Z is set to 15 ipm. As it is, I still end up reducing the feed rates for some materials.

    Having different rates for the X and Y is also something I now avoid. When I find a feed rate that works for a given material, I want it to remain at that rate regardless of which direction the bit has to move. I now use a smaller 1/16" bit and could easily break it if I tried to force the bit thru lite plywood too fast. if the cut were to start down the X axis at twice the speed of my Y axis, I would obviously risk breaking the bit.
     

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